Mojácar, Spain

Friday, Dec 28, 2007

After spending a couple of days relaxing and writing, my new friend Renée and I decided to catch a local bus and go to the town of Mojácar to see a bit of the surrounding countryside.

We're in the Andalucia region of Spain, which is probably the warmest area in the winter, at least along the coast. Though, we've heard if you travel 40 kms inland there is snow right now.



I'm staying in the province of Almeria, north of the city of Almeria (maps: http://www.map-of-spain.co.uk/andalucia_maps.htm and http://www.alicante-spain.com/costa-del-sol/map-of-almeria-spain.html)


Almeria province is Europe’s sunniest and driest region with more than 330 days of sunshine a year, an average temperature of 20c.


"Like all of Andalucía, Almería or Al-meriya (the mirror of the sea) as it was first called in Arabic, was dominated by the Arabs, under the leadership of the dynasty Omeya. During this dynasty, the city grew considerably in all aspects, especially as a military port and later on as a fishing portin the 9th c.

Then, in 1489 it was conquered by the Catholic Kings and started its decline, as much did all of Andalucía, when the Muslim population abandoned this area in 1610. Once again, in the 19th c., Almería had a betterment in its population and economy but then there was a shift of its inhabitants to Argelia, and the industrialized cities of Catalunya and Seville. But, as can be seen in all of Andalucía, the Arab architecture and culture still proudly shows through." (http://www.alicante-spain.com/costa-del-sol/almeria.html)


In Spain, there is a siesta between 2 and 4 everyday, when most of the stores and businesses are closed. When they re-open they stay open until about 7 pm, so we weren’t able to do any regular type shopping as we hit it at the wrong time.








Renée and I enjoyed going to both Mojácar Playa (on the beach) and.....

Mojácar Pueblo (the town up in the hills).

We wandered through the narrow, winding cobblestone streets and enjoyed the view from a rooftop café where we stopped for some hot chocolate while we waited for our bus back to the resort .




The view from the top of the 'hill' was incredible. We could see for many miles and got a real feel for the geography of this part of Spain.








We made it back just in time to go to our Spanish lesson…the second one and we are very pleased with it. I wish I could continue on, but I’m leaving tomorrow morning (Sat) to the town of Vera. Maybe I can find something there instead.


We also attended some Tai Chi lessons yesterday morning, but they are only given twice a week and they were not available earlier in the week because of the Christmas holidays. I loved doing them, though can’t recall all the movements, but I’ll be sure to continue on with this form of exercise in the future, even if it means printing off instructions from the Internet. I can see them as being a great way to begin or end a day.

Renée and I had supper at Roly’s bar again…the best food we’ve found anywhere. I’ll miss it, but will certainly remember it and recommend it to others should they happen to visit the area.