Costa del Sol, pt. 1

I packed up my bags in Madrid and headed for Almería, from which we would take a couple hour ride to the sleepy town of Carboneras. This lonely corner of Spain, hidden from the consciousness of the experienced European traveler, is just plain out of the way. However, this area is a geologist's dream. One can walk in a canyon with deep marine deposits towering around him, then take a short drive and find beach deposits the next valley over. This is why I came here. To look at rocks.

To you this may not sound exciting. I took hundred of photos of rocks, as well as the diagrams our instructor drew. As much as I want to show these off, I will spare you.

After a couple days of only simple tapas, a plate with plenty of deliciously marinated pork was refreshing and one of the most memorable dishes I had.

 

We were supposed to do a sketch of these hills. We did lots of sketches actually.

 

Our second day, the walking-through-the-desert day, began with a climb to the top of a hill surrounded by valleys. At the top of this hill were the ruins of a castle originally built in the 11th century. Looking down on the town of Tabernas, where we later stopped for a nice cup of coffee.

The walking-through-the-desert part of the second day begins. We get dropped at one canyon, and walk its length, through a damp tunnel, across a wide valley, past the movie studios (yes, a full on Old West town), and the ruins of the church from The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, to another canyon.

Oh yea, there was more rambla (dry riverbed) we walked through. Really cool layering.