SPANISH DESERT 

June 2, 2004

After a good sleep in Berchules we continued along the scenic route heading for Almira.  The route proceeded along the mountainside, twisting and winding slowly through the little hill towns.  After about 45 minutes of this we decided that we had had enough twisting roads and hill towns yesterday, so when we came to the next major intersection we took a road south to the fast freeway towards Almira. 

The Spanish freeways we have used so far have been wonderful, well maintained, two wide lanes each direction with only a handful of vehicles using the road.  As we drove toward Almira I began to read in the Michelin guide about the town.  Alcazaba (Moorish fortress), palace, church, museum, big city….hmmmmm….where have we heard this before???  It sounded like every other big city in Spain.  So we decided to skip the town and head out to the Mediterranean coast villages.  I had visions of quaint whitewashed pueblos surrounded by lush, green vegetation with the blue Mediterranean Sea as a backdrop.

We drove through Almira and picked up the secondary road to Cabo de Gata.  The landscape came right out of our Nevadan wastelands.  Grayish rocks protruded from dusty flinty soil sparsely covered in weedy desert grasses and a few cacti.  I was sure when we got to the water we would see more green.  Surprise!  It is desert all the way, barren and not in the least the enchanting landscape I had envisioned.  We drove all the way out to the point, where we had our picnic lunch, along with a few scruffy old gatas and a couple of other families who were duped into driving all the way there only to say, “Is this all there is!?!?!”.

“Take me to the trees!” I begged Don, so we decided to head west and aimed our car for the freeway once again.   I drove as Don took his siesta and in about an hour I began to see green grass and trees and the majestic snow-capped Sierra Nevada mountain range again.  I immediately felt much happier.

When Don awoke from his nap, (due to an unexpected bump in the road) we began to strategize about where to spend the night.  Don picked out a town just west of Granada, Loja, that was the start of a scenic route and we decided to find an inn there and take the scenic route the next day.

So, we drove along, through Granada, and on to Loja, arriving at about 6pm.  We got off the freeway there and drove through the town.  There was only one two-star hotel to be seen on our first pass, so, at the end of town we turned around and drove through the town again.  We didn’t see one other inn or hotel.  Okay, we decided to start out along the scenic route and check the villages along the way for a quaint inn.