Cantos de Agua Dulce (Songs of the Sweet Water)

We took the train from Granada to Almeria, a journey of just over 2 hours, followed by a half hour bus trip to Aquadulce on the Costa del Sol.  This is a holiday town set between tall, barren cliffs and the ocean. The population trebles in the summer time as the town swells with mainly British tourists all seeking a holiday suntan.  The town is practically deserted as we have arrived in the off- season, with many hotels and apartment complexes completely shut for the winter.  We rented a spacious apartment for the week, as Michael wanted to do some diving.  I will pass over the blog to Michael later so that he can relate his diving adventures.

 

 

I had a lovely time whilst Michael was off diving, walking around the town and park.  I had a favourite coffee shop where the lady serving knew exactly what I wanted – café con leche and I would sit and read in the sunshine.  Michael didn’t dive on one of the days, so we took the bus into Almeria to explore.  We wanted to visit the Cathedral however when we arrived there was a wedding taking place.  We took a seat outside and waited until we could see the bride and groom.  It was interesting to see how formally the guests were dressed with many women in long dresses.  When the bride and groom left the church, they popped open the champagne and toasted each other on the steps of the cathedral.  A Spanish band played and for some inexplicable reason there was also an Elvis impersonator.  Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time.

The cathedral is in the heart of the old city and was built in 1524.  It was built like a fortress, as Almeria suffered raids by North African pirates.  It is an interesting combination of Gothic and Renaissance architecture and we enjoyed admiring the windows and arches.

Next, we climbed the hill to see the Alcazaba of Almeria, a fortified complex.  A thousand years ago, this castle was the second biggest alcazar in Spain, second only to the Alhambra in Granada, and could accommodate 20,000 people inside its walls.  Now, a lot of it is in ruins, however there is enough left to see what a grand place it once was.

 

Michael’s Dives   

can you see the scorpion fish and octopus?

 

Managed to get 8 dives in overall, which was great. The water temperature was 16 – 17 c, just like a Dublin summer, but wearing 5 mm wet suits. As it was winter most of the dive places were closed, however Aquatours were happy to go out as long as it was fine and clear. Fernando the owner was great and we dived in a number of different spots. 

 

 

The visibility was up to 15 metres, which he said was poor compared to summer when you can see up to 30 metres plus and 28c is the water temperature. There was plenty of sea life including octopuses, barracudas, scorpionfish and even a sun fish (luna fish), which is rare and only one had been seen this year in the area and none in the previous year.

As it was the off season for all but one dive day it was just Fernando and I so it was very pleasant chatting to him to understand the Spanish way of life.