Ein Katzensprung nach Almeria

#11 Almeria

After three days of rest, we venture on our first excursion today - 10 kilometers to Almeria. After our 3,000-kilometer ride, we want to start small...

Almeria is a port city that was built by Arabs in the late first millennium, of which the many narrow streets, white houses, and long palm alleys still bear witness today.

A huge fortress called Alcazaba towers above the city, which has a population of almost 200,000. It was started by the Arabs in 955 and the Christians continued building it before an earthquake in 1522 caused much of it to collapse. "The restoration work is still ongoing", says Wikipedia. This year we celebrate an anniversary: 500 years of restoration of Alcazaba - maybe the local tourism director will take up the idea. Speaking of restoration, the cobblestones of our sidewalk are being newly laid in front of our house. I suspect that the two workers have been borrowed from Alcazaba. But seriously, I think the people here have to adjust their pace to the climatic conditions. In May, the thermometer already climbs to over 30 degrees and reaches values far beyond 40 degrees in August. Even the smallest movement is worth considering. This deceleration, this thoughtfulness can be felt everywhere. I think it's wonderful.

Almeria is famous for its rich pub culture. We are very lucky when it comes to finding a parking space with our motorhome: Within a radius of ten meters, there are six or seven restaurants, bars, and cafes. We haven't even gotten out of the car when a soft whisper crawls into my ear: "I think I'm a bit hungry." Icke, of course! Five steps in Almeria and we're already sitting in a pub. We choose the menu of the day. The waiter doesn't speak a word of English, so it's once again a surprise. First a cold vegetable soup with eggs and bacon - that's not Icke's favorite - and then a mixture of rice, potatoes, fish, and eggs that tastes pretty good. The dessert is puff pastry waffles hidden in a mountain of cream, all swimming in a sea of liquid chocolate. It tastes fantastic, even though it meets the calorie needs of a week - that of a road worker in midsummer.

Almeria is beautiful. Lots of greenery, historic buildings, inviting shops. But where there is a lot of sun, the shade is often not far away. We see many poor people wandering through the streets with their belongings in search of a place to spend the night. On the outskirts of the city, we see isolated huge greenhouses, the tendrils of a sea of plastic that surrounds Almeria. On the screenshot above, you can see the extent to which this type of agriculture has grown, as indicated by the white areas. The region now covers 350 square kilometers - that's 35,000 football fields! - and is considered the vegetable and fruit garden of Europe: millions of tons of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, avocados, or strawberries are exported - a third of which goes to Germany. Most of the native animal and plant species have fallen victim to this development. It's difficult to see the sun through so much shadow...