Mula and the “Night of the Drums”

Day 30: Yesterday evening didn't start very promisingly. A few hooligans held a street race until shortly before midnight. It felt like the route led around our motorhome at a distance of two meters. We put on headphones and I watched the evening's DEL games on Magenta Sport . At some point we realized that the problem had resolved itself and we spent a quiet night.

Our late morning excursion took us to the Salinas y Arenales de San Pedro del Pinatar Regional Park, which has six different ecosystems: salt ponds, pine forests, reed beds, marshes, dunes and the reed-covered sea passages - that's what it says on the Internet. What was important for us, especially for Icke: There are lots of water birds there like the osprey and the kingfisher. Icke had a very specific species of bird on her list: the flamingos. We didn't have to look long before Icke took the shot.

Back in the motorhome, a difficult decision had to be made: What should we do next? Along the sea towards Alicante or back into the mountains. We drove back into the mountains. We'll be back in Sagunto for a few days in two weeks anyway, at least that's the plan. But until then we want to get to know the original Spain better and we can find that in the small towns and villages away from the hustle and bustle on the coast.

So after coffee and cake we set off towards the mountains. Our route led to Mula, where a castle and a bell tower can be seen high up, which caught Icke's eye. So we spontaneously decided to stop here. We found a magnificent city center where we noticed a sculpture of two drummers. We researched and found out we were in the city of drummers. Thousands of people drum here from midnight on Easter Tuesday to 4 p.m. on Ash Wednesday. This gigantic spectacle has gone down in history as the “Night of the Drums” and, according to UNESCO, is part of the world heritage of humanity.

We didn't want to stay until Easter Tuesday and moved on. We made it to Casas Nuevas, a village of 200 people at the foot of Espuna , which is 1,585 meters high. There is a nice parking space here that offers all amenities and is also free. Oh yes! On the way we stopped in Lorca, where we had an early dinner in a typical Spanish inn, which later turned out to be a late lunch. Finally there was dinner...