2015-11-15 Almeria, Spain

We set the clocks forward another hour last night. When we went up to the Lido for breakfast, there was a seriously great view of this huge Muslim castle in Almeria. It rambles all over the ridge. The castle was commissioned by a Muslim king in the 11^th century. Pictures of the whole thing turn out long and thin.

This morning we took an excursion up the coast of Spain from Almeria to Cabo de Gata & Nijar. It was a beautiful drive, partly because this is a Sunday and the traffic was light. We rode over several ramblas which are dry river beds. This is a dry area but not as dry as the eastern section of Spain. It was so dry last year that water was shipped from this area to the Catalonia area. This area has some desalinization plants. They work well to make potable water but use a lot of energy from coal, which is not so great.

This is also an area of many greenhouses. They are now the primary means of growing edible plants in southern Spain. Looking down from above, it looks like a “plastic sea”. The driver says it is even more pronounced in areas of western Spain.  90% of the greenhouses in this area are growing tomatoes.

Our guide had a double degree in geology and environmental science. He told us about the area along the coast which is being protected for wildlife. I asked him if Cabo de Gata had anything to do with cats. I thought he was saying “gato” which I think means cat. He said it likely has something to with amethysts which were discovered here before the year 1000.