Missing the Beach - When the Weather Turns Cold

It's been rather chilly outside lately and my thoughts are drawn to the memories of Spain and beach, hot sun and waves.. I have been slowly going through some more photos from our April trip to Spain (I did bring a couple of thousand of them back, after all...) and I thought I'd share some of the images of the beautiful Mediterranean Sea and the beach in Almerimar, where we've spent some time enjoying the sun, waves and pebbles, not mentioning a beautiful sunset. So here they are, with my hope that they'll warm all of us up just a bit ;D.  Enjoy! Kasia

Cabo de Gata - As I Saw It.. Part 2

After spending a short time at our first stop at Cabo de Gata (some images from there you can find both in my post Cabo de Gata - As I Saw It.. and Mac's post  Cabo De Gata and more Fuji X-Pro Landscapes) and taking some more shots of plant life as well as views of surrounding cliffs and rocks we've decided to try and find a way to get to some of the interesting rock formations we have noticed from the hight of the cliff down by the sea.

So here we were, travelling the narrow roads in search of views and experiences.  Looking for more places to visit and things to see. At some point we have spotted a trail leading down to a little beach and we've followed it to the end.  The land was very ragged there. Sharp volcanic rock eroded into fantastic shapes and the colours of it varied greatly as if Mother Earth decided to enhance the design of the vista some more.. As if it was not pretty enough ;) And all this surrounded by the bluest waters ever!!

Well, of course I was still trying to catch the best wave so took a few more shots of that  ;)

as well as tried to capture some of the strange rocks that erode into "bricks" giveing people a chance to leave some mark behind, saying that they were there and appreciated the beauty of this place..

And than it was time to say good-bye to Capo de Gata and take the road back to Almerimar to spend the last moments enjoying this lovely, lovely place before we started to head back to Madrid...

Kasia

Cabo de Gata - As I Saw It..

You've all seen Mac's wonderful landscapes in his post Cabo De Gata and more Fuji X-Pro Landscapes.  It always makes me amazed how different two photographers can see the same place.  When Mac was concentrating on landscapes I took time to look closer at flora of the place as well as the wonderful and so different scenery. Of course we have stopped by the beach somewhere between the villages of Cabo de Gata and Almadare de Monteleva. It was with a great pleasure that we have all taken a walk there, searching for some sea shells that would make a great picture, looking at the waves and the blue sky. Such a lovely time to listen to the waves crashing on the beach. The wind was still strong and was ripping water off the waves to carry it inland, creating a haze that was obscuring the view...

On the way to the lighthouse I was asking Mac on occasion to make a stop by the road when I saw something interesting. As always the poppies were my favorite. Such wonderful islands of colour in this dry land! The grasses made for an interesting accent to the scenery as well as interesting rock formations emerging from the sea..

We took a short walk at some point in our trip. It was great to see the blue of the Mediterranean Sea meeting the volcanic rock.

And as we were leaving my boys decided to leave a little mark of our visit (don't worry, all environmentally friendly :))

It's a lovely, lovely place and well worth visiting, if you are ever close by..

Kasia

Guardias Viejas

About 20 minutes from Almerimar by car there is a charming little castle at Guardias Viejas. We went there one evening to see it in a setting sun. Mac has already shared a few images from that outing in his post Fuji X-PRO1 at the Beach and Another Spanish Sunset. It was a wonderful eveing, though the wind was rather cold and we were quite happy to get back in the car and drive back to our apartment at the end of the shoot ;) Here is a few pictures from that evening. It was truly beautiful there with the gorgeous Mediterranean Sea as a back drop and a gorgeous sky, hazy mountains and amazing sunset colours! I really hope you like it as much a I did... Kasia

Sierra Nevada

Holiday is a wonderful thing! You are free to do whatever you want, whenever you want. One morning we have decided to go for a ride in the mountains. We have chosen a road that would lead us toward Enix and Felix - two municipalities in province of Almeria in Andalusia.  We encountered a series of beautiful views from the road. Hills cultivated as much as possible, where almond trees grow on man-made terraces right next to small fields and villages are settled either in the valleys or are plastered to the sides of the hills.  Lovely, picturesque drive. The weather was great, the sky marvelous. Just what we needed to enjoy ourselves a lot!

We have stopped at a village called Felix for a little tour.  It's a charming little town in Andalusia with narrow streets, passages going up and down and houses built very close together just to utilize the limited space.

On the way back we have made a few stops here and there just to capture some more of our surroundings...

It was a marvellous trip and we have enjoyed both the vista and the weather immensely! Sierra Nevada is simply beautiful!

Kasia

From Madrid to Almerimar

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Spain - the road to Almerimar 1

We have been very fortunate recently to be able to spend 2 weeks traveling in Europe. We have started our European adventure in Madrid and taken a roadtrip to a little town in the south of Spain, called Almerimar.  It takes about 6 hours to drive from Spain's capital through La Mancha and Andalusia to get to this little coastal town and the land is so very different from Alberta. The colours of spring - rich, juicy greens of the field contrasting nicely with reddish browns of the soil and silver green of ever present olive trees made it very interesting.

We have seen the white windmills of La Mancha, bringing instantly to mind Cervantes and his Don Quixote, the fields full of solar batteries and groupings of wind turbines ( I wonder what Don Quixote would think about those?! ;D) spread along the way through Andalusia as well, the images of El Toro spread here and there along the road.

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Spain - the road to Almerimar 4

From the highway we could see an occasional castle with surrounding it village or a little town tacked neatly into a mountain valley..

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Spain - the road to Almerimar 5

When we did stop I could not resist taking some pictures of flowers and foliage whether in the mountains or when we reached the coast..

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Spain - the road to Almerimar 3

Spain - the road to Almerimar 6

And before the end of the drive I got to see the Mediterranean Sea for the first time! I have enjoyed watching from the top of a cliff turquoise waves hitting the rocks down below.

Spain - the road to Almerimar 9

Spain - the road to Almerimar 7

Spain - the road to Almerimar 10

Many times we have been lamenting the lack of both the stopping places on the highway as well as time for the views were quite often very picturesque. But still between me and Mac we have managed to bring back with us about 8 thousand images..

I have shared today some of what we've seen on the way to our destination in Almerimar. I hope you've enjoyed this part of our trip. And for several more weeks, I am sure, we will try to give you a glimpse of the wonderful places we've visited...

Kasia