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

Almeria and Alcazaba Castle

We have decided one morning to go for a ride to Almeria and visit Alcazaba castle located on one of the hills in the middle of the city.  Our friend Sandra was kind enough to be our guide and led us through the city to the castle grounds.  Mac has already shared some of his pictures from that trip in his post Spanish Streets, Castle and Fuji X-PRO1. And here is what I saw that day..

Yes, I know, this is quite a pink place. The colour was so startling mids the more earthy palette of all the rest of the buildings that I had to take a picture of it ;)

The view from the castle located on top of a hill is quite remarkable. The blues of Mediterranean Sea contrast beautifully with the greens of the gardens and the pinkish rock that was used to build the castle.  Unfortunately great part of it was destroyed in an earthquake in 1522. Restorations started in 1950s.

Hope you have enjoyed this short tour. If you ever are close by I heartily encourage you to go and visit this lovely place.  It's too bad part of it is still in ruin, but I can imagine just how lovely it was during the time of it's glory.

Kasia

Sunset by the Sea..

It looked like it was going to be a lovely sunset, after we've gotten back from our Sierra Nevada adventure, so after a brief rest and some food (and boy, what a good food they have there!!!) we have decided to go for a walk on the beach.  It was still windy and with sun going down the temperatures were sure to drop as well, so we bundled up (well, just grabbled long pants and jackets, after all what is a little Spanish wind to hardened by winter Canadians!?), grabbed our cameras and took the kids for an evening stroll.

As you can see, we did not even get to the beach yet and the colours and light were already changing and making the world look magical.

And than we walked towards the sea..

And, as the night was approaching, the lights came up and it was a different sort of magic all together...

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

Fuji X-Pro1 at the beach and another Spanish sunset

Tired after all days driving into local villages, and exploring the wonderful landscape of southern Spain, we decided to spend the day at the beach.  We were at the shores of the Mediterranean sea, and I think it would be wrong not to get wet, at least our feet :)  The boys had great fun running around and chasing waves.  This time getting completely wet.

We also got busy with collecting shells and little pebbles from the beach.  It was quite difficult not to pack up tons of these, as all were quite unique and beautiful.  After almost a whole day at the beach, we decided to visit a local castle at Guardias Viejas, a short 10 minute drive from Almerimar.  It was a great time to try HDR on the Fuji X-Pro1.  Here are some shots from that outing.  Enjoy!

Welcome to Almerimar

It was a beautiful, though very windy first morning in Almerimar.  The rising sun has painted surrounding buildings in a lovely light and I figured it's a great picture opportunity, especially with the lovely clouds creating a very nice back drop for the surrounding buildings ;)

We were to meet our friends: Chris and Sandra, who made Almerimar their home for late breakfast and have a look around the town and head to the beach. The wind was quite strong and we were sure we would see some waves.

I must have  taken over a 100 pictures during just this outing alone. I have found out that, as usual, timing is everything and it takes a lot of tries to catch the best splash :). After a lengthily walk we've decided to head back for some food - it was getting close to siesta and the kids were getting tired as well..

After some food and a little rest, in the early evening we have returned to the wind breaker. The wind have not diminished and the waves became even more interesting, spraying us with salty water even from  quite a distance. This has produced an unexpected result of creating a filter on my lens. Made for some interesting light effects.  The world around us was covered in a haze made of sea water ripped away from the waves by a very strong wind. The sun was about to set and added a golden glow to everything... Just lovely!

I was a bit concerned about possible damage to my camera and tried to protect it as much as possible. The last thing you need, while away from home is to break your equipment... One thing is for sure. I was very happy I've had a long lens with me and could take close ups of those waves from a safe distance. An angry sea is noting to laugh about!

Kasia

First day in Spain with my Fuji X-Pro1

Our vacation time has come and gone, in a flash.  My wonderful wife and partner, in this photographic journey, already started showing off our pictures from the vacation in Spain.  I decided that this vacation will be a great opportunity to test out the new Fuji X-Pro1.  For the first time I did not take any other camera.  At first I was a little worried that I have made a mistake, by not taking the heavy dSLRs, and their lenses, but after a couple of first shots with the Fuji and I knew I was right!

We arrived in Almerimar, a lovely little town on the south of Spain, on a very windy day.  We got settled into the apartment and decided to go out for a walk around town, and maybe to get some food as well.

After food and drink and brilliant company of our old friends, we headed out to see the town.  It's not hard to get to the beach from anywhere in Almerimar, and that's what we did.  Because of very strong winds, the waves on the Mediterranean were higher and bigger than I ever saw them, when I visited almost 5 years ago.  Definitely a photographic opportunity.  Fuji X-Pro 1 was performing very well.  I was very happy that I brought it along.  It was light to carry and so much fun to use.  I think Fuji hit a home run with that one.

After being blown around by the wind we decided to head back to the apartment.  This also provided some shooting opportunities to test the Fuji, again.  It is an amazing camera, that's all I'm going to say about it.

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