Pulpi to Peniscola

After not enough lazy warm days at Pulpi--I got to know the wifi bars pretty well--we pushed on west, through Valencia, and into a seaside resort town called (I swear I am not making this up) Peniscola. We spent the night there at a campground, sort of--a parking lot, with services, just for RV's, 100 meters from the beach--for 8 euros.

Self-portraits at Playa del Serena Mar

Red moon rise

Europe is a land of roundabouts ("rotaries," sometimes, in

the US), often decorated with public sculpture, local

interest, etc; this one is some beach-side community,

painted all sea-blue; I wondered, approaching it, what one

would think, at night, half-drunk, approaching it...

Typical terrain...miles and miles of plastic hot-houses,

growing tomatoes; soon to be followed by condos...

Highway of the Mediterranean

Spain had some 10,000 castles at one time, now down to a

mere 300-500; you're never not in sight of one of them

Or another

Or another

And there is always plenty of interesting contemporary

architecture in the cities

Valencia, I think

And more condos

And more castles

Unnamed road, Pulpi. 37° 20.676'N 1° 41.212'W

Back on the coast, just west of a place called Pulpi, we happened onto a free-camping paradise, low hills right on the sea, dozens of RVs, all enjoying the same view. We plan on staying here a couple days, doing nothing but walking into town, 3 miles away, for wifi. At a bar. Life is good.

Oh, Pulpi is famous, by the way. According to the all-knowing and self-correcting Wikipedia, "On September 29, 2007, Pulpi tossed the world's largest salad, with 6,700 kilograms (14,740 pounds) of lettuce, tomato, onion, pepper and olives, supervised by 5000 cooks over 3 hours. A Guinness World Records judge was present to confirm the new record. The salad was prepared in a container 18m (59ft) long and 4.8m (15.7ft) wide." Too many cooks may spoil a soup, but, apparently, not a salad.

Not a bad view, and the price is right; the place is so popular that a truck from 
town calls every morning at 9:30, selling bread, milk, newspapers, etc.

Moonrise in the afternoon 

Only cloud in the sky at sunset, Friday night

Full moon over the Mediterranean, a place called Playa del 
Serena Mar; indeed

Other Side of the Mountains

But for the lack of sagebrush, you'd think you were in the

American West

Ditto

Ditto ditto

Many houses are carved into the rock, with a regular

house looking facade

Closer up

Reminiscent of the Big Hole in Montana

Heavy-duty terracing, some of it by the Moors, for the

olive trees

As you get closer to Almeria, the valley opens up and then
is covered, not by condos, but these huge vegetable farms,

all covered in plastic, one humongous greenhouse of

tomatoes

The east side of the Sierra we drove through is a landscape very reminiscent of the American southwest. In fact, we read, it is used very often for Spaghetti Westerns filmed in Europe (Sangria Westerns? Paella Westerns?).

Sierra Nevada

We have crossed the California Sierra Nevada mountain range many times, even climbed Mt. Whitney way back in 1972. They are much higher, larger, more rugged than their namesake, The Sierra Nevada here in Spain. In winter especially, the Sierra Nevada are an impressive brilliant white backdrop for Granada, and seeing them we decided to risk crossing them en route back to the coast near Almeria. It was a gorgeous drive, superb highway, not all that much snow really, and none on the road. The terrain east of the mountains was equally interesting.

Sierra Nevada from Granada

Higher up on the west side

At the pass, about 4,000 feet

Looking back from the east, still up high

In the high valley east of the mountains

Ditto

We cross a hill, see a flash in the distance,

and then this large fire; never did find out

what it was about

Castle in the valley foothills

Forest of windmills encroaching another white town

Iberian Insights, #1

If El Greco had been a flamenco dancer, he would have held the castanet like this:

Granada

After the Alhambra, we bussed back to the

old town (Alhambra's up on a big hill) and
took in a few more sights;  in the Isabella

Catolico Plaza, the famous sculpture of

Columbus making his pitch

Over by the cathedral, which we skipped, is the Royal

Chapel, where Ferdinand and Isabella and their immediate

progeny are buried

Famous painting depicting Boabdil's surrender to F and Y

In the chapel, the altar, dedicated to John the Baptist and

John the Evangelist; the beheading scene is unusually

gruesome...

Tombs of Ferdinand and Isabella

Actual coffins of F and Y

Alhambra III

View from Alhambra back to Plaza San Nicolas, the

previous evening's view

The old fortress; the only reason to visit it, it is said, is for

the views, which were no doubt diminished on this rainy cloudy

foggy day

 

Side door entrance to Charles V Palace; the palace is a
humongous square edifice, Renaissance, plopped down in
the middle of the Alhambra complex (well, at least the
conquering Christians didn't destroy it entirely), with a
large round columned open area in the middle; Charles
didn't live long enough to see it roofed; his son, Philip II,
built El Escorial instead; anyhow, it was under Charles V
that the newly united Spain and the older, humongous
Hapsburg (Holy Roman) Empire were united, via marriage;
thus "Imperator Caesar Karlos V" on the door; biggest
empire since the Romans; it was also Chuck 5, as I recall,
who quipped that he spoke French to his courtiers, Spanish
to his priests, Italian to the ladies, and German to his horse

Inside the Charles V courtyard; the echo in this large space

is incredible

"Testing...uno...dos...tres..."

We walked over to see the Generalife, the

separate gardens, notable for being largely

unchanged over five centuries; this, I promise,
is the last water feature, in the summer palace

Alhambra II

In the Washington Irving suite of rooms; Irving's Tales of

the Alhambra renewed interest in the place; he was later

US ambassdor to Spain; born of a very wealthy NY family,

a genuine Romantic and Grand Tourist; there is a huge

exhibition about him going on here; as we saw in Ecija,

the Ruta Washington Irving is a major Spanish trek

View from Irving's rooms

View out his other window

In the orange garden

Another water feature

And another; water has a special place in Islamic notions of

heaven, I understand; nothing anthropomorphic going on there,

I suppose