unique landscape in Europe
This October, we drove down from Switzerland to Spain in our new Bimobil camper. Cabo de Gata is a place we always wanted to visit, so this autumn we spent 5 days in this beautiful National Reserve in the far east of Andalucia.
We based ourselves at the Los Escullos campground, took Moby off the wheels and set it up so we could discover the driest place in Europe in the comfort of our 4x4 Toyota Hilux. It was pretty unreal on our first night, when it started to pour in buckets with an all night thunderstorm! Lying there in our 'bedroom' listening to the weather, was an amazing experience!
Next morning the weather cleared and we walked down to Playa Los Escullos, which you can reach in 15 minutes. This is a black volcanic sand beach and the atmosphere was mystical with waves crashing and wind whipping around our ears.
What makes the beach very special, are the petrified and fossilised sand dunes that are up to 250,000 years old. Clare called this dune the 'crocodile rock' as it looks a bit like an open croc's mouth from below. It's a nice feature for a photo of the beach and across to the village of La Isleta.
Castillo de San Felipe is very close to the beach. We couldn't go inside this old castle but it looked as if it's in quite good condition, and the setting right next to the turquoise sea is very pretty.
The following morning's weather was ideal for Aaron’s sunrise phototrip to Faro de Punta de la Polacra. He followed Google Maps but was surprised to find he couldn't drive all the way up and had to park at the locked gate, with another 2.5 kms left to get to the lighthouse. Since the sun doesn't wait 😉 he had to speedily grab his photo gear and race up the hill! And it was well worth the effort - he just managed to reach the top right in time for this sunrise photo.
It was Aaron’s birthday and we decided to explore the northern area of the park. One highlight was the Mirador de la Playa de los Muertos. The name of the beach derives from when the sea had washed dead sailors ashore. Just a short walk from the parking spot took us to this lovely viewpoint.
Just past the town of Carboneras, there is a huge 70 million Euro hotel-complex that was never finished due to the government stopping the project - even though 90% of it was already done! The reason was, that they introduced a new regulation and increased the boundary of the national reserve before the complex could be finished. For Aaron's birthday lunch we stopped at Mojácar Playa just outside the reserve, and found a great beach club restaurant with excellent food and perfect setting. The long beach and palm-lined promenade is really lovely and there are lots of bars and restaurants.
Next we stopped off at Mojácar village - a typical traditional Moorish white town with very pretty alleys. The climate in this area is excellent with winter temperatures between 10 °C and 18 °C and in summer between 26 °C and 32 °C. Rain is seldom. So it's no wonder there's one of the largest expat populations in this region.
On our way back we headed to the ruins of the hazienda El Cortijo del Fraile. We put our trust in Google Maps to lead us there but that didn't work well! At one point we couldn't continue on the indicated road, and had to drive around in the middle of nowhere on a road that wasn't even showing on the map. Luckily we had our Toyota Hilux because without a good 4x4 a normal car wouldn’t have made it through those rough roads.
We eventually found the place in the middle of beautiful wide open fields. Once a place of a true passionate crime (which led to the novel by Federico Garcia Lorca Bodas de Sangre), this was also the setting for several films including Sergio Leone‘s 'The Good, The Bad and The Ugly'.
Just a few kilometres away we found an old and abandoned goldmine. Again, there were no other tourists and it was great to walk through nature during the golden hour. We read that one of the old mining tunnels was used for a scene in the movie Indiana Jones, but we couldn't find the entrance.
Heading back to the campground, we struggled to find the right way through the network of bumpy roads. The drive through this golden light was another beautiful highlight of our stay in the Cabo de Gata reserve.
Much easier to get to was Monsul Beach, another place used for movies such as Indiana Jones. The beach close to San José is famous for the eroded lava formations, its fine sand and crystal clear water. The area here was amazing too with a wildly rugged feel - we hiked up the sand dune to enjoy this gorgeous view.
Further along was another beautiful beach: Playa de los Genoveses. Here in 1147 two hundred ships from Genova camped here for 2 months before they attacked and conquered the city of Almeria from the Muslims. A beautiful place to walk along the beach and take in the scenery!
There are loads of agave plants in this area and it was almost like a dwarf's forest with all of the maguey flowers standing tall into the sky. San José is also worth a stop. There's a relaxed atmosphere to enjoy a coffee or have some freshest seafood. Along the drive we came across this lovely little windmill in a perfect location and the light was just great. Another beautiful day for our memories 😊.
On the Friday before Halloween, the Spaniards arrived in hoards at the campground! We were startled to realise that this coincides with a long-weekend for families with kids because of Halloween, and then the 1st November being a religious bank holiday. It was crazy to see how the vibes suddenly changed from a pretty quiet offseason-campground to a full-on party atmosphere where every single camp spot was full! The weather changed too, with extremely strong winds that lasted 2 full days and nights. A great place for sunrise or long-exposure photos is at the lookout Mirador de las Sirenas or the Mermaid’s Viewpoint, with beautiful rock formations along the shoreline. But on this day, it was so windy that it was a big challenge to photograph with a tripod!
The lighthouse is a famous landmark which is next to the viewpoint and you can reach it via a long, straight road along Playa de las Salinas. But before that and seemingly in the middle of nowhere, there stands a church. This is definitely one unique location for a church!
We made a last stop near the village of Cabo de Gata, which is at the southern end of the National Reserve. There’s a viewpoint with a good view of the Salinas, a good place to observe birds. From here, the city of Almeria is quite close. We wanted to have lunch there, but we couldn't find a central parking place for our huge vehicle and almost got stuck in a parking garage there 😊.
Another highlight near the Cabo de Gata National Reserve but inland, is the Tabernas Desert. The desert is a protected area spanning 280 square kilometres and the only inland desert in Europe. The landscape is truly beautiful.
This area was a popular one for shooting films and westerns since the 1950s. The so called Spaghetti Westerns were shot at the three main studios: Texas Hollywood, Mini Hollywood and Western Leone which still exist as tourist attractions with western shows. The latter was originally built to film 'Once Upon a Time in the West' featuring Henry Fonda and Charles Bronson.
The 6th season of Games of Thrones was also shot in Spain, and some of the scenes were made here at this point in the desert called ‚Karst en Yesos de Sorbas‘. We had a great walk through this area with Mara.
We wanted to test our 4x4 campervan and Aaron chose a viewpoint (Mirador Desert de Tabernas) that he wanted to see, as the test-drive... This was a pretty hairy dirt-track and Clare was panicking and wondering if we would really make it out alive... OMG! It turned out to be close to the limit but Aaron mastered it really well and we made it to the very top! It was definately a thrilling and adrenaline fuelled experience 😅!
In the village of Tabernas, we visited the Castillo de Tabernas and took in some more great views of the desert. This village had a bit of a Cuban feel to it. It was time to say goodbye to this beautiful region of Spain and we think it's a truly great destination in Europe, with lots of interesting places and some fantastic and varying scenery. We recommend going out of season if you want to experience it without crowds of tourists.
Cabo de Gata and Tabernas Desert are true highlights. For Europe, it offers unique landscapes and because of the many eucalypts in the wilder and more rugged areas, it reminded us a little of Australia... (we miss you Australia!)
Our journey now continues further west to the Costa del Sol which we will write about in our next blog.
Our other published blogs of Spain cover the following areas (with links):
"One crowded hour of glorious life is worth an age without a name"
(The Call - Thomas Osbert Morsdaunt, 1730-1809)
Travel blog and travel guide by Aaron Matzinger & Clare Walker
© Aaron Matzinger & Clare Walker