First stop inland, after getting new front brake pads for the van in Almeria, was the Tabernas desert. We parked next to the very popular Hollywood theme park and hiked 15km all around this quite marvellous landscape.
Many movies have been filmed here over the years and its still a very popular location these days. We saw the dilapidated set of El Condor, the oasis of Lawrence of Arabia and the view point of the Good the Bad and the Ugly. As well as walking through the gorges and plains used in Conan the Barbarian and Game of Thrones. It was such an amazing landscape and a huge expanse of land where we only saw two other people in five hours of hiking. So naturally we took the opportunity to take advantage of the remote location and had some amazing naked hiking time through the remote desert.
Having seen all we wanted to after a night in the town of Tabernas we drove the longer distance for us to Baños de Zujar and the wonderful natural hot spring that is located on the East side of the lake. We spent an amazing couple of days there in and out of the +37°C water, running along the lakeside in fall and watching the fantastic sunrise and sunset from our elevated parking above the pools. Leela tried the healing powers of the mud pack and we had a tranquil hour at sunrise completely alone in this incredible location. A total recommendation from us if you are in this area.
The next stop was the very nice natural Hot Springs of Santa Fe on the outskirts of Granada. These springs are a little tough to find and have a terrible reputation. And with our experience there, rightly so. Maybe we were lucky but we had a very enjoyable day there. Yes there are an abundance of incredibly odd men hanging around and playing with themselves, but that has been the same at every single naturist location in Europe, and we certainly wouldn’t recommend a visit by a single woman. But if you are very careful with yourself and with your belongings you can certainly enjoy these natural phenomena.
There are two larger pools a couple of feet deep that are fed directly by the very hot and very sulphurous water which are nice and relaxing. Then the overflow from these pools feed a small sequence of waterfalls which are really quite amazing. Almost jungle like in landscape and an immersive experience to stand under and then to relax in the small private pools. Completely worth the effort to find them if you are in the area but please just be very careful and aware of the environment you are putting yourself in.
After our few days at the natural spa’s we spent a couple of days exploring the city of Granada. The weather wasn’t great as it was quite damp and cold and we also could not visit the Alhambra Palace as it was fully booked for the next 10 days! but we walked the tiny streets and visited the palace grounds overlooking the city with great views. It certainly was not the exciting and vibrant city we were hoping for but a nice time nevertheless.
Returning to the Santa Fe Hot Springs for a full morning after leaving Granada we made our way into the mountains and the recreational area of Rio Dilar. We spent a few very quiet nights in spectacular fall weather and colours, hiking the surrounding mountains and taking a dip in the freezing waterfalls. From the hilltops we could see the snow capped mountains of the Sierra Nevada which was bringing a chill even though we were in shorts and T-shirts and 22 degrees!
Heading back toward the coast we made a stop and hike to the Baño de Urquíza thermal polls near the town of Durcal. These turned out to be incredibly underwhelming to put it mildly and are really not worth the effort or detour. The highlight for us was a nice Coffee and Churro in a locals cafe whilst heading back to the van!
We had one more destination before we headed back to the ocean and that was a stop in the Alpujarras mountains. We stayed in the hilltop village of Capileira, an area that I have visited quite a few times in the last 25 years both hiking and with the mountain bike, and I wanted Leela to experience these amazing traditional Andalusian mountain villages and countryside. And even though mass tourism has overrun this dead end town turning it from a traditional sleepy village to a parade of kebab huts and tat shops, it was still a privilege to be able to park as high in the Sierra Nevada as we did and be able to enjoy the mountain experience so much.
We spent a few nights in the complete quiet with spectacular views over Capileira and back down the valley. The hiking was amazing up to the Poqueira Rifugio following the river and also along the tops following the crystal clear Acequias. The hundreds of miles of handmade water channels that supply all the farms and villages below these huge mountains.
Sleeping soundly every night after big hiking days we were refreshed and tired at the same time but we both were very much looking forward to returning to the ocean and continuing our journey through Andalusia.
Time to go back to the ocean.
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