Cabogata Garden Hotel & Spa Almeria

... for beer, whereas 'cerveza' is Spanish for beer. Anyway, a beer I got. I also order just a plain cheese pizza. I just needed food I didn't need anything decadent. I literally laughed out loud at the waiter when he dropped off my pizza. It was the size of an elephant's butt! I took a photo with my beer mug for scale, but it's on my iPhone. It was absurd, especially considering this was my second restaurant dinner in about 45 minutes. The pizza was good enough. Nothing great. And ...

... nor American helped me.<br><br>Rather than just going back to the train station and sitting there for four hours, I stopped in a little Argentinian restaurant. Knowing Gaby, I was well versed in the fact that I should check the menu before sitting down. The Argentinians (and Uruguayans, who really fed Argentina everything their famous for, right Gaby?) are big meat eaters. But, they had pasta on the menu. Hurray.<br><br>The waiter was an older guy that found it amusing ...

We had great intentions starting out the day. We planned to drive along the coastline to a town called Almeria. it's a 2+ hour drive. We thought spanish coastline, it's got to be pretty right? Not so much. It started out beautiful. Picturesque cliffs that roll into the crystal blue water of the mediterranean ocean. But once we passed the first few cities it became the plastic jungle. Every city after this, all the way to almeria, is a farming town. the hillsides are ...

... it turned into sand and stones. We could barely walk the bikes. This seriously slowed us down. Whats worse is that it meant that we ended up on the grotty outskirts of Almeria as it got dark. Desperate for a place to sleep we went to check out under a motorway bridge. Whilst we were down there we saw some kids needlessly kill a goat with rocks and sticks. Not a great site to be honest. I still thought it would probably be alright to stay. They were only kids after all. Quote ...

I had to wean myseft away from the area, and the next day just drove a bit up the coast, past more un(der)-developed beaches at Escullos and El Playazo, and ended up staying in Las Negras, another fishing village which is sleepy by the water-front but with massive construction going on behind it.

Returned to San Jose. Next day drove around to the town of Cabo de Gata, saw the salt-pans, went up the the "Cape", saw the incredible beach of Cabo de Gata, had great lunch there, then went around to the beach at Monsul. Eventually decided I HAD to leave!! 

... The terrain became more and more barren. This is the area where all the "spaghetti westerns" (Good Bad &amp; Ugly, etc) were filmed in the 60's and 70's. Allegedly because it looks just like Arizona, but I wouldn't know because I've never been there. Reputedly, it's the driest part of Europe.  I headed off the motorway towards Tavernas, spotting a couple of "Wild West" towns along the way, and went to "Mini-Hollywood" which is basically a theme park. Having ...

... 20 bornes en rebroussant chemin vers cabo de gata....magnifiaue endroit, on arrive en 4x4 carrement sur la plage, on trouve une petite epicerie qu on a devalisem pates, saucisson, courgettes, lard au bord e l eau, etla, surprise, une bande de chats loubards nous barre la route et essqient de nous manger notre repas...il faisait un peu frais et beaucoup de vent SAMEDI 02 ...

... there is nothing like people watching), wandering around the Arab quarter, and we then stumbled upon one of our most memorable dinner experiences yet. We were walking from restaurant to restaurant when we heard the buzz of people and headed straight for them. This restaurant was packed with locals, and we were lucky to find a table outside. It was definitely the place to be. As we sat there more and more people came, couldn't find places to sit, and just waited. We ordered ...

... dans un super endroit sous un grand arbre. On manger super bien avec apéro (et la salade de riz de Christine !) Arrivée à Almería à 16h15. Il n'y a pas trop de monde et on prend les billets sans problème. On attend une heure sur le quai avant de partir. A 19h00, le bateau démarre, et papa filme. Je ressens son excitation de loin, de très loin ! Sur le bateau, on commence à se sentir ailleurs. On entend du raï partout avec un m ...