Day 18 - The Glorious Mediterranean

After our long night the previous night we weren't really up for rising at 7am to go queue for the Alhambra Palace, instead savouring a bit of a sleep in and hitting the road in order to hopefully get an afternoon at the beach. It turned out to be a good decision as the coast from Granada to Almeria is absolutely amazing, the Mediterranean sea sparkling like a turquoise gem along the cliffy Andalusian coast. That cliffy coast is also quite a sight, having literally thousands of glasshouses perched on them and the surrounding area a juxtaposition which makes for a bizarre but fascinating sight which was almost surreal.

Some of the top 10 Andalusian beaches, according to Lonely Planet, were calling us just past Almeria where we'd booked in for the night so we kept on trucking in search of the golden sands that we were craving. We ended up stopping short of one of the 'top 10' but we were more than happy wallowing in the shallow warm waters that Playa de los Genoveses had on offer. Nico and I were still determined to discover one of the 'top 10' though so after we'd enjoyed Genoveses long enough we continued round to Playa del Playazo which was darker sands with a huge volcanic rock perched on the beach but this still wasn't it, Nico and I having to scale a sand dune of four to get a peek at the illusive bays of Calas del Barronal. We got a few peeks at some boobs and bums too, the bays turning out to be predominantly nudist, something Lonely Planet had omitted from its description. Not to worry, Nico and I were just happy to have had a successful mission, our reward being able to view a beach that reminded me very much of one of my fav NZ beaches, the beautifully rugged Piha.

We'd decided to live in a bit of luxury that night, staying in a 2 star hotel for the night, although it turned out not to be so luxurious for me, getting a rollaway bed for the night so was a bit of a stepdown from the usual hostel bunks. It is a treat to have our own rooms though so I wasn't complaining really. Being in a hotel does however mean no kitchen facilities which meant we had to drag ourselves out for some drinks and tapas instead. Oh the hardship! Especially when it turned out that Almeria is one of the few spots left in Spain that have stuck to the tradition of giving you a free tapa with every drink you buy. Bonus! A very pleasant evening was had having a few more drinks than usual in order to get our fill of tapas, like I said, what a hardship huh?