After having spent two weeks in the Netherlands we came back to Gibraltar to find Kabaal and a freshly repaired sail. It seemed easy to put it back on the boom but then something went wrong: one of the reeflines accidentally got pulled out and it needed a lot of clever thinking and patience and help from the super skillful and friendly sailmaker Sam. Next day, after buying the cheapest fuel ever, we could finally set out to sea to truly start our mediterranean voyage.
After having wandered for quite some time in the gardens of the beautiful Alhambra we visited the opposite mountain Sacromonte to see how the Gypsies live in their cave dwellings. Here they keep their wonderfully proud and mysterious culture alive since ages incorporating Moorish, Christian and Jewish habits alike.
Talking about Gypsy culture we couldn’t leave Granada without seeing a Flamenco show, another Andalucian favourite. for more then an hour we stayed immersed in the wonderful melancholy sounds of the guitar and the Cante Jondo and the fierce rythms of the incredibly fast tapping and stomping of the dancers.
Tired we drove back through the dark Andalucian Sierra in the pouring rain but Granada was unbelievably nice.
Next day at sea it was kings birthday, an important holiday in the Netherlands. we found the tiniest of orange flags to add to our red, white and blue and proceeded to eat the orange chocolates my mother gave us to take along. “Wim Lex may you have many happy returns of the day”
Cartagena, another place of great historic interest. The name means little Cartago and indicates that this place was already an important place in the times the Phoenicians ruled in the waters of the western Mediterranean. After the Phoenicians the Romans came and they obviously couldn’t go without an amphitheatre. It was very interesting to see the history of this amphitheatre and learn how it was discovered under the old houses of the town which were built on top of it . At the highest point they even built a cathedral in the middle ages and for years nobody knew they were living on the ancient remains of the theatre until it was discovered in the eighties.
While the antiquities of Cartagena are quite overwhelming there is lots of interesting newer architecture to be admired too. The town has been an important naval base up to now and the streets are lined with stunning Art Nouveaux houses built by its wealthy inhabitants at the start of the last century. We were pleased to see that many of those are being restored.
Northward we turned the bow, destination los Baleares. This led us to our last port on the mainland: Moraira. At sunset we hiked to the old Roman watchtower at the top of the mountain to admire the blue sea and equally blue sky.
Below a short movie to capture all above adventures