It was our nieces’ birthday this week, so Happy Birthday Ali. Also this week many towns and villages celebrate the fiesta of San Juan a celebration that dates back to pre-Christian times and marks the arrival of the summer solstice. An excuse (not that the Spanish need one) to build fires, set off fireworks and Party until dawn.
This week we took a trip down to Mazzaron, about 30km away on the coast. With the benefit of the sea breeze, walking the coastline was a very pleasant excursion. We had the company of a local guide who was able to tell us much of the history of the area we were walking. We started at the “Enchanted city of Bolnuevo” or “Gredas de Bolnuevo” the strange sandstone shapes have been formed over a period of time, which is believed to have begun some 4 million years ago. We made out way along the coast past Mazzarons nudist beaches, out to sea was the “Ilsa de Cueva Lobos” a small island named after the sea wolf (fish) which were once plentiful in the waters around this coast, unfortunately they are now a sight rarely seen here.
We continued our walk along, part “road” ( I wouldn’t bring my car down much of it!), part coast path until we reached a quite little cove noted for several reasons……..a small port was built here to collect and transfer rock to the nearby town of Cartegena, the remains of which can still be seen, along with several large rectangular rocks which were left behind and on the beach is a deposit of concrete, pretty ugly really, but it is there to preserve some prehistoric bones of a dinosaur, half of which have been excavated and are now displayed in the archeological museum in Murcia. The remainder await the funds to be able to retrieve them so both halves can be reunited. To date they have been waiting five years or so, so lets hope they can join the other half soon.
After a pleasant rest watching the fishermen cast there lines we continued along our route through an area which has now been designated a national park by the Spanish government………great news as it means no building can take place. Historically the area was farm land with several owners farming various crops from tomatoes to lemons, but unfortunately for them the water supplies they had dried up making farming the land an impossible task and the last working farm ceased to operate around 12 years ago. Now the area is left to nature and it’s former pump station and farm building slowly and sadly crumble away. The only residents now the wildlife and in some parts Northern European tourists of a certain age in there campers on that retirement dream trip they dreamed of all those years (how do they find out about these unofficial stop offs?)
Finally after several hours walking, we return via the last part of the coastal “road” pausing briefly to cool of our hot feet by paddling in the clear waters…..nice….before making out way the café overlooking the beach for a well deserved ice cold drink (some had coffee, how mad is that!)
