Camino Mozárabe 2024

Today's stage started in the dark as usual, a little before 7:00. Although the town is well lit by street lights all night, I was a bit worried about being able to see in the countryside before the sun came up, so I used a GPX tracking app. It's a good thing I did, because I mistakenly walked right past the first turn off of the road just outside of town and the app showed me my mistake. The camino route was on a gravel track that went steeply downhill, so it was slow going at first, but there was just enough light to stay on the path, since it was bordered on both sides by olive groves. By the end of that descent, there was just enough pre-dawn light to see some really terrific views.  It only really feels like sunup at about 7:50, and the sun doesn't rise above the mountains till about 8:20 . So, at 8:25 it was time to stop and don short pants, sunglasses, and sun hat before the first big climb of the day. The town that's about halfway between Moclín a...

We had coffee at the café of the Hostal Montserrat at 7:00, and by 7:15 we were on the road,  pre-dawn . We reached the edge of town about dawn . The light and the temperature were great. Once we were out of town, the first half hour or so was along the narrow shoulder of a highway, but then at the Cortijo de Búcor, a farmhouse and a semi-abandoned hamlet, we started on a dirt path through some olive groves , then crossed the highway into an open field , and went up a narrow dirt path on a mountainside , among olive trees, almond trees, and pomegranate trees, all the way to the town of Olivares . In Olivares we had coffee and tostadas with puréed tomato, manchego cheese, and olive oil. Although we had walked about ¾ of the kilometers of this etapa, the last 3.3 km is steeply uphill, as we could see from our elevation maps. As we said goodbye to the bartender, he warned us "Muchas montañas para Moclín." Fortified with food and caffeine, we figured we could handl...

We got started a little before 7:00 and walked through Granada in the dark , but with ample street lighting. The sun was up by about 7:45, and by that time we were already on the outskirts of the city . We got to the suburb of Maracena , and then from there we walked on a gravel road to Atarfe , past the Monumento de la Concordia to the ayuntamiento ,  where we stopped after having walked nonstop for 2 hours and 45 minutes. The uneven gravel road from Maracena to Atarfe was rough on the feet and lower legs, but the weather was cool and we felt fine. In a café in the Plaza de España , opposite the town hall, we had coffee and excellent whole grain tostadas with puréed tomato and slices of perfectly ripened avocado drizzled with extra virgin olive oil.  We left Atarfe at about 10:30, and the weather was by then considerably warmer, although still pretty mild by Andalusian standards. Fortunately the Camino Mozárabe from Granada to Córdoba goes mostly in the north...

We spent most of this afternoon exploring the areas surrounding the Alhambra: the Alcazaba and the gardens of the Generalife. There are so many beautiful views at every turn that I was taking pictures pretty constantly and indiscriminately. Therefore, I won't even try to describe them or organize them. I'll just provide a single blast of Generalife photos here.  We picked up our pilgrim's passports at the Arzobispado and got them stamped at the cathedral. Tomorrow we plan to leave as early as we can get ourselves going, hopefully even a bit before sunrise, to begin our mini- pilgrimage from Granada to Córdoba.

On the enthusiastic recommendation of Pepe and Rafael, we visited "La Cartuja", the Monasterio de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción, which we had not seen before. For no particular reason, we decided to walk there from our apartment rather than take the bus, which took about an hour. In the way, we visited Rafael in his office in the Observatorio de Cartufa on the university campus , then proceeded to the monastery. Seen from the outside , the monastery is not terribly remarkable, and even in the central courtyard it's nice yet unexceptional. However, the church within is incredibly ornate (which is saying a lot, relative to all other Catholic churches), featuring especially some extremely intricate mosaic work of inlaid wood, tiles, and marble. A few pictures will spare me a thousand words.  Then we had lunch with Rafael and enjoyed views of the countryside , Granada , and the Sierra Nevada (not so "nevada" at this time of year) from the town of El Fargue.

We took an Alsa bus from Madrid, through countryside with seemingly endless rows of olive trees , arriving in Granada mid afternoon. After checking into our apartment near the Plaza Nueva and the Plaza de Santa Ana, we met up with our dear friend of 30+ years, Rafael Liñán . Together we strolled along the Carrera del Darro  and the Paseo de los Tristes (albeit joyfully), and turned up toward the Sacromonte, where Rafael showed us the gardens of Carmen de la Victoria . We then continued way up into the Sacromonte where we were most graciously welcomed at the home of Pepe and Cari Romero . Pepe's design of their Villa Carissa is so remarkable that I bet it will become an historical landmark, effectively "the house that Pepe built." In addition to Pepe being a revered master of the guitar, it turns out he's a brilliant home designer, too. Cari served the most delicious tapas imaginable, and we were so grateful to have been able to see both of them. The waxing moon was d...

Sunday seemed like a good day just to stroll in the park. In the morning we went to the Real Jardín Botánico . It was cool and peaceful. Here is a collection of photos of the bonsai section. In the afternoon we headed to the Retiro . Getting there was more challenging than it normally would have been because the major boulevards were cordoned off for a stage of La Vuelta bike race. We had to cross one boulevard via an underground passage for the metro, and another via an underground passage for a train station, but after those detours of several blocks we were eventually able to arrive at the Puerta de Alcalá and the entrance to the park.  Here are some photos from the Retiro , and, from the Rosaleda Cecilio Rodríguez , a bunch of rose photos.

We decided to make an excursion to the famous walled city of Ávila, an hour or so northwest of Madrid. This weekend is dedicated to the Jornadas Medievales , festivities ostensibly celebrating the multicultural history of the city. I expected it to be akin to a Renaissance fair, but it was more like undirected cosplay for some, and a good excuse for everyone to drink and to eat roasted meats . A kind of daytime hallowe'en, with people dressed as medieval soliders , a few even in armor, north Africans in robes and djellabas, and then pretty much anything else: peasant, Palestinian, Xena, and yes, even Batman. It was entertaining, but made anything resembling normal tourism pretty much impossible, so we just took it all in, enjoying the juxtaposition of ancient architecture and contemporary partying. Eventually we escaped the revelry to explore a few other corners of the old city , some of the surrounding contemporary city , and a nice park .