Goodbye Andalusia

Time flies very fast. After two months in Andalusia it is time to say “Goodbye”. Here is a short summary of things I did during my stay.

For new year’s eve I hiked up the hill behind the La Chanca district of Almeria. My idea was to take a nice panorama with all the fireworks above the city. When the people in the street where counting down the last seconds of 2017 I was ready to shoot. “3, 2, 1, …” but nothing happened. I thought “Well, perhaps the Spaniards are slow starters.“. Unfortunately, I was not aware that fireworks is not famous in Spain. I had to blend the photos of about 30min together in order to get something that was similar to what I was aiming for.

One awesome thing about southern Spain is the short distance to northern Africa. You can literally take a ferry for a weekend trip to Africa. Ferries leaving from Almeria usually take 6-8 hours to destinations in Morocco or Algeria. I did a weekend trip to the UNESCO world heritage site in Fez/Morocco. The medieval city center is definitely worth visiting. Especially if you are interested in people. On the way to Fez I also drove up into the Atlas mountains. Unfortunately, I did not have more time. Morocco is a rewarding destination: easy to travel, cheap, and exotic.

There are many more locations to explore around Almeria like the nearby Sierra Nevada or the Tabernas dessert. One weekend I drove to the Lighthouse of Cabo de Gata. To the bottom of the lighthouse is a famous photography spot where you can photograph the rocks of the Las Sirenas reef. Instead of taking a shot of the grand vista I wanted to shoot a close-up off the most famous rock so that details of the texture become visible.

I was lucky that morning: the waves hitting the rocks caused spray that caught the first rays of the morning sun and created nice light spots. I decided to go for a long exposure to create a moody and quiet image. I am pretty happy with the result.

It was an awesome time in Almeria. Let’s see when I will come back to spend some more time in this region. Let’s continue!