A quick position report. Been moving quickly at times. and a lot to do & see .At present in Roses Northern Spain & due to spend a couple of days at Salvador Dalis home town bay etc at anchor before departing for Marsellie France.So hopefully will get to update the blog soon. Thank you Lluis & Merce ,teachers on a hikeing holiday costa brava. for a lovely hike through the wetlands of Roses Emporuim & lessons in Catalan . Yes different from Spanish Mucho Gracias

Alicante .Another beautiful old city With a long history. Founded by the Cartheginians.Occupied by the Romans.Moors& the British during the peninsular wars & used as a merchantile base. More recently a republican center of resistance during the Civil War .
A Large Marina. at the foot of town .Adjacent to large commercial port.
Start line of the volvo around the world yacht race.
Beautiful marble laid & tree lined waterfront boulovards.
Several lovely marble laid main streets.& interesting cobbled streets through the old quarters .
Many fine restaraunts ..Extensive & well preserved old fort overlooking the city & the Med.A very pleasant stop

Out on the early morning breeze & mid morning calm to motor the last 24 miles to Alicante.
Alicante start line of the Volvo around the world race. Another beautiful city with beautifully marble laid , tree & restarunt lined broad estradas boardering the waterfont.A beautifull large marina & club nautic @ the foot of town..Several broad and marbled main streets.Many narrow cobblestone & restaraunt lined narrow streets through the old quarter.. Situated in a large plain surrounded by rugged dry hills perched on the edge of the blue Mediteranean with endless warm days and clear skies. ummmmm With the normal long & ancient history typical of many older towns of the area.Overlooked on a nearby hill ,by a massive roman moorish ,spanish medeival fort .

Departed Cartagena early morning to once again take advantage of the earlymorning calm.But instead encountring a good kn breeze blowing off the hills with the occassional 25knt willawaw descending from the nearby mountain range.
A quick 10 mile sail along the oft mine scared hillsides saw us rounding cape to head nth past the highrise buildup on Mar Menor a sand barrier enclosing a 10 x 3 mile inland sea.Desination., the large salt loading & fishing port of Torrevieja. Tyingup up stern too @ a large modern marina in Torrevieja for the evening. The normal foray into town for the local fare for an evening meal.
Again Torrevieja
another very interesting town with its honest working classs bones showing through. Even though some development to cater for the developing tourist market has occurred much of the old working town & spanish culture remains ....based historically to the present on large scale salt production from 2 large salt lakes close to town
http://www.spain-holiday.com/Alicante-province/articles/alicantes-pink-and-green-salt-lakes

To be possibly understood?? By the local Spanish . Pronounced."something like Cartaharr_eena "
Guarded by rugged dry protective headlands
The surrounding hills covered in numorous forts ,constructed by the various conquering powers. Carthegenians, Romans, Moor,s ,Spanish.
Some of recent build ,& still used by the Spanish navy for communications ,"judging by the number of antennas".& observation.
Established by the Carthaginians ,taken over & expanded by the Romans .The nearby lead & silver mineral deposits ,being exploited by both.
Cartagena is a natural harbour, the 1st since Gibraltar. Accomodating 2 marinas ,several fishing basins ,a cargo port .plus large areas used by the Spanish navy & submarine base.
The waterfront has been well developed with wide boulovards, estradas, walkways,& plazas
The streets & Plazas of the old town ,as seems to be the practice of the larger towns is beautifully laid with marble paving stones.
Close to the main street is the remains of an old Roman Amphitheatre undergoing excavation & restoration.

Aguilas.
A town with huge character .Originally more of a frontier town. Used by the Romans as a fishing port to process & ship dried fish sauce to Rome . Inhabited & administered by the Moors, Raided by the Berbers till late 18th centuary . Established as a mining port with strong British interests ,flourishing through 18-1900s mining boom..
Set on an extensive dry plain. Backed by distant high sierras .Built along two bays .Sporting a fishing harbour & marina. Plus a nice new marina Juan Montiel...in the south of town .The waterfront boulevard lined with a row of modest new apartments sporting the ocassional restaraunt.
Overlooked by a quite formidible fort set on a high outcrop..A town with a long & varied history .
A short walk through the cobbled stone streets past very modest dwellings to the back streets of town the railway line ,along which a passanger service still runs 3 times / week ...vacant railway workshops . Abandoned smellters & refining tailing heaps .seemed to display the rugged hard fought battles & fortunes of Aguilas. Now shrugging off its industrial past & slowley recovering with tourisim. agriculture & horticulture.
There was something down to earth , to be liked about Aguilas.A very peacefull evening spent at the hilltop-fort restaraunt. Overlooking the sea,, plains , town. Mucho Saudade,,,,Downing a few Cervezias ,served by a very ."Our place is your place",welcoming ,sympatico staff. Who new they had a very special place to watch the sun go down each evening.

http://murciatoday.com/history-of-aguilas_11030-a.html#.VXM7gb1wZDs

Cosata Blanca perhaps 300 miles of coastline in the sth east corner of Spain an area of extremely dry white looking Sierras bordering the cost . Rich in minerals .Silver ,Lead & Gypsum.The present , mined & loaded mineral..
Also 1/2hr drive inland is the area used to film .The Good the Bad & The Ugly. Clint Eastwood,IndianaJones & several otherr famous movies .

Sets. Still standing. .
An area well exploited by Cartagenians ,Romans, ,Moors, The conquering Castillians,,Raiding Corsasirs of the Barbary Coast .Carrying of what was easy to lift & carry. eg,slaves ,food, possessions.etc. .... still exploited heavily today for gypsum ,silver ,lead ,salt amongst other . minerals...
Departed Garrucha .Again early morning to take advantage of the early morning calm & offshore sea breezes that seem to develop with the early morning cool.
To be in position for the regular Northerly then East North East 10- 20 knts breeze that seems to regularly develop by 1pm each afternoon.

After a very pleasing visit to the lovely old city
of Granada taking in the Main highlight the Nazrim ie Sultans palace at the Alhambra in the early morning .It was a pleasant trip back to Marina Almerimar through rugged seirras ,along the well developed motorways & rather tricky interchanges ,,,, "for uninitiated & unalert drivers". Stopping to take in another pleasant lunch @ yet another small "white town" in the process.
An early start wednesday 27th May morning to cover the last few remaining miles across Bay de Almeria to round the extremely rugged, dry, barren point of Cabo de Gata .Head north east on our Discovery of Costa de Blanca.
Thirty Eight miles of motoring to reach the very active fishing & minethe arearal loading port of Garrucha . Used since Roman times as a base to exploit the rich mineral resources of the area.
Tied alongside a large modern lightly tenanted marina.late afternoon
Time to take in a highly locally recommended local restaurant to sample the indigenous red prawns & seafood .All with mixed reviews.

Hired a rental car today for a two day visit to Granada - a must see for everyone visiting Spain -and what a gem of a city it is - 1000 years of history - the Moors were here for a very long time and built the amazing Alhambra- a series of structures from the Alcazar high on the hill overlooking the city to the sumptuous palaces of the sultans and the beautiful gardens - Granada was the last city of the Moors to fall to Spain 500 years ago and then came the Royal Monarchs of Spain who plonked an incongruous palace right in the middle of the Alhambra - many of the Moorish structures were altered or removed over the ensuing centuries the worst vandal being Napoleon who planned on blowing the place up! thankfully that didn't happen and the present day Alhambra is a magical place to visit. Tickets are hard to obtain at short notice but we were determined to visit it so queued early morning for 2 hours to get in. Granada has a great vibe - it is well worth walking up the narrow streets through the old medieval town to view the city and surrounds - a visit of the Royal Chapel adjacent to the Cathedral is recommended as well - here lie the Catholic Monarchs Isabel & Ferdinand ( in lead coffins no less) who were responsible for uniting Spain and finally defeating the Muslims.