Spain - Day 11

The Tabernas area about 30km north of Almería is the driest place in Europe and its only true desert. This is also where Sergio Leone's A Fistful of Dollars and other Spaghetti Westerns were filmed. There are a couple of "Wild West" theme parks here.

We drove and parked at the village of Tabernas, and set off on a circular walk.

As we headed into the desert the vegetation got less and less, and there were spectacular rock formations too.

We're pretty sure we saw a Bonelli's eagle, but it was too far away to photograph. We saw a strange plant in a dry river bed as we had our lunch.

As we headed back towards the village there was evidence of old irrigation aqueducts.

Back in Tabernas itself we walked up to the castle on the hill above the village. This of course had good views of the desert.

The walk was about 13km in total. We had a drink and tapas in a bar near where we'd parked the car. Grilled pork and croquettes again.

We drove back to the apartment. Later in the evening we went out for a Mexican meal at La Lupe in the city centre. It was fine but not outstanding.