Leaving Spain’s beautiful East Coast at Almería and Cabo de Gata, the road would lead inland to Granada, one of the last Moorish strongholds before the completion of the Christian reconquista of the Peninsula and a city of which I heard tales of silver and gold from a friend who spent an Erasmus semester inside its walls.
The city, however, will be talked about elsewhere. It was the road leading there that surprised me most.
As said, the coast was left in favor of the shorter route inland, promising a sight of the snow covered Sierra Nevada.
It felt like traveling continents and five climate zones!
First, about half an hour into the freeway, the landscape turned red, brown and barren as we passed the Tabernas Desert. Then, there followed a swift rise into some highland plateau with thousands of windmills. The tall white ones that produce electricity, not the iconic grain-mills of Don Quijote. Guess what. We choose to drive about the windiest road in Spain on motorbike.
In the distance, however, we got a glimpse on the snow-covered summits of the Sierras. About an hour later, with the wind fading, the road would take another steep ascent and before knowing what happened the drive lead through passes between the summits, snow next to the asphalt shining in the sun and roadsigns indicating ski resorts everywhere. Like Switzerland in spring when the snow starts melting and its time to hit the slopes in a t-shirt. In Spain!
It followed a very steep decent into Granada, now, after the dry coast, the desert, the treeless highlands and the snowy mountains, green and covered with trees. A bit cooler than the Mediterranean shores, but surely beautiful.
Travel and Explore 