Rag dolled!

The Alcazaba founded in the mid-10th century is a looming fortification with great curtain-like walls rising from the cliffs towering over Almeria.

It is regarded as one of the most powerful Moorish fortresses in Spain and while it pales when compared with Granada’s Alhambra, it is nonetheless a compelling monument.

The effort of climbing the many flights of stairs, as we did this morning is well worth it as there is a superb view over Almeria and the Mediterranean 

The Alcazaba is for all intents and purposes an archaeological site which is still being studied to recreate various aspects of life in the fortress and in Almeria.

Another interesting snippet re Almeria is that John Lennon wrote the song Strawberry Fields Forever while in Almeria and there is a statue of him in the Plaza de Las Flores

After a rather poor lunch we went for a swim at the Playa de las Conchas part of the beach that stretches for 1.55kms east from the bottom of Almeria's Main Street and is a 15 minute walk into a very strong warm breeze blowing in from the Med.

Along the beach there were people as far as the eye could see but interestingly nobody was further out in the water than around 2-3m and as we entered the water the reason became obvious - from stepping into the water within that 2-3m the depth changed from 0 to over ones head.

Also the waves approached the shoreline at around a 45 degree angle (east to west) and broke in that last few metres creating a very turbulent area within the first metre so much so that when Sherry tried to stand to get out after the swim she was thrown back down 4 or 5 times being buffeted around like a rag doll and it took all of her effort to stand - having got to her feet she needed to go back into the tide to wash all the small pebbles that had filled her bathing suit!

This was our first swim in the Mediterranean (all swims on our previous holidays if we recall correctly have been in the Adriatic) and the water was very tepid.

I don't know whether the more enjoyable aspect was the swimming or ogling the topless women as there were more tits on display than you would see in a week of watching porno films!

The beaches are very well managed with system of flags signifying whether the beach is safe to swim, whether there are jelly fish or even the beach is closed.

Every week during the high season both the water and the sand are tested for e-Coli with the results being published on a website.

P.S. Hope dinner tonight is more inspiring than lunch  - we will see.