Salobreña

Yesterday a bunch of people from my program took a bus to Salobreña, one of Spain’s whitewashed coastal towns.  Sorry, Pacific, but the Mediterranean has you owned!  For swimming, at least.  It’s warm, the waves are gentle, and it’s super salty so it was really easy to swim and float.  It was by far the most pleasant water I’ve ever swum in. 

Salobreña

The town of Salobreña was beautiful.  Much of it is built on the side of a hill, and at the highest point there’s this Moorish castle built in the 10^th century!  Kimberly and I both really wanted to check it out, so wandered around for awhile trying to figure out how to take a bus up the hill.  Eventually, we ran into a British couple who told us that you have to walk since the streets at the top of the hill are too narrow for driving, so we set off in search of the castle on foot.  The way there was gorgeous!  The streets were incredibly narrow and labyrinthine, and the houses were all white and beautiful, with mosaic tile pathways, lots of flowers, and awesome views of the Mediterranean, the city, and the surrounding country.  It didn’t feel like we were walking through a city—maybe a painting or a movie set.  It was just so beautiful that it didn’t seem like real people could actually live there.

 

Pretty much all of the castle that we got to see.  Still, it was definitely worth the walk!

We eventually made it to the castle, but unfortunately it was closed for the afternoon siesta.  This was really disappointing, so we explored around for awhile in an attempt to at least see more of the ruins from the outside.  After climbing up on top of a roof and unfortunately running into the person who lived in the house down below, we decided to save the castle for another time. 

I'm going to put some more pictures on facebook, but they really don't do the scenery justice.  Anyway, I miss you all!