Craving for tranquility in August is a huge challenge and I believe this year most of the places saw the exponential surge in visitors, as the humanity craved holiday destinations. Paradoxically, the search of the tranquility for many of us cramped also typically quiet, rural spots. Since I have been changing jobs, making sure to leave one ship prepared to sail further and setting the sails for the next one’s course, planning our time off has been more of a spontaneous luck charm. The in between personal destination has been set for Cabo de Gata.

Known for arid, out-of-this-planet landscapes, hundreds of more or less accessible beaches, low-key caravan destination and warm, crystalline waters, Cabo de Gata still attracts thousands of travelers – mostly from around Spain, but occasional German, or French road trip aficionados can be spotted.

We stayed at the rural hotel with little-to-none Internet and mobile coverage, in the middle of the desert, overlooking the sleepy seaside village and the lighthouse. There was only one restaurant to go to, opening late at night within the 2 km of walking trail distance. There was nothing better than the walk at the sunset as well as the return in the moonlight. The smell of the volcanic, dry soil reminded me a lot of places like Canary Islands, Guadix or Atacama Desert.

Driving around the area is a sheer pleasure, especially in the morning light passing through the sleepy towns, and villages. It is worth mentioning that if the area was not protected as a national park, it would soon become a ‘sea of plastic’. Not for the pollution, but for the production. Named as one of the Netflix series Mar de Plastico describes hundreds of kilometers of the plantations in Granada, Almeria, and Murcia’s coastal provinces where the most of the produce eaten out by the European population is grown nowadays. As the area suffers from substantial water shortages, Spain is leading the way of making the most of it, using the tropical humidity and GMO to be the most sustainable in feeding the rest of the continent 365 days per year.

 

We stayed in the area of Los Escullos, famous for its oolic dunes, similar as I have once seen in the Northern part of Taiwan. The sunlight changing into moonlight in such a cosmic scenery adds to the magic, similarly as the distant calls of skylarks, cooing of the Iberian quails, and chirps of various cricket species.

The variety of fish, the plants consisting of the Mediterranean forest impressed us a lot. We even tried fried ortiguillas del mar – fried algae species typical for other remote places, like Flores where I managed to eat a similar treat. The most beautiful part of it was to observe the water plants floating freely serving the school of fish to hide and feed themselves, too! We also shared a dormitory with a friendly gecko who saved us from the tiger mosquitos.

I prefer not to name the beaches we visited, to keep the memories and places private and secret. Some of them still have remnants of the unfortunate yachts who caught a storm, and vast parking spots which are already crowded during the summer season. Some of them are rocky, some of them have pristine white sand. I don’t think Cabo de Gata needs more visitors, quite the opposite, to keep it sustainable. It is a very raw place for the nature lovers and not those who queue up for the Instagram / TikTok pose on the vulnerable oolic dune, or brag about shooting the hares, or quails. The respect for the environment, and its fragility shows up in a full scope in such a place – let’s make sure we preserve it, not even stepping outside of the sandy path when snorkeling with friendly species. I will probably return, but off the season, enjoying the total remoteness and disconnection, not even 3 hours drive from home.