Before leaving Granada Pakorn, Eyve and I decided to meet again in Sevillia within the next few days since we all had planed to go there too. In the meantime I set course for Malaga. I left Granada passing through the Sierra Nevada. The Sierra Nevada is actually a mountain national park in Spain. I assume that it was named long before the Sierra Nevada desert in the US and it is probably where the deserts name comes from.
The mountains are very tall and there is even a ski resort. It’s difficult to imagine that you can go skiing there in winter driving through the soaring 43 degrees heat in summer. I was told in winter it even snows down in Granada.

The view from the top was very nice.

I kept riding south towards Malaga passing a beautiful bright blue lake where I stopped for a little break to let my bikes engine cool after it had died once again. I wanted to stay at the lake for the night but I felt I hadn’t covered enough distance to already set up camp.

So I kept going and a while later I actually reached another lake just like it. There were official camp sites close to it which cost 20 Euros which I didn’t want to spend so I set up my tent in a little group of trees. Next to the beach (a no-no), next to the road (a no-no), and next to an official campsite (a no-no). It was free but it was not comfortable. It was on an incline. I didn’t sleep well because in my tent I inevitable rolled into the corner and slept being pushed into the tent wall without being able to move much.

Because of the wide angle of the GoPro camera lens it’s difficult to see how steep it actually is.

It’s more visible on my phone camera.

Turning the tent 90 degrees was actually even more uncomfortable.Turns out there is a good reason why beds are flat.

Since I didn’t even want to try to sleep and it was still relatively bright outside I decided it would be a nice idea to go for a swim in the lake in the middle of the night. The water was almost uncomfortably warm. Unfortunately the ground was also really muddy and not very deep. I kept getting stuck and it took me a good 10 minutes to get in far enough to actually swim.

(The GoPro Hero2 does not make amazing photos at night.)

When I got out instead of being clean I was covered knee deep in clay like mud. On top of that I had to walk back to my tent through some type of plants which have thousands of tiny seeds which make Velcro pale in comparison. I spent an hour tearing them from my legs, shorts and my towel. All in all I probably should have skipped the lake.

I packed my things the next day in the morning and reached Malaga a little after.

Malaga is not too big and there wasn’t a lot to see. I strolled through the city centre and visited yet another fortress on top of a hill. But it was by far not as impressive as the one from Granada and I was glad I had only payed three Euros entry unlike ~15Euro for the one in Granada which were worth it.

However a highlight for me was the Picasso Art Gallery. I had never seen a real Picasso painting before and I was and still am not hugely impressed with his work. I just can’t wrap my head around why his paintings are among the most expensive ones in the world. Picasso was born in Malaga so the included audio guide explained a lot about his life and motivation for his paintings. It’s now a little bit more clear to me why he painted the way he did in his later works but I still don’t think they are worth as much as they cost. He also made scultures out of garbage. No I can’t say I am a fan of his work.

More impressions from Malaga:

In the evening I decided to look for another hostel so I wouldn’t lose any time in the morning with packing my tent the following day since my goal was: Tangier, Morocco – Africa.

My approach to Granada was cut short when on the highway after a longer stretch of 120km/h the engine cut out again. Luckily the engine kindly announces that it will lock up within the next second  because before it does it completely loses all power. Only a second later it goes out. So I hit the clutch again, switched on the hazard lights and rolled to the hard shoulder.

Earlier in a post I complained a bit about drivers in Spanish cities but in general I was very pleasantly surprised about people on the highways. Nobody seems to be speeding even when they are almost alone on the highways. And they always switch on the hazards when there is any sight of danger or a jam. Especially the trucks often use the hazard lights when they are slowly crawling up a hill on the highway or going down. And most people got onto the lane farthest away from me making me feel safer despite having stopped facing the sun – in a left turn – on the peak of an incline.

Periodically I poured a lid full of water from a water bottle onto the engine to see how quickly it would evaporate.

At first it was instant. But when it was down to four seconds before it started to disappear I decided to get back on the road. The engine seemed cool enough to take another few dozens of kilometers, which it was.

It was and I reached Granada in the evening just as planed.

The landscape had changed drastically in just an hour. All of a sudden there were trees once again.

Wild camping would be getting easier again from here on.

Though in Granada I wanted to stay a longer than just one day so in order to not have to set up and pack my tent a few times in the same spot every day and get into the city from outside with all my things I decided to stay at a hostel.

Arriving in Granada I rode through the little lanes searching for the hostel I had found on the Hostelworld app.

The people at the hostel were really nice and at the end of my stay I didn’t want to leave the town. I had planed to stay for two days but if I recall correctly I stayed for four.

We ended up being a group of six people exploring Granada together.

From left to right: Amy (Australia), Asia (Poland), me, Pakorn (Thailand) later we were joined by Eyve (Switzerland) and Sofia (Mexico)

One of the most impressive places we visited was the Alcazaba, a medieval Muslim fortress decorated with incredible detail.

(Unfortunately I can’t rotate the photo at the moment.)

The view from up there was fantastic.

All kinds of citrus trees were scattered around the city and all over the south of Spain for that matter.

On one of the many free walking tours which you can attend all over Europe in touristy cities we learned about the (Muslim) history of Granada.

At a particular point in Granadas history all mosques were either destroyed or turned into churches. Not the case however with the cathedral of Granada.

The next morning my tent was covered with dew and because I didn’t want to pack a wet tent I waited until the sun came out to quickly dry it up and immediately turn the tent into a greenhouse forcing me out.

Today I was going to visit the last of the three western towns of the Tabernas Desert.

This one was going to be special. It was supposed to feature the main shooting location of what is said to be the best western movie of all time. The farm house of “Once upon in the west”. Another one of Sergio Leones masterpieces.

Finding the this last town was a bit more tricky because it was not signposted. Spending a bit of money on advertising wouldn’t be a bad idea. Although it seems to me that only people who plan a visit there and actively search for these places will come go there.

I did find the place and after purchasing a ticket at the entrance from a man who did not hide the fact that I was an inconvenience to his quiet day sitting in his booth I parked the bike in front of the gates.

“No Ingles, no credit card”

And with a calm voice he slowly but firmly -showing and incredible routine- uttered the words “Henry Fonda”  ——— “Claudia Cardinale” while slowly yet firmly pointing at the completely bleached photos behind him of the two Hollywood Stars of times long past. (They were part of the main cast of “Once upon a time in the west” shooting many scenes at this location.)

The first thing you see when you enter the palisades enclosed village is what you are looking for visiting this place. Bett McBains farm. The poor farmer who is about to get married but ends up dying along with is family at the hands of the villain – Frank (Henry Fonda).

On the outside the building is largely kept in it’s original state except for a few elements missing here and there and a new roof.

There really wasn’t much to see in this place other than the farm house but it was exactly what I was after. Another little part of big movie history.

The final scene. The duel that defined the word duel for all future movies to come. Henry Fonda facing off the hero “Harmonica”, Charles Bronson.

Like at the other villages this one was subject to constant alterations to suit different productions. In this instance the wall was removed and other buildings and a well added.

I spent a good three hours at this place before I decided to say goodbye to this mecca of the Spaghetti Western genre.

Before I left the Tabernas desert for good I wanted to explore a few gravel tracks leading into the heart of the desert.

 

On my way back I stopped one last time to capture the surreal European landscape.

By chance I took this photo opposite from where Monco and his horse are facing in a scene in “For a few dollars more”.

You can see the same road on my photo in the left lower corner.

It was time to keep going. My next stop would be Granada and I wanted to reach the medieval city which used to be of great importance many centuries ago before the end of the day. Not before a little detour though.

I got onto the highway aiming for Granada knowing that right on my rout there would be one last bit of western movie history I didn’t want to miss. It was the location of the train station of the opening sequence of “Once upon a time in the west” and the location of “Sweetwater”, the town with a railway station that Brett McBain wanted to found but didn’t get a chance to.

I reached the first location after an hour. It was great having found such a specific location in the middle of nowhere but it was a bit underwhelming. There is nothing left of the iconic train station. Only the mountains in the background and the still remaining earth deposit of the train tracks gives a hint that this is where the iconic opening scene of “Once upon a time in the west” was shot.

Filming one of the shots – (Sergio Leone with his hands on his back)

The very last western movie location on my Spain trip was the town in which “Misses McBain” (Claudia Cardinale) arrives before finding her husband to be dead on his farm.

In its place today, a farm. Again you can see the same mountain in the background.

Not knowing it I had stopped at a place which was actually two film sets in one location. I just had to turn my head to my right. Another train station. Featured in “The good the bad and the ugly” in “Once upon a time in the west” and I think also one of the original Django movies and last but not least one of my favorite movies “My name is Nobody”. I looked at the station and thought it looked oddly familiar but since I hadn’t read anything about it I disregarded it after taking a photo just to make sure I wasn’t missing anything.

Only later I realized that in fact it was a much used location. I even saw photos of a graffiti on the main buildings walls that reads “viva Leone”.

Here is the station in “The good the bad and the ugly” …

… and from the opposite direction in “Once upon a time in the west”.

These final locations conclude my Spaghetti Western movie history hunt. I got back onto the bike and back onto the highway. Up next was Granada.