We've been playing at being Geographers/Turistas mainly the last two weeks, but Dave also had a great meeting with Santiago Robles of CIMERA and UNIPESCA in Madrid. Santiago and his colleagues at CIMERA (a private aquatic research firm - see link at right) are engaged in important work on aquatic invasive species identification in waterways, and in aquatic systems assessments and restoration. Santiago is also the Secretary of UNIPESCA which is a relatively new national organization in Spain that is committed to river and fishery conservation, and which has a number of regional partners across Spain and in other countries. As Santiago related to me, and from what I've seen, there are many challenges for river, lake, reservoir, and fisheries management - especially for native or autochthonous species - across all of Spain because of the limited water resources and their appropriation for hydropower, agriculture, and development. Since leaving Madrid to visit Granada and the Costa del Sol, these challenges are very apparent!
As for tourism/geography - our travels have been fantastic. There is not time or space to show all the pictures and convey all of our impressions about what we've been seeing, so I will try to sum this up very briefly. Toledo - we camped and saw fantastic historical geography. The city is situated on a hill around which the Rio Tajo wraps (Santiago reported that the headwaters of this river are quite pristine still); Madrid - finally found Starbucks and have good coffee again (a real problem in Spain and France, believe it or not). Stayed at the Galeon Hotel for four nights so Rio could nurse a cold and his online courses. Met with Santiago and Ari and I then toured the city center (Plaza Mayor, Palacio Real, Parque Oeste, La Latina district). From Madrid we visited Granada staying in a little mobile home (bungalow) in a campground outside. Fantastic city that is surrounded by olive groves (for oil production), has the snow covered Sierra Nevada as a backdrop, and the Alhambra of course (which we visited - water is very important there).
From Granada we had a quick tour of the Valle Lecrin where some of the Moors displaced from Granada in 1492 sought refuge and established a number of villages on the SE flank of the Sierra Nevada (see photo above). Here is a zone that supports olive, almond, and citrus production - the Mediterranean is very close by, but this valley is still high in the mountains.
Now we're near Gibraltar on the Costa del Sol soaking up a little sun for the next week before turning back north towards Paris where we will return our car for a flight to Israel on December 5. We'll go see Gibraltar but have decided to forego a visit to Tangier this time - muy turistico para nosotros!
Thanks for following our travels and Dave will post more later - Peace to all!
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