Easter in Adra

The weather continued to be kindly as we sailed North up the Spanish Costas.

The next port we entered was the rather neglected and surprisingly empty half finished marina at Adra. Not well represented by the pilot, it is a little gem. Very Spanish, with a distinct lack of English abroad. In fact it is difficult to find anyone who speaks English.

It is an unassuming town with a history it is very proud of there are a few preserved remains of its past evident as you walk around the town. like many sea ports on the Spanish coast at some point in history it was fortified.

 As is usual the Church is the centre of social events and festivals and we decided to stay over for Easter.

 The disused lighthouse is conspicuous from seaward and later we would visit it as part of the cheapest tourist attraction ticket we have ever found!

We bought a ticket to the local museum which also entitled us to visit an old restored watermill .

Which had to be opened up and lights switched on for us, an interesting look at local history.

The local church is free to visit and we went to see the Easter floats which are parade around the town during Easter week.

As is usual these are large heavy and require a large amount of manpower to manoeuvre.

The parades always began and finished at the church proceeding down towards the Town Hall.

A lot of the floats were unusual in that the people carrying them were hidden beneath with only their feet showing, this required several men to steer the thing around the streets. If you are familiar with Terry Pratchetts Discworld books and recall "Luggage" you will get the idea!

Our bargain ticket also entitled us to visit the Civil war bomb shelters, again yhese were specially opened up and lit for our visit along with a guided tour by one of the ladies from Tourist information.

These were fascinating and augmented by a loud sound effects recording being played as we explored the complex of tunnels beneath the lighthouse, which actually acted as a ventilation shaft for the many people sheltering here during hostilities when the Condor legions were attacking from the air.

  A rather nice surprise was the arrival of Modus Vivendi direct from Gibraltar.

The virtually empty marina was a perfect place to practise Med mooring and Maureen was kind enough to give Lynne a haircut, leaving plenty of nest material in the pontoon for the birds....

We enjoyed the usual meal and drinks ashore to celebrate our brief reunion. Its so nice to meet up with old friends, one of the lovely things about the cruising life.