The ferry left Melilla in the afternoon and when it arrived in Almeria it was dark, so I took a room at the Youth Hostel in Almeria for the night and left cycling northwest along the Mediterranean coast of Spain in the morning.

The first 50 kms, though slightly uphill, went well but then I started getting cramps and had to stop frequently on the road to relieve myself. At noontime, I had some tea and dry toasts at a small roadside restaurant and felt a little better.

The road, then, started really getting interesting... Winding and hilly... A lot of work, but really nice views. The last 15 kms heading into Mojacar were a gruelling climb followed by a long downhill. I settled near Mojacar, on the beach, and spent a day's rest there, doing a complete laundry (everything I wore in Morocco) and basking in the sun.

The Mediterranean coast of Spain... Rugged mountains, constant sunshine and quaint little villages in the most (un)likely (?) places... Lovely !

The day's rest did me good and I got over the "runs", but I now have a cold... Ah well, it will pass...

Still heading northeast, the first half of the day, to Aguilas, the ride went well but was uninteresting... Then the road got hilly and though a tough ride, it was beautiful. I settled for the night at Puerto de Mazarron

Cycling out of Puerto de Mazarron, the road curved into the interior and the first 15 kms were all uphill, gaining 360 meters into an elevated valley. At the pass, the panorama was just beautiful...

Pretty arid and hot... Lots of sweat cycling up these hills !

Then it was all mostly downhill or level. I didn't like what I saw at Torrevieja, so I decided to continue on till Alicante... 148 kms, my best day yet !

You know you're near a big city when the road, instead of going up and down a hill, goes through a tunnel... that's Alicante... and I settle there for the night.

I got up early and started off towards Denia. Stopped mid-morning for pastries and mid-afternoon for cold cerveza... it was real hot... Got to Denia by 5 PM and there was a ferry to Ibiza at 7 PM. Since my cold was bothering me a bit, I decided to nurse it on an island in the Mediterranean Sea. That should do it !

Got to Sant Antonio on Ibiza island in the wee hours of the morning. People were still partying in the streets at 2 AM. The village looked like a tourist trap for teenybopper partygoers... lots of young Brits. I found a place to crash and slept till morning.

I spent 2 full days on the island, wandering and cycling all over, sunbathing and swimming in the Med. I got over my cold.

Barcelona's a big city, there’s a lot to see and I spent 3 days there taking in the sights, museums (Modern Arts, Picasso & Miro museums), Park Gruel and "rambla" (main street lined with shops with an elongated park loaded with people separating the two driving lanes).

From Eivissa on Ibiza island, I took the ferry to Barcelona overnight and arrived in the early morning.

A big city with a smog problem... Barcelona still has a lot of colour and a humorous, if not surreal, disposition as can be seen at the Park Gruel designed by Gaudi, the famous Spanish architect...

Left Barcelona northeastward early in the morning for Girona on my way to Figuerès (to visit the Dali museum of which I'm a fan). The first 60 kms hugged the coast, was hilly but bearable. Village after village with no space in between. All resorts, beaches and nudists sunbathing (amazing I didn't have an accident continuously glancing on my right !).

The second half was due north, through the mountains... A few farms and forests... It was hot...

Looks like everybody wanted riverfront property... eh ?

Though a big city, Girona has a charmingly well-preserved medieval core... and hardly any tourists...

My only reason to pass through Figuerès is the museum conceived by and dedicated to the Spanish surrealist painter Salvador Dali... He is my favourite painter and I couldn't miss the opportunity. I spent a whole day there... along with about 6 bus loads of school kids from France, Germany and Spain (that I could identify)... After that, it was nice to get back cycling on a quiet road...

After cycling Southern Spain and Morocco, it appeared to me that the 20-year (and ongoing) drought in Morocco and the northward advance of the Sahara is beginning to affect Spain. So much so, that on the Mediterranean coast of Spain they're desalinating Mediterranean water for their water supply... and it's not a perfect process as the tap water still tastes salty...

Higher up, on the Med coast of Spain, they've really developed the tourist market... with so little rain and so many hot and sunny days... In fact, between Mojacar and Girona, it's virtually one resort village after the other on the beach... with lots of scantily clad (if at all) sunbathing... Well it made the cycling northward somewhat distracting... with my right eye on the beach most of the time...