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In Which My Loins Are Stirred
April 5, 2008 by Mike
Cartagena
Route: San Jose - Carboneras - Mojacar - Puerto de Mazarron - Cartagena
Let me show you why I enjoyed this ride so much:
Coast roads aren't supposed to be that curvy! The coast is supposed to be at sea level... flat! And if those curves don't stir your loins, try
Made for bikes.
Other things which added to the pleasures of my day:
The earth around Mazarron was a deep red. The young Englishmen I met near Mojacar called me "dude" with no trace of irony. The Dutch woman who's only ridden 41km in her life on two wheels? She'll be hooked for life. I passed signs for a town called Los Lobos and sang their songs in my head for the rest of the day. I left Andalucia 158 days after I arrived. Bloody hell. I'm now in Murcia, which is tiny by comparison. I don't expect to still be here come September.
I'm stopping in Cartagena for a bit of culture and history (you'll be glad to hear, Katherine.)
What have I seen of it this evening? Most of the city was either getting married, celebrating someone's marriage or - those who were left -- standing around gawping.
All the men have mullets.
I got a crappy room in a low-rent pension bang in the middle of the historic downtown area, only to discover that nobody goes out here in the evenings. Except the men coming to the even lower-rent brothel which is housed in the pension. Luckily, I'm another three rickety floors up: I can't hear anything.
This is, by happy coincidence, the second time I've found myself staying in a Spanish brothel. But before any potential publishers think I've finally nailed a decent story out of this trip -- that was more than 20 years ago, when my then girlfriend got a free make-up lesson from a Brazilian prostitute who clearly felt that Nikki could do better than me, but only if she caked her face in rouge and lipstick. (We split up not long after.)
Luckily, the town reminds me of Bordeaux -- fine old houses and warehouses, products of a prosperous 19th century -- and I've got lots of museums to get stuck into. Tomorrow.
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By steve | April 10, 2008 7:39 PM
Mike,
it's good to start living my travel vicariously through you again! Ease up on the pics of sunshine and blue skies though, mate - have you any idea how cold it still is back here?? ;-)