Oh, sweet mountains. Sierra de Orihuela.

We are so fortunate to live between the mountains and the sea. My latest discovery is that I love the sea. Its sound, waves breaking on the shore and distant horizon. On the other hand, I’ve always known that I love mountains. Their vastness, depths, and diversity. One sunny day we decided to remind ourselves of this feeling of changing perspective which mountains give you.

Thanks to Google Earth we took the direction. Sierra de Orihuela rises only 25 km from our home. There are a parking lot and a viewpoint Mirador del Palmeral along N-340 road, just before the tunnel before Orihuela. This was our starting point.

We didn’t waste time to make sandwiches. There are shops on the way and we can buy ready ones, don’t we? First Lidl. No sandwiches. Masymas. Nothing. No shop for the next 15 km. Then we spotted the gas station. Nothing similar to bread. We cannot go to the mountains without supplies! We passed our parking space and continued to Orihuela. There must be something! And there was. Dia supermarket. We bought baguettes, cheese, ham, and chorizo. It will be delicious!

We drove back to the parking spot. We would have had to make a U-turn anyway, cause it wasn’t possible to drive off there from the other side of the street. On the parking, there were few stone tables with benches, climbing routes map and a beautiful view of Orihuela. I want to visit a palm forest one day.

We were preparing for the trek when we spotted birds in vivid colors. I would say they are pigeons, but those colors were misleading. Later home we’ve asked uncle Google and he said, pigeon breeders in Spain color their birds so that they may be recognized by the judges during the contests…

We set off. The perspective in mountains changes. Not only because you are so small in comparison to them but also because they often look unclimbable from the bottom. Then, with every step, you discover a new path and you are higher and higher and new sights reveal in front of you. And when you reach your final spot, you look down and cannot believe you have made it. You look around and enjoy the space, the power and greatness. The way down surprises you again. It looks like an amazingly long way but step by step you find yourself at the foot of the mountains. A few moments ago you were up there and now you are here. Magic.

It was exactly our case. We didn’t go far because it’s not that easy to climb with a child on your back. Especially, that this side of Sierra de Orihuela is more suitable for climbers than walkers. Kaprys was unstoppable, though. He jumped from one stone to the other like a mountain goat. We had a picnic under one of the holes in rocks (it was too small to call it a cave). The place was steep but with a beautiful view and in full sun. Tomek is a lucky guy to experience such scenes in such a young age.

You will find more photos from our short but wonderful trip below.

Sierra de Orihuela