October 2020
As promised, here comes the juiciest part of the trip. The part, which makes its whole purpose. As I said in the first article, it has been a while since Bardenas became quite a popular destination for French tourists, and as it turned out, the whole tourism infrastructure seemed to be directed to the “French market” only. As if the French Instagram was the only one to get a hold of this beautiful desert. Probably things have changed over the last two years, but back in 2020, the presence of French signs in the area was dense, which made us feel as if we were in the Disneyland. Fortunately, the end of October was not the high season, so we got our portion of calm and wilderness.
On our last trip to Spain, we checked if living on tapas and sangria was humanly possible. The answer was: no, not really. However, there is no reason not to repeat the experiment, so on our way we treated ourselves to all our favourites, and not a single town or village was a disappointment. That’s one of the reasons why we love Spain so much.
Arguedas
In the previous article we talked about a change of scenery, and once we got in the desert area, it was striking indeed. I hate comparisons like “Spanish Arizona” etc., especially considering that I have never set a foot to the USA, but seeing the landscape around Arguedas, it was hard to believe we were only two hundred kilometers from a very mountain environment.
I admit, our expectations were high. Unfortunately, straight away we were out of luck – the weather was gray and gloomy, but not in a beautiful way. On the contrary, from a photographer’s point of view, it was flat and blinding at the same time. Then came a bitter disappointment connected to those very expectations. It turned out that the most picturesque parts of the desert are concentrated on a very small patch of territory. We, in the meantime, decided to see EVERY road of the park. The trouble is that the roads there are far from being the most convenient ones for the purpose AND our van. Basically, we spent the entire day driving on the roads with no asphalt with a snail speed – a very shaky experience I wouldn’t like to live through again? All this while looking at quite a repetitive landscape. With a shitty light. Sounds fantastic, doesn’t it?
Thus said, by no means it was not worth it. It was totally our fault, because no matter how experienced we are, the trouble of the high expectations is still there. Besides, we totally misjudged the weather conditions and froze like idiots.
Even if this blog became a story of two travel bores, let me warn you, my dear wanderer. Staying on the principal track around Bardenas Reales natural wonders is more than enough. If you are an off-road cyclist, you will be very happy there. If you skip the longer itinerary, you won’t miss anything important or extraordinary, I promise you. And please, dress up correctly according to the weather conditions.
The second day looked much more promising in terms of “photographer-friendly” light so we took the best decision of the whole trip and took the the smaller itinerary once more time. From that moment, we felt how the appreciation of Bardenas was rising with an astonishing speed. Our joy from being back to the beautiful light resulted in hundreds of pictures and even after a thorough selection, we still had almost a thousand of them on the disc. We know no moderation.
I do admire nature’s sense of beauty,. I am also very happy to live in Europe where there are so many diverse and interesting landscapes on short distances.
One thing is clear: Bardenas Reales is an amazing place for any kind of photo shoot, and we were ready. For the first time in our lives we actually made an effort to look good while travelling. I am pleased with the result, and so is Xavier.
The last part article will be about our road back to Pau, passing through another valley in the Pyrenees and seeing another unexpected face of Spain. See you there!
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