“Here there were always chickens running loose on the esplanade, a laundry room at the entrance, fish dryers, especially tuna or octopus, or some mako, a boat slip, a small jetty and in the sea, some trawlers that the natives call boats. , sheltered from the Levante winds”.
If someone were to read this excerpt from Campos de Níjar by Juan Goytisolo in front of the Isleta del Moro again today, they would realize that this small fishing village continues to be practically the same. Like a Polaroid photo, a retro postcard of that summer, of so many among coves dotted with boats, hills from which prickly pears sprout and whitewashed houses in whose patios, I suspect, a mermaid's tail is lying.
If you plan to visit the famous natural park of Cabo de Gata in the coming months, you cannot miss a stop at Isleta de Moro, a small town with only 141 inhabitants located 10 kilometers from Las Negras and 11 kilometers from San José.
A barefoot boy waits by the jetty, ready to launch into the Mediterranean. A woman in a flowered dress leans out of the window, assuring that she can read the future hidden in the palm of my hand, an old telephone booth, so many air conditioners eroded by saltpeter and boats with tattooed names of old lovers.
When the car enters a certain blue and white oasis on the coast of the Cabo de Gata natural park, it seems to many of us to do it in a DeLorean, like the best time travel. The Isleta del Moro Arráez owes its name to its former condition as a refuge for Barbary pirates, although today it continues to be the best oasis to go to in search of calm and customs.
On the Isleta there is no list of tourist places, nor a museum or a historical fortress, but it is not necessary. Here the experience consists of getting lost among its few whitewashed houses, leaning out to the sea that spies from all corners and sitting among that colorful fruit salad made up of the boats, almost forced between the houses by an old sea god.
Do not forget to devour a pizza at the Isoletta restaurant, perhaps more than one beer on the terrace of the mythical bar La Ola, or try an ice cream at Helados del Desierto while we ascend to the viewpoint of the town. The homonymous cove, where the ocher color of the volcanic earth accentuates the Mediterranean blue. Or sit on top of one of the two rocks that protect the bay, those two ancient Moorish eggs, as the locals used to call these cliffs.
We could stay a summer on the Isleta to be children again and jump into the sea but, especially, make it the beginning of a great adventure through the iconic Cabo de Gata.
Although the Isleta del Moro is usually a typical stop between the two main tourist bastions of Cabo de Gata -the towns of San José and Las Negras-, in this village we can also find some accommodation and Airbnb options. In addition, you will find services for boat trips along the coast and other activities to enjoy following the advice of that typical bar called Sobre la Marcha. Here, the escapist philosophy is reflected even in the name of their businesses.
With La Isleta as our base port, we can always use the car or motorbike to meander through the mysteries of this dreamy coast. To the north, we come across the town of Las Negras, a prelude to a San Pedro cove where an ecological community coexists with chambaos that sigh in the heart of the cliffs and a spectacular beach whose pilgrimage we can make in two ways: by boat or on foot during a route that does not reach the hour of duration. On the way back, and before returning to the Isleta, we can always treat ourselves to a snorkeling session in El Playazo or wander around the old alum mines of Rodalquilar.
If you decide to head south, the town of San José will be waiting for you, preceded by the old Cortijo del Fraile. This old house was the scene of the fateful "crime of Níjar" that happened to the wedding between Casimiro Pérez and Francisca Cañadas, who fled with her cousin. Years later, the event that occurred in 1928 would inspire the novel Puñal de Claveles by Carmen de Burgos and the iconic work Bodas de sangre by Federico García Lorca.
A lament that still floats among the whitewashed houses of San José, its small Mediterranean square - a cocktail at El Duende? And so much fried fish at Casa Miguel-. Simple pleasures to connect with some of the best beaches not only in Almería, but perhaps in all of Andalusia: the coarse and Sunday cove of the Genoveses, the nudist Barronal or the secret Amarilla cove, accessible through the steep coast until reaching a set of of caves in front of a beach that could only be yours in the middle of August.
And continue to the Cabo de Gata lighthouse, deciphering the ancient messages from sea lions that fishermen confused with the whispers of women with fish tails on the Sirens reef. There goes a flamingo whose pink blends with the water of the salt flats, the cracked roads, the feeling of nostalgia so typical of the 60s.
But always, the sight of a child by the sea in every town, every little white house. The boy who seems lost in time. That child that, in reality, you always become again when you arrive at the Isleta.
