Around the Adriatic Sea 2026: Trieste – Dubrovnik
All photos: Balkan photos, city photos. The photos of the cycle route are listed in reverse chronological order. Those of the cities are listed chronologically.
5 March: hike in the Parque Nacional Doñana
The son of Manuel Ramón, my Warm Showers-host with whom I stayed for three nights has an outdoor activities company and he, a teacher of geology and biology, organises nature walks of geographical and ecological interest all over Andalusia (see https://andaluciageographic.com/).
On Sunday, he invited me to take a walk with a group of 55 people near the Parque Nacional Doñana, about 140 km from Marchena.
We left at 8:00 by bus and had breakfast on the way. Around 10:30 we arrived at the Doñada natural park. Since the park itself is not open to the public and can only be visited by 4×4 buses, we had to walk along its border.
For 7 km we followed the Raya Real, a 70-metre-wide dirt path through pine forests formerly used by cattle. It led in one straight line to the royal palace (Palacio del Rey), a former hunting resort of the royal family.
At 13:30, it started raining and we had to take shelter under a pine tree to eat our lunch.
Then we had to walk another 5 km to the pilgrimage site of El Rocio, with the famous 'Ermita de Santa María de Las Rocinas'. Every year in the last week of May, 1 million people, mostly on foot or horseback, travel to this village to venerate the Virgen del Rocio.
Because there are so many horses in the village, it has no paved roads. It felt a bit like a village in a western movie.
All in all, we hiked 18 km today, mostly in loose sand.
All photos: Balkan photos, city photos. The photos of the cycle route are listed in reverse chronological order. Those of the cities are listed chronologically.
In Venice, I visited the Biennale at the Arsenale, the Giardini and various venues around the city. I also took the opportunity to see the Pinault collection at Punta della Dogana and a compelling exhibition by Michael Armitage at Palazzo Grassi.
