Don’t necessarily think sand dunes. These expanses are made up of stones, covered with scrubland and ravines, adjoin the sea like the peaks. No mirage, these are indeed deserts.
In Spain: Tabernas, like a western setting
What do spaghetti westerns have in common? The good, the bad and the uglyFrench comedy Megalomania and the series Game Of Thrones ? A natural setting, the Tabernas Desert, in Spain, capable of giving the perfect illusion of the Sahara or the American West. The extreme aridity and the infernal heat which reign there between May and September invite you to discover the natural park in autumn or winter. While the town of Tabernas, with its 4,000 inhabitants and whitewashed houses, typical of southern Andalusia, is alive and well, it is the gateway to entirely fictional “film villages”, such as Mini Hollywood, turned into an amusement park. More striking, the walk on the PR-A 269 hiking trail plunges into splendid canyons, fixed on film by Sergio Leone, and which immediately bring to mind the music of Ennio Morricone.
In Corsica: les Agriates, a maquis with the air of paradise
Is a desert where dozens of springs of fresh water gush out and which turns green every spring really a desert? Yes, if we talk about the Agriates desert, in the north of Corsica, which owes its current name to English tourists who considered desert – empty of any population – these old agricultural lands gradually returned to maquis by the rural exodus. Today, the 16,000 hectares of scrubland, which goes from the sea to the mountains, west of the village of Saint-Florent, remain preserved from recent constructions, away from tarred roads. It is a paradise for hikers, on foot or on horseback. Above the splendid beach of Ghignu, straws – small dry stone agricultural constructions – have been converted into rather spartan refuges, only accessible by paths. The only place in Corsica where you can sleep away from it all, even in the middle of summer, for 12 euros!
In Portugal: Ilha Deserta, at the end of the world and the Algarve
Eleven kilometers of fine sand, without (almost) anyone, even in summer, in one of the most beautiful regions of Portugal, the Algarve: the island of Barreta, nicknamed the “Ilha Deserta”, protects the lagoons of the Ria Formosa from the sea. A small boat makes the crossing every hour between Faro and this island at the end of the world, where the Cabo de Santa Maria is located, southern extremity of Portugal, materialized by a sort of driftwood porch built in the sand . The huge beach runs west from the pier, where the only construction on the island is located. The Estamin restaurant – designed to have zero impact on the environment – offers its terrace facing the sea, but also sun loungers and parasols on the beach. Beyond this unique trace of civilization, the beach is entirely wild, and truly splendid. A part is also reserved for naturists, which is quite rare in the country.
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