Would you like to enjoy the best sunrise in Melilla?
Well, our friend Kichouh from Melilla and in love with the city tells us first hand where to find out where to discover it?
SUNRISE IN MELILLA
This article has come about like many other things in life: unintentionally. It has been the result of the combination of a purpose after confinement, the impossibility of being able to continue trekking in Morocco and the need to share with you the beauty that my eyes have captured during these last few months.
Since the dawn of time, man has needed to understand, to explain what was going on around him. One of the tools brought into play was magic, which is based on the belief that there is a supernatural connection between man and the world around him, a connection that can be mastered and used at will. And I dare to draw a parallel between these ancient rites and what happens between Melilla and myself. This magic that I sometimes perceive is the result of the overabundance that our eyes are subjected to with the sun, the sea and the sky of our land. But I do not intend to use this magic to my advantage, but only to share it with whoever stops to read this.
There are magical moments and magical places, and I have been lucky enough to be able to enjoy both simultaneously, at dawn, in a series of snapshots that have created a series of unique feelings in me, because a sunrise in Melilla is not just any sunrise. I am about to convince you of this, dear reader, and that is why I would like to take you on a tour of the most idyllic places to observe the dawn in this little corner of Spain in Africa.
After the months of confinement, it could be said that we have all been reborn in one way or another. During that “confinement”, one of the promises I made to myself was to keep my appointment with the sunrise as often as possible and try to make up for lost time (and, on the way, to do some sport). And that’s what I did, contemplating and enjoying the sunrise on our city’s promenade, the most common place to observe this daily wonder. This promise became a routine, which in turn evolved into a goal: to try to see the sunrise from different points in Melilla. In doing so, I learned how the same thing can become different, better, because I started with the crown and ended up, without intending or expecting it, at the jewel in the crown. The sequence of scenarios was as follows:
– The most common sunrise is on the promenade, and that is where I first headed. From there you can contemplate a blinding sunrise, whose glare can only be avoided by turning your gaze towards Melilla la Vieja, our walled citadel of which we are so proud.
– After a while, my destination began to be the beach of Horcas Coloradas. The charm of this place lies in the fact that you can watch the return of the fishing boats, escorted by the seagulls, to the port. I must admit that the magic of these sunrises was enhanced by the company I enjoyed while watching them.
– The magic in Melilla can be felt and breathed in Aguadú, and that was my third destination. It is a place with such a special charm that turns even the most furious and fierce sea due to the levante, into something beautiful, enveloping, hypnotising.
– After several weeks searching for the most idyllic and magical place to contemplate the sunrise, I came across one of the most representative snapshots of Melilla: “El Faro del Pueblo”. There I was able to contemplate the magic of the sunrise from another angle, rocked by the tireless swaying of the waves and surrendered to the symphony of squawks that the seagulls gave me as they accompanied the waves in a dance that always ends up dying on the rocks. Even so, I was not satisfied.
– It was finally in August when I learned that the definitive magic of dawn lives in the jewel in the crown: La Cala de Trápana. There, the silence accompanied by the whisper of the breeze, the blues and greens of a sea that seemed like the sun was asking permission to peek out and my friends the seagulls in the distance, conspired to make me experience a truly magical moment. They managed to make me wake up as never before and face the day full of renewed energy, because “if a sunrise or sunset does not provoke any emotion, it means that the soul is sick”, said Roberto Gervaso.
To recapitulate: in Aguadú, the sunrise made me feel it, in Melilla la Vieja and the lighthouse made me contemplate it and in Cala de Trápana the dawn made me experience the magic of a sunrise in Melilla, a magic that I sometimes seem to guess reflected in the eyes of its inhabitants when I pass them in the street. Because I am sure that a sunrise anywhere in the world will be a beautiful sunrise, but it will not be as magical as here.
Author: Kichouh
Photography: Antonio Espinola.
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