TravelTalk
Travelling independently
As I mentioned last month my round-the-world walk , of which I ' ve now completed over 2,000 kilometres – from the Isle of Man to the Germany-Austria border – is currently on hold until I ’ m permitted re-entry into the Schengen Zone . So this month I ’ ll write about a previous adventure of mine , one directly involving Nerja and Andalusia .
Between 2011 and 2013 I cycled 35,500 km , visiting 52 European capital cities as well as lovely Nerja . I figured I ’ d “ completed ” the continent . But in October 2017 the Catalan independence referendum suggested a brand new nation might be born , kicking and screaming and being hit in the head by baton-wielding cops . Although it didn ’ t happen , it got me thinking . How many other places in Europe wished to splinter off , brand-new wannabe countries I hadn ’ t yet visited ? The answer was loads .
These regions were varied . Many already had a national identity , their own history , language , cuisine and traditions . A few had already claimed independence but remained unrecognised by the international community . And one or two , if we ’ re being totally honest , were just a few people messing about .
I cobbled together forty independence-hungry regions into a near-uninterrupted route , stretching 10,000 km from Andalusia all the way to the far shore of the Black Sea . Once again I jumped on my bicycle .
I don ’ t think I ’ ve ever learned as much as I did on that trip , especially about eastern Europe . The highlights were Transnistria , officially a part of Moldova , Abkhazia , officially Georgia , and Nagorno-Karabakh , officially Azerbaijan . The violent formation of these regions involved thousands of deaths and each had Russian fingerprints on them to varying degrees . The UK Government warned against entering these places , but my research proved they were safe enough at the time . Since then , full-on war has resumed in Nagorno- Karabakh . It would now be too dangerous to visit .
But there were also more frivolous independence dreams , and that ’ s where Andalusia comes in . Did you know that Andalusia actually has not one , but two independence movements ?
It ’ s hard to discover what sort of appetite there is for Andalusian independence . Sitting in Nerja ’ s tiny square of Plaza Andalucia is a bust of Blas Infante , a man described as the father of Andalusian nationalism . It ’ s well-hidden . Before this trip I ’ d never seen nor heard of it despite being only two hundred metres from the apartment I had for five years . See if you can find it .
However , at least one person definitely wanted independence for Andalusia and that was Pedro Ignacio Altamirano , then president of
The bust of Blas Infante in Nerja ’ s Plaza Andalucia
Beautiful Val d ’ Aran . Could it one day be an independent country ?
the Andalusian National Assembly . He announced that , on December 4th 2017 , he would declare independence for Andalusia , one containing all its traditional bits but also neighbouring Murcia , the Portuguese Algarve and lumps of Morocco , whether they liked the idea or not . On the big day he hoped to entice 400,000 people on to the streets to seal the claim for independence . In reality , everyone just went to work as normal and later asked “ Altamirano who ?” So rest easy , Portugal and Morocco ; you won ’ t be invaded any time soon .
Just up the road is La Herradura and I was already into my second independence movement . While the Andalusian movement wants to shake itself free of the shackles of Madrid , the Eastern Andalusian
The snowy gateway into Val d ’ Aran movement wants Granada , Jaén and Almería to go it alone . Almost no one takes it seriously .
Of Spain ’ s 16 independence movements only Catalonia and the Basque Country have any real credibility . My favourite though was the last one I cycled through , a tiny and beautiful corner of Catalonia called Val d ’ Aran , actually on the French side of the Pyrenees . It ’ s a movement within a movement . The authorities claim that if Catalonia gains independence from Spain , then Val d ’ Aran will seek independence from Catalonia . Whether or not they are messing about , maybe one day we ’ ll find out and perhaps you can add another country to your bucket list .
Read more about Steven ’ s adventures . No Place Like Home , Thank God tells of his 35,500 km bicycle ride around European capitals . Biking Broken Europe describes his tour of independence-seeking regions of Europe . Both are available from Amazon .
STEVEN PRIMROSE-SMITH PrimsEarthTrek . com
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