There are certain places, especially in nature, where you feel something different, very special or at the same time very strange and shadowy.
Within the vast expanse of the forest park of Mount Victoria and entering through a very special place that is not freely accessible at any time of the day, nor every day of the week, I was able to find, looking on the map of the city, a path that allows you to walk around Mount Calvary.
As you may remember in the past I showed you the hermitage on this mountain, but on this occasion I walked the whole length of this place which is very quiet, practically unvisited by anyone, far from everything and where every step I took was the only thing I could hear, apart from the odd bird and the rustle of leaves under my feet.
The route began with lots of green all around me and fortunately with plenty of sunshine and the gates that allowed me to pass through belonged to the Victoria Foundation - diocesan schools. At the beginning there were two high walls on either side of me, which gradually disappeared.
This mountain called Calvario has a winding road, but it is mostly asphalted because in the first part there is the Victoria Foundation that I mentioned and the Cardinal Herrera Oria College and vehicles have to access the place.
After this point, I see a sign that talks about the forest park as this is one of the mountains that make up the park and explains the type of vegetation that can be found, as well as the fauna. It also explains a little about the distribution of the mountains and hills that make up the forest park and other details.
From here the views of the city are incredible, but this time there is no view of the sea. From there the route changes completely and there is no sign of many people walking along it, although there are still views of the city. I had the sun behind me so on many occasions I was taking pictures in my own shadow.
The walls had completely disappeared and now I could only see trees on top of the hills I could see on both sides. Trees, vegetation, trunks and in between them I could occasionally see a building or perhaps another distant hill.
In many parts of the road the shadows became very intense and it seemed to me that I was entering a desolate and gloomy road. It felt as if no one had been there for a long time. Solitude and silence. It didn't scare me at any time, but you will see later on how the atmosphere becomes spooky.
The trees seemed to fall down a ravine, as if they were going to fall off and there is no security on the sides of the path, so it is important to walk far away so as not to slip and fall. The views, when I looked up were really beautiful with the sky visited by some clouds.
I found many pine cones that had fallen from the pine trees there and after walking a little further I started to walk through those even more lonely and darker spaces.
Only in a clearing I could see in the distance a signpost indicating one of the paths leading to the hermitage.
Suddenly the place became dark and I could hardly take photographs with any light. The thick vegetation and the shadow generated by the mountain itself seemed that the path led to something, as I said, dark.
Very occasionally I could find a gap and see the city and another detail is that during the whole route I found crosses of a Way of the Cross, with their respective numbering. I would not like to walk here at night, I thought at the time.
After walking for a long time in almost darkness, it was light at last and I could see the sun again, which showed me a different landscape. You know I like to look back and there I saw a lot of light. I had left all the darkness behind me, or so I thought.
On my walk and exploration there were two very dark areas that I tried to get through as quickly as possible and all the time I didn't see a single person.
Once I had gone all the way around the bush and followed the signposted path I turned around and made my way back along the same route so as not to get lost. I had almost lost the signal on the spot. The sun was already very low and what had seemed dark before would be much darker if I didn't hurry.
That day it was cold and in that place with so much shade even more so, so on top of my sweatshirt I had to, inevitably, put on a warm jacket. Finally, the walk ended very well with the last beautiful view of the city.
It was a strange experience where there was a lot of solitude, silence and, as I said, a bit of mystery. Thank you very much for joining me today, I send you all a big hello. See you soon.
Amonet.
All photographs are my own.
Separators created by me in Photoshop.
Used translator Deepl.com free version.
//:# (Walking through the silent and sombre Mount Calvario 📷 Malaga - Spain)
