From the city of Valencia back out into nature. We like this luxury of being able to choose freely between civilization and natural environments. We have already heard a lot about the Ebro Delta. Now it is well situated on our itinerary, along the Mediterranean Sea towards the north of Spain.

The Delta Plain of the Ebro Delta

The Ebro Delta is one of the largest river deltas in Europe. Correspondingly wide we experience the flat area. To the delta belongs that land, which lies maximally 5m over sea level of the Mediterranean Sea. This results in an area with side lengths of about 18km x 23km. We underestimated the size a little bit in advance. We simply entered Ebro delta into the sat nav and started driving. Now we are driving for more than half an hour on agricultural roads between the flat cultivated areas in the delta and have not yet arrived at our sleeping place. The area is also not very spectacular in spring, most of the fields are drained and are only slowly being prepared for the new sowing. Interestingly, the Ebro Delta is one of the largest rice growing areas in Spain. Through many kilometers of water canals the fields are irrigated during cultivation.

Ebro Delta Nature Reserve

Especially the coastline and parts of the marshland along the coast are protected. It is an extremely important area for many bird species as a breeding or resting place. We see flamingos sleeping in a few meters distance. And that in the middle of Europe – we are surprised!
Apart from that there are some beach sections which are well visited especially during the day. Since it is a nature reserve, everyone should have left the area in the evening. We respect these rules in favor of nature and move a few kilometers inland to set up our night quarters directly on the course of the river Ebro.
The nature reserve is of course almost as extensive as the Ebro delta itself. Accordingly, there is always a 30–45-minute drive between various points worth seeing. We drive through the Ebro delta rather briskly, since we are simply not in the perfect season on site for agriculture and bird watching. The best season is probably mid to late summer. In return to the many birds and the irrigated farmland, according to some comments, the mosquito problem will probably also have increased by then.
We take the impressions from the spring in the Ebro delta with pleasure and with it travel again a further piece northward.