53- Spanish Road Tripping in Andalusia

What do you do when you’re stuck in southern Spain and have what they tell you is a few days before your new engine arrives?  Road trip!!!!  It looked like we had about a week before the new engine would be delivered.  So, since we couldn't explore by sea, we decided to rent a car and further explore the Andalusian area of southern Spain.

Our first stop was the beach town of Estepona just about an hour up the coast.  This town was a beautiful little beach town.  We drove along the beach area and decided to park downtown to walk around.  As with many Spanish towns, the streets were very narrow and the houses adorable with flowers everywhere.  We spent a couple of hours walking around and decided to continue on as we had a long list of towns that we wanted to visit.  

Our drive took us up into the mountains and away from the water.  We were reluctant to lose our amazing sea views but the winding mountain roads along with the spectacular views (with occasional glimpses of the sea) were also breathtaking.  We continued on until we’d reached the town of Ronda.

We fell in love almost immediately and Ronda ended up being our favorite stop of this trip.  The main feature of the town is Puente Nuevo or New Bridge.  It's still maintains the name despite the fact that construction started in 1759 and took 34 years to complete in 1793.  It's an impressive and beautiful bridge that spans the 120-meter (390 ft) depth chasm of the Guadelvin River.  

If you ever find yourself in southern Spain, we think Ronda is a not to be missed town.  Since we happened to be in Spain the day after Italy beat Spain in the Euro 2020/2021, we got a pizza to honor our friend Roberto who's sort of a big fan of Italy!  It was delicious too!

We left Ronda and again took a very scenic -this time mostly gravel/dirt roads - down to the base of the town where the views while not as spectacular, were still beautiful. 

Back on paved albeit still scenic roads, we headed to the town of Mijas based on the recommendation of some new friends we’d met in the marina.  This was probably our second favorite stop.  The town again is in the mountains and we had to park at the top of the hill and follow steps that we would have sworn led to someone's (many someone's) front door down into town.  The various winding stairway “streets” are named which is the only way anyone would know they were not simply walking through someone’s front porch.  It was totally fascinating. 

 Once, we’d navigated the “streets”, we were greeted with such a cute little town.  They are famous for the donkey’s that are still used today as taxi’s (while I was sad for them, they all looked healthy, were kept in shade and did seem to be treated very well).  There were a few attractions that were closed but we managed to stopped for a glass of wine and enjoy the spectacular views

On our way out of town, we stopped by the Castillo Monumento Colomares just outside of Benalmadena.  This monument is a tribute to Christopher Columbus and his discovery of America.  The castle was built by only 2 masons over the course of 7 years.  While it was closed for afternoon siesta when we arrived, we were able to catch a glimpse.   Definitely worth the stop.

Our next stop was the city of Malaga.  While probably not a large city in the grand scheme of cities, it was definitely a culture shock for us.  They had high rises, traffic lights and a lot of people.  We drove through what appeared to be a commercial area and found a parking garage in the heart of the adorable historical downtown area.  We found a great flat nearby and decided to stay for a couple of days. We thoroughly enjoyed seeing the city and experiencing some nightlife (mostly eating Tapas, drinking wine and walking around watching people).  As it’s the hometown of Pablo Picasso, they, of course, have a great museum with many of his works.  We tried to get in but decided that the wait was too long and we needed to move on if we were going to see everywhere on our list.

Next, we headed to  Granada.  I really wanted to see Granada and the castle Alhambra which was home to Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand.  I’d just finished reading a book given to me about them and Granada so it was perfect timing.  The town is beautiful with amazing architecture and fabulous food.  We walked up to and all around the castle.  It was completely worth the walk. 

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Back in town, we wondered through the various streets and stopped in a store where we had a great conversation with the clerk.  He was an engineer from Fez and was telling us all about Morocco.  He then took us down the street to a tea house where we enjoyed amazing tea and various sweets he brought us from the sweet shop next door - I have no idea what they were but they were all delicious.

Yes, I took a lot of pictures.  Here's the link if you want to look at more:   Granada

The next day, we continued north to Cordoba.  We arrived in the middle of the afternoon to be greeted by our Airbnb hostess with “Welcome to Hell.”  She was referring to the temperature outside which was close to 110 F.  I have to admit that it was a little on the hot side.  We decided to take her advice and stayed inside until late afternoon.  Cooled down and relaxed, we took off to explore town.  Cordoba’s huge Moorish influence is apparent everywhere.  We took the foot bridge from our flat which led directly to the Mosque (or Cathedral depending on who you ask). We again walked all around town and were fascinated by the architecture and the fish trying to swim against the current of the small river.  The town was beautiful but I recommend a visit other than the middle of summer.

From Cordova, we headed back south to Seville – the capital of Andalusian Spain.  Seville is the perfect combination of small town and big city. It’s big enough to inspire awe but small enough that it still feels quaint.  We rented bikes and explored everywhere.  We ate, drank and saw everything we could.  We toured the cathedral and saw the tomb of Christopher Columbus.  I even got Pedro to go up into the bell tower with me where we tried to find our rented home.  Seville was beautiful and a definite must see in southern Spain.

Yes, I again took a lot of pictures.  Here's a link if you want to see more:

Sevilla

On our way back home, we detoured to the town of Tarifa.  In Portugal, we’d been to the westernmost point in continental Europe and Tarifa was the Southernmost point. So, we had to go.  We actually enjoyed the small beach town and loved being on the narrow section that separates the Atlantic Ocean from the Mediterranean Sea.

Finally, our week was up and we headed back to the boat to see where we were with the repairs.  We were not as far along we we’d hoped but we’ll fill you in on that next time.

Until next post!