At 300kph the AVE train takes only a few hours to reach Córdoba from Barcelona, arriving in the searing heat (40°C) of mid afternoon. The city shuts down at 2 pm on days like this.
Cádiz
After 3 days absorbing Cádiz, the oldest city in Europe now fading in the sun and sea air, we’re ready to start walking the Via Augusta. The 190 km path leads to Sevilla and eventually on to Santiago along the…
Cádiz to Jerez
18°C, slightly hazy – ideal walking weather for the 14 klms from Cádiz to San Fernando. Could it really have been 40° a week ago? Great to get started, the Camino led us through the old city and along the…
Jerez de la Frontera
“If I had a thousand sons, the first humane principle I would teach them should be, to forswear thin potations and to addict themselves to sack (Sherry)” Shakespeare, Henry IV, Part 2. We spent a week in Jerez – anglicized…
Jerez to Sevilla
After a week enjoying Jerez we continued walking along the Via Augusta to Sevilla. Jerez to El Cuervo is 29 klms but we cut out a few k and a lot of hard surfaces by busing to the northern outskirts…
Sevilla
Having walked about 150 klms from Cádiz Jerez Sevilla, we took a week off in Sevilla. Sevilla – flamenco, bull fights and happy Sevillanos – a place that you could easily forget to leave.
Via Verde de la Sierra
Vías Verdes (Green Paths) are disused railway lines; there’s more than 2000 klms in Spain, that have been restored for walkers and cyclists. We walked the Via Verde de la Sierra, 36 klms from Puerto Serrano to Olvera across and…
Pueblos Blancos – Week 1
The Pueblos Blancos (White Villages) of Andalucia are a series of small mountain villages in the northern part of the provinces of Cádiz (and Málaga) in southern Spain, mostly within the Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park. The villages are within 20 kilometers of each other making it possible for…
Pueblos Blancos – Week 2
Our first week walking the Pueblos Blancos of the Cádiz province took us from Olvera to Setenil, El Gastor and Zahara de la Sierra. This week – Grazalema, El Bosque, Ubrique, Benaocaz, Villaluenga del Rosario, Montejaque and on to Ronda.…
Ronda
“Ronda is the place where to go, if you are planning to travel to Spain for a honeymoon or for being with a girlfriend. The whole city and its surroundings are a romantic set… Nice promenades, good wine, excellent food,…
Málaga
From Ronda to Málaga we travelled on Mr Henderson’s Railway to Algeciras and then by bus. In the 1890’s, the wealthy British financier Sir Alexander Henderson built a railway between Algeciras (Gibraltar) and Ronda to allow the Gibraltar Garrison access…
East of Málaga
Cómpeta, looked like the loveliest white village as we approached after 2 hours in the local bus from Málaga. With narrow streets winding uphill and flat roofed houses that date to Moorish times it is seven hundred metres above sea…
Antequera
Approaching Antequera on the bus from Málaga we thought “Oh no this is just a big boring country town”. But as we topped the ridge on the outskirts we realized that it was something special. There are over 50 well…
La Alpujarra – Lanjarón to Pitres
The Alpujarra is a region in Andalucía lying south-east of Granada on the southern slopes of the Sierra Nevada and with an average elevation of 1,300 meters. Its 52 villages, which still display their Berber origins today, were the last stronghold of the Moors, finally expelled in…
La Alpujarra – Pitres to Laroles
The Alpujarra is a region in Andalucía lying south-east of Granada on the southern slopes of the Sierra Nevada and with an average elevation of 1,300 meters. Its 52 villages, which still display their Berber origins today, were the last stronghold of the Moors, finally expelled in…
Almería
After the Alpujarra we headed down to Almería, on the coast. Founded in the 10th century to provide a defense system for the regional towns it still retains an Arab influence and although slightly seedy looking it’s tapa heaven –…
Granada
Granada (POP 240,000, ALT 740m) is much more than the Alhambra, the most renowned buildings of Islamic Andalusia. We spent a week staying in El Albayzín, the World Heritage former Arab quarter with its maze of narrow winding streets on…