Our Andalusian vacation began with a four-hour drive from Lisbon through the Algarve and into Spain, with our first stop in Cádiz. There we walked the town, explored its narrow streets, had lunch in one of its many small plazas, and then continued our drive on to our first night’s stay in Vejer de la Frontera. We didn’t spend a lot of time spent in Cádiz as we were eager to check in and relax after the long drive.
These white hill towns of Andalusia, known as pueblo blanco, are one of the most characteristic sights of southern Spain. They consist of a cluster of whitewashed houses perched close together on a hillside with narrow cobbled lanes, a church and tower, and a castle at the town’s highest point overlooking the town and valley. The walls are white to reflect the sun and keep the homes cool. The narrow, twisting streets are this way for multiple reasons. Being narrow creates shade, keeping the streets relatively cool. But they also function for the defense of the town. It’s difficult for an invading force to move quickly, deploy horses or equipment, or see far ahead in such narrow streets. It’s also easier to build a barricade in a narrow street. And with the streets continually twisting and meandering, this can confuse an attacker – he doesn’t know where he is.
Our trip to Andalusia took us through a number of these towns. Two stand out the most – Vejer de la Frontera and Frigiliana.
Vejer de la Frontera
Vejer has a remarkable long history, and the reason the town looks so Moorish today is that it spent more than five centuries under Muslim rule.
Before the Moors there were Phoenicians in the region, followed by Romans and Visigoths. In 1250 King Ferdinand III of Castile captured Vejer, and, as it was on the frontier with Muslim territory to the south, it became a fortified Christian border town — hence “de la Frontera.”
Parts of the town’s perimeter walls still exist along with the Moor castle in the center of the town at the top of the hill. Our hotel was located right beside the castle, featuring a wonderful rooftop terrace with panoramic views of the town and surrounding countryside. The streets are fun to explore, rising up and down, meandering in all directions with never a straight street for long. To reach our hotel we had to park and walk as there’s no way a car could reach as the streets are so narrow. Dinner that night was at the Judearia restaurant and it was exceptional. As was the view, overlooking the western side of the city.
The following day we drove to the coast to Palmar de Vejer and spent a few hours relaxing and swimming at the beach, and then drove along the coast as far as Barbate. The beaches along this mostly flat coastline are long, wide and shallow. Close to the shoreline the water is brilliant turquoise, turning into a deep blue as it reaches the horizon.
The next morning we drove to Tarifa to check out this epic place for wind sports. Entering the town there are billboards all over the place for the top equipment makers such as F1, Mystic, Duotone, Armstrong, etc. And you can see how the wind comes in from the Med, increases as it reaches the bottleneck entrance at Ceuta and Algecira, providing calm waters as it blows over Tarifa. Will need to make another trip to try it out.
At Manilva we turned off the highway and took a narrow, windy road that climbed up into the coastal mountains. Each turn would present us with another white town perched on the side of a mountain. At one point we counted six of them while looking down the valley.
Ronda
We arrived at our hotel, Molino del Arco, which is situated 10 minutes outside of Ronda, at lunchtime. It’s become quite common for wineries and olive oil producers to add a boutique hotel to their operations and this is exactly the case with Molino del Arco which makes wine, but specializes in olive oil. And they’re good. We enjoyed a lovely lunch, enjoying both, before leaving to explore Ronda.
Ronda is one of the most spectacular historic towns in Andalusia. Its setting is extraordinary, but its history is equally interesting: a Roman-era region, an important Muslim city, a Christian frontier stronghold, and eventually a symbol of romantic Spain. It has had settlements here since prehistoric times, followed by Phoenicians, Romans and Visigoths. But the period that most shaped the old town was the Muslim period.
Under Muslim rule, Ronda became an important fortified town and, particularly under the Nasrid kings of Granada, a frontier stronghold against the Christian kingdoms. That’s why the old quarter has such a distinctly Moorish character. The Catholic Monarchs, Isabella and Ferdinand, captured Ronda in 1485. After that, the city gradually changed: mosques became churches, new squares and streets were created, and Christian palaces and other buildings appeared alongside the Islamic fabric.
The dramatic gorge that divides the town was for centuries a formidable defensive position. But in 1751 a bridge began to be constructed which would rise up nearly 100 meters and connect the historic town with the newer Mercadillo district. The project took more than four decades to complete. It’s very impressive and today a national landmark of Spain.
What is also impressive is the new suspended walkway that just opened while we happened to be there. Walking through the older part of Ronda, La Ciudad, we found a pathway that lead down into the canyon which the bridge passes over. This new walkway takes one down under the bridge, through the canyon, all on a suspended bridge that hangs from the canyon walls. Quite spectacular that this is located right in the middle of the city. Very quiet down below, with the hustle-bustle on the streets above.
There’s a large waterfall at the mouth of the canyon, and then a creek with sitting clear water that runs through the canyon. The pathway continues until you reach the old bridge where you ascend to street level and can walk back into town.
Costa del Sol
From Ronda we made our way to Torrox where we had a five-day home exchange. We settled in and then walked into town where a major street/plaza party was happening. A three-day celebration for what we weren’t sure!
The following days we spent exploring the area. We first went to Restinga Beach, just before Nerja, where we had a great lunch and a wonderful a swim in the Med.
We visited Nerja the next day, a coastal town to the east of Torrox, (and much nicer). We strolled along the boardwalk and plaza of Balcon de Europa, the popular pedestrian streets of Carabao and Pintada, finally making our way to the picturesque town beach of Playa Carabeillo. Nerjo is probably the nicest of the beach towns along this stretch of coastline, in our opinion.
From there we went up to Frigiliana, which is rather similar to Vejer but unfortunately even more touristy. But it was fun to explore its narrow and steep picturesque alleys and streets.
El Caminito del Rey
Our last exploration took us up to El Chorro in the mountains behind us to do the Caminito del Rey hike. This was very impressive and quite dramatic, following suspended bridges through a very narrow canyon, at times over 100 meters above the bottom of the canyon.
Granada
On Tuesday we drove up to Granada, checked in to the hotel, and spent the rest of the day walking the windy streets of Abaicin and central Granada. In the evening we had a great steak dinner at El Orejas, and then went to the Alhambra for a night visit to the palaces.
Granada has perhaps the richest historical story in Andalucia. Its defining period was as the capital of the last Muslim kingdom in Iberia, but the city is much older than that, dating back to the mid’ 13th century as the capital of the Nasrid dynasty, when they began construction of the Alhambra. Over the next 250 years they constructed palaces, gardens, mosques, and fortifications that combined architecture, water, gardens, light and decoration to create, as they referred to it, a paradise on earth.
But in 1292 Muslim rule ended when King Boabdil surrendered Granada to Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, ending nearly 800 years of Muslim rule in Iberia. And by remarkable coincidence, this was also the year that Isabella commissioned Christopher Columbus for his westward voyage.
The narrow lanes and white houses of Albaicin, enclosed courtyards and cármenes preserve the character of the old Muslim residential quarter.
And from Mirador de San Nicolás, you get perhaps the best view of the Alhambra with the Sierra Nevada mountain range behind.
Córdoba
Córdoba is smaller than Granada, and the terrain a lot flatter so easier to explore. As with many other Andalusian towns and cities, it was once ruled by the Romans, followed by the Visigoths and then in the 8th century it was conquered by the Moors.
In 785 construction began on the great mosque Mezquita, with its famous red-and-white double arches that allowed architects to achieve a much higher ceiling than would otherwise have been possible. The result was one of the largest and most sophisticated mosques in the medieval world. The Jewish community was an important part of Córdoba’s medieval society and the Judería quarter survives today as one of the most atmospheric parts of the city.
The great turning point came in 1236 when Ferdinand and Isabella conquered Córdoba. (The life of Isabella is fascinating. A great book about her is “Isabella – The Warrior” by Kirsten Downey). An interesting tidbit – Isabella was known for traveling consistently through Spain, where she was needed, to resolve problems or rebuild societies. Because of her the game of chess was changed and remains so to this day. Prior to her, the queen piece could only move one space laterally. But it was changed in her honor so it could move in any direction for any number of squares.
Another fascinating detail is that the mosque was built on the site of a Christian church. With the conquest it was converted into a church, but rather than demolishing the mosque they preserved it by building a full Renaissance cathedral nave right in the middle of the mosque. The church steeple would have been too heavy for the arches so it was positioned in a corner of the property courtyard. So some 500 years later, the site became Christian once again.
We stayed at El Balcon de Córdoba, a boutique hotel just steps away from the Mezquita Cathedral. It provided easy access to walk Córdoba’s narrow streets, tour the cathedral and riverside. The hotel has a lovely rooftop terrace that overlooks the cathedral and town. And an intercom down to the lobby bar to order drinks!
