Wanderlust Traveler: April 2012

Beautiful architecture in Seville.

Day 9 (Wednesday, April 1st 2009)

I left Arcos de la Frontera early in the morning and drove out to Seville, which took about 90 minutes.

As I approached the outskirts of Seville, I was pleased with what I saw; the city appeared clean, and had lots of palm trees and other vegetation, and most of the buildings seemed well cared for. I parked the car in a parking garage and then walked a good 20 minutes to the hotel. While I never got lost per say, it was quite confusing at times to find my way to the hotel due to the medieval street plan of the city.

As I walked through the beautiful streets of Seville to my hotel, my initial impressions of the city quickly formed. I instantly fell in love with the city; it was absolutely gorgeous with brightly colored architecture and so many picturesque squares filled with cafes and parks. Most of the important main sights were all located within a 15-20 minute walk of one another. While the city was clean, it also had a wonderful rustic charm that was impossible not to enjoy. Another thing that stood out strongly for me was the overwhelming but wonderful smell of the orange blossom flowers. The smell was so incredibly lovely; I have a difficult time finding words to describe the intense smell as it was unlike anything else I had encountered previously. The weather was also perfect on my first day as it varied between 65 to 70 degrees with little to no wind and just a few clouds in the sky.

Statue in Seville.

Architecture in Seville.

Seville

Colorful Seville

Seville

A side street in Seville.

Seville

A tiny square in Seville.

Seville

Fans for sale in Seville.

Seville

A church in Seville.

Seville

Sierra de Grazalema National Park

Day 7 (Monday, March 30th 2009)

Since I had such a busy day ahead of me, I woke up at the unnatural time of 06:00, leaving my hotel in Granada by 6:30.

From Granada, I drove south, to the coastal city of Nerja. Although I had not planned any overnight stays on the famous Costa del Sol, I had at least wanted to make sure that I visited one of the small towns on the coast. For most of the two hour drive it was dark outside. I did not see the sun until nearly 8:00, which seemed rather strange. Nerja is considered a rarity on the Costa del Sol. Most of the cities and towns that line the sea are filled with high rise hotels, lots of ugly concrete, pollution, and too many cars and people. Nerja on the other hand, is the complete opposite of these other towns and has retained its authentic Spanish charm and is not inundated with tourists which is exactly the type of place I love to visit!

Once in Nerja, I was able to quickly and easily find a free parking spot. As it was only 8:30 in the morning, the small town was quite dead. I’m sure most people were probably where I wanted to be: in bed sleeping! I walked through town, eventually making my way to the Plaza Cavana where I stopped in a small café for some French bread and an insanely delicious chocolate croissant. Up until this point the pastries I had consumed in Spain had just been only so so and not memorable, but that chocolate croissant was something else! After enjoying the ocean views, I made a quick getaway as I had lots of things planned for the day, a few of which had strict time constraints.

Nerja

Buildings in Nerja.

Detail of a building in Nerja.

Nerja

Cat in Nerja.

Stray cats getting fed in Nerja.

Nerja

After Nerja, he next planned event was a 12:00 tour at the Pileta Cave, located near Ronda. The caves were described as being located just 14 miles SW of Ronda. Unfortunately when I initially read these directions in the guide book, I thought it indicated that the caves were located SE of Ronda and, as a result, I was not as quick as I should have been in Nerja as the drive was 20 minutes longer than I had anticipated. Although it didn’t look promising, I did my best to make up extra time as I drove over the highways and roads. Along the way, I encountered lots of beautiful countryside which to my surprise included rolling hills that were bright green, and often filled with colorful yellow flowers. It wasn’t the image I necessarily had in my head of Southern Spain. I had no idea that the countryside would be lush and green but then again, I was traveling in March which was just at the beginning of spring, so the rains hadn’t been too far behind me.

Beautiful scenes from the drive through Andalusia.

Unfortunately my goal to arrive at the caves for the 12:00 tour wasn’t helped by the fact that one of the highways I needed to drive on was closed. Even though an alternate route was available, it took much longer than the original route would have.

I eventually made it to Ronda and continued onto Pileta Cave. This cave was described as having some of the best prehistoric cave paintings in Spain. Some of the Neolithic and Paleolithic paintings are up to 25,000 years old, which is difficult to fathom! Although no address was listed for the cave in either of the guidebooks, I had read that there were many signs along the way after leaving Ronda; of course, I saw none of these! After making it all the way to the town of Benaojan and obviously not finding nor seeing signs for the cave, I gave up. After all, by that point it was five minutes past the time of the 12:00 tour and I knew that the following tours were already filled. I wasn’t too disappointed however as I knew that I would be visiting several caves later that year while in France. Instead I headed onto Ronda.

The drive into the narrow streets of Ronda was jam packed with cars as the city was swamped with tourists. Aside from the initial congestion, however, I instantly fell in love with the city. Ronda is one of the many white hill towns of Andalusia, and happens to be one of the largest in terms of population. I got slightly lost trying to reach my hotel as the street was a little tricky to find, however, once I finally arrived I was so very pleased with Boabadil Guesthouse. The small place was absolutely amazing, having been recently renovated with the most comfortable bed and modern bathroom. My room and the public rooms were simple yet filled with so much charm and elegance; the atmosphere was inviting but incredibly comfortable. I immediately began wishing that I was staying here two nights instead of one, but that’s hindsight for you!

A quiet street in Ronda near the Boabadil Guesthouse.

My room at Boabadil Guesthouse in Ronda.

The small patio outside my room at Boabadil Guesthouse in Ronda.

After settling into my room I left and began a several hour long walk through Ronda. I explored many of its nooks and crannies, including the winding and narrow streets, Jardines de Cuenca Park with amazing views of the bridge, and the plazas further into town where only locals resided. I was reminded of the time I spent in the Cinque Terre in Italy several years prior. Aside from the obvious differences (country, language, a little rougher around the edges, etc) I saw and encountered many similarities: local people going about their day, almost oblivious to the incredible charms their city possessed. They have no idea how lucky they are to live in such a place. For the visiting tourists these type of places seem unreal, and almost too good to be true. The town was so charming and most of the buildings were well cared for. Many of the other buildings that weren’t in the best of shape appeared to be undergoing renovation, so it was obvious that the locals understood the importance of maintaining the beautiful town.