Southern Spain - Andalucia

This year we decided to have a different Christmas experience - and went on a vacation to Lands Unknown. (Well, unknown to us.)

We chose a two-part trip, including 3 days in southern Spain, starting in the coastal city of Malaga.

Mountains, ocean, sun, beautiful old buildings, and Christmas lights... 

From Malaga we took the train to Ronda, one of the oldest villages in the province of Malaga. 

Ronda has a very long history and has been home to the Romans, Muslims and Catholics.

There are still remnants of Roman bridges and Arab baths. Yes, Arab baths.

Building architecture has strong Arab influences.

The city is very proud of their bullfighting heritage and boast one of the oldest Spanish bull rings, the Plaza de Toros.

Many of their local bullfighters earned legendary fame and family legacies which changed bull fighting techniques and costumes. 

Pictured here is NOT one of the legendary bullfighters. That's John.... flaunting a red sweater. JOHN, what are you thinking!?!?!?!?!

Ernest Hemingway lived in Ronda, and according to locals, was captivated by the town. It is featured in his novel "For Whom the Bell Tolls." (I must have missed that in my high school literature classes. Or, maybe its just my memory isn't so good anymore. Or, maybe we never read that book. Yeah, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!)

The bridge over this deep gorge, as tall as a 30 story building, was built in the late 1700's. VISUAL CUE: John perks up thinking about the engineering feat. 

    

The bridge and gorge figured prominently during the Spanish Revolution in the 1930's. You can let your mind wander on what the bridge was used for. Or read Chapter 10 of "For Whom the Bells Toll". Or not.




We used Ronda as a base to explore some of the white villages in Andalucia.

The roads twist and turn through the Sierras mountains. (They're not too nail biting for those that are faint of heart.)

The villages date back to the Roman's, Moors and Christian conflicts.

The towns contain a labyrinth of very narrow steep, twisty roads. Personally, I would never want to drive in the little towns - but it did not deter the locals - as they drove very quickly in their tiny cars. I would assume their speed was needed to keep up the car's momentum so their manual transmissions don't stall.

The residents take great pride in keeping their homes pristine white, originally to keep them cool in the summer when temperatures can soar to 50C.

I am sure that tourism now plays a motivator.




We went to Setenil de las Bodegas.

Here the house are literally built into the cliffs.

There is evidence of cave dwelling inhabitants from 25,000 years ago. That's a lot of great-great-great-great gandparents ago!








Grazelma was another town that we visited.

It has historical Roman, Muslim, Berber and Christian influences.












Their economy was originally agricultural, with sheep, cork harvesting and handicrafts rounding it out.

Now, tourism plays an important role.

Speaking of tourism, if you are into hiking, rock climbing, photography, bird watching and sitting in plazas enjoying adult spirits while people watching, you might want to put it on your list of places to visit.