A Trip To Andalucia
By nariz
23 comments
We recently went on a trip to Andalucia looking for a nice town where we might buy a little piede-a-terre from where we could visit larger cities like Seville, Granada, Jerez and Cordoba to pick up a little Spanish culture during the cold Winter months.
The scenery in Andalucia is so very different from our home in mountainous Cantabria, but it’s the difference we’re looking for. All the little towns look as though a giant has spilled his box of sugar cubes down the hillsides, and almost every one has its own castle – or the remnants of!
It was lovely to see orange trees growing on the main streets of the towns – the scent was amazing and so heady!
There was a weekly market in one of the towns we visited and I couldn’t resist taking a shot of these colourful spices!
In one of the towns where we were wandering around we heard a cacophony of dogs barking and wondered if we were about to wander into a canine argument, but this is what we saw ..
It turned out they were hunting dogs tied up in their designated places while their living quarters were being cleaned. Another version of “get out from under my feet!!!”
Even though we’re looking for somewhere for Winter warmth to ease my arthritis, I don’t think this next place quite fitted the bill!
Ouch!
Hywel, you’d love it there! Look what grows wild and prolifically ….. Pricky Pear Cactus!
One of the towns we visited was Ronda – heaving with wonderful old buildings and a bull ring but, despite the wonderful scenery, we found the tourist aspect rather daunting – even though we were tourists ourselves. Living in a lovely place with thousands of tourists wandering by my windows every day is NOT my idea of Heaven! But these wonderful cliffs certainly drew me in!
Typically of Spain – there were some lovely balcony displays:
A town that really caught our attention was Zahara, on the edge of a beautiful and fairly new turquoise reservoir. Apparently this reservoir is less then 10 years old, having been formed by flooding a valley, and has certainly added an asset to Zahara – house prices were well out of our range!
Over Easter we travelled further east to visit my youngest daughter and found there was a Medievel Market in the town, some of the stalls selling wonderfully-scented teas and tissanes:
And finally … (“Thank Goodness” I hear you say!), can onyone identify these plants I saw in a GC there? Wonderful colour, but they were unlabelled!
Thanks for staying with me through this rather long blog! Hope you enjoyed your Andalucian wander?
14 Apr, 2012
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Comments
What a beautiful place. I loved your photos, especially the Market stalls, the spices and those balcony displays against the white Walls.
14 Apr, 2012
Wonderful blog, and stunning photos Nariz! You should be a travel writer . . . well, in fact you ARE a travel writer, because you've made me want to visit Andalucia :)) It looks amazingly empty - must have been a good time to go.
14 Apr, 2012
Great photos and commentary. Really enjoyed it, and like Sticki, I loved the flower display on the balcony. But enjoyed all the pictures, really made me want to go there.
14 Apr, 2012
thnsk for the trip, lovely pics, like the arthritis shot lol
14 Apr, 2012
WOW!!
14 Apr, 2012
Lovely blog - thanks for sharing
14 Apr, 2012
Wonderful pics of Andalucia,Nariz..Ronda is a bit of a climb,isn't it ? .We haven't been there,only to Mijas,which is another high place,but lovely too,and very touristy...I hope you find something suitable..and sorry,I don't know what those flowers are either..
14 Apr, 2012
Beautiful:)
14 Apr, 2012
Lovely blog to read on a cold morning here in London! great photo's.
15 Apr, 2012
What a lovely place. No wonder lots of people visit it.
I would have loved seeing those cacti growing wild :o)
I hope they didn't drown anyone's homes under that resevoir, like they did here ....
15 Apr, 2012
Not sure Hywel - my Spanish isn't good enough to understand complex answers to questions I might pose, but I hope they didn't. :o(
16 Apr, 2012
A delightful blog with your usual very high standard photography, did you find anywhere to buy? everywhere looks so clean and fresh and so inviting......I think the flowers could be species tulips? .........
16 Apr, 2012
They do look like some kind of tulip, don't they? I wasn't sure . . .
17 Apr, 2012
I wondered about a variety of tulip, but then thought about some South African plants I've seen in the past - something like Ixia (spelling?).
20 Apr, 2012
Hmm, they are a bit like Ixia aren't they . . . maybe put the pic on the Questions page?? (where all the experts hang out . . .)
20 Apr, 2012
Such beautiful places! I cannot get over how clean all those villages seemed to be. I need to work on getting over my fear of airplanes so that I can visit the world. I had no idea how much I am missing.
20 Apr, 2012
There's always the ferry, Beckerl, as long as you have no fear of water (and a deeper pocket)? Ferries run from Plymouth and Portsmouth to Santander and Bilbao several times a week and both cities (once you get away from the ports) are well worth a visit. :o)
21 Apr, 2012
enjoyed the trip nariz, such wonderfull views and lovely towns, but know what you mean about having tourists passes your window, i wouldnt like that at all, but the place is a picture, great shots thanx for sharing :o)))
22 Apr, 2012
Glad you liked it Sanbaz.
23 Apr, 2012
I nearly missed this fantastic blog Nariz, I`ve never been anywhere except Paris so its a real treat for me to see and hear about these places through the blogs.
Wonderful photo`s, thankyou...
27 Apr, 2012
You're welcome, Lincslass - glad you liked them. :o)
28 Apr, 2012
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Wow what a stunning place with wonderful views.Very nice :))))))
14 Apr, 2012