On and Off The Beaten Path: Andalusia Guide

We left off with our heroes dangling over a vat of sharks with laser beams attached to their heads (not really).  In case you missed part 1 from last week, here’s our Andalusia adventure in just over 2 minutes:

One of the things I’ve learned from travelling is that throwing some off the beaten path things into the mix often creates some great memories and an authentic personal experience that seeing the greatest hits can’t deliver due to sheer demand. 

Off The Beaten Path

Everyone sees the Mona Lisa when they go to the Louvre.  It is the most viewed artwork in the world with over 6 million visitors per year to this painting alone.  It is a great masterpiece and Da Vinci is a personal hero of mine.  At the same time, it is behind thick bullet proof glass and is constantly surrounded by a crowd of people:

The Louvre itself is the largest museum in the world with over 350,000 square feet of art.  If you spent 30 seconds viewing each piece, it would take you over 100 days to see everything.  How would you spend only one day at the Louvre?  Would you hang out with the crowd all day trying to time the ill conceived camera flashes of others so that your own picture wasn’t washed out from the glare off the glass?  Would you explore some of the quiet back galleries?

After seeing a greatest hit in the amazing Alhambra in Granada and recounting some of Malaga, Nerja, and Frigiliana in last weeks post, we continue through Andalusia starting off the beaten path in the hills outside the town of Iznajar population 4,343.

Iznajar

Iznajar is a fairytale, a white village surrounded by water on 3 sides and clustered around a castle at the top of a hill. I expected hobbits, dragons, and Peter Dinklage to appear at any moment.  Off of every wall of the town were stunning views of the reservoir below :

I am told that this area becomes a beach destination as summer heats up but since we arrived mid week in early June, we just found a sleepy town surrounded by olive and almond trees in all directions.

I love Spanish food but if I ate 3 meals a day at restaurants much of the day would be gone.  We hit up quite a few bakeries on this trip and I bet I ate at least 6 feet of baguette.  In Iznajar we enjoyed a picnic lunch on the beach while a couple of dudes paddled around the reservoir in a paddle boat that looked like a sports car but definitely did not handle like one (voice of experience).  We then made our way about 15 minutes up into the hills where we stayed at an amazing B&B.  I went for an epic run past a few puzzled olive farmers (is that what you would call them?) and then cooled off in this pool: 

I am always grateful when someone creates a special place and then shares it with others.  Con respeto to our hosts. 

Cordoba

By the time we drove to Cordoba, I was starting to get the hang of Spanish road signs and the car.  Only a few days earlier, I had almost accelerated backward into the wall of a parking garage since the reverse is where my car at home has first gear.  I was happy to park again in Cordoba and hit the streets on foot.  The streets do get pretty narrow:

The Mezquita is a beautiful mosque with a church incongruously jammed right into the middle of it simply because major religions love to pee all over each other’s territory through the ages (Christian, Muslim, then Christian again over about 1500 years).  It is easier to get kids excited to see yet another church/mosque when it is as stunning as the Mezquita:

We then had a relaxing shady afternoon in the gardens and Fortress of the Christian Kings.  

This beautiful place is where the monarchs first met Christopher Columbus as he prepared for his first voyage to the Americas.  It also served as one of the original tribunal headquarters for the Spanish inquisition and much of it was used as torture and interrogation chambers.  Yikes, nobody expects the Spanish inquisition.

There happened to be a music festival along the Guadalquivir river walk in Cordoba while we were there and we enjoyed listening to tunes, street performers, and walking the Roman Bridge.  We also enjoyed 1.5 euro beers and various tapas.

Seville

Seville is considered the most beautiful city in Spain by some and was Lonely Planet’s best city to travel to in 2018.  Driving in Seville is also like playing the hardest game of Paperboy ever but in real life.  The streets are also pedestrian walking malls and I expected 2 guys carrying a pane of glass or a kid chasing a ball to bolt in front of the car at any moment.  Much of Andalusia has streets designed for horses and pedestrians.  This is part of it’s charm and greatly limiting cars helps preserve that charm.  It is often easier to ditch your car on the outskirts and spend a few days on foot rather than think you are going to want to or need to drive anywhere.  These cities have been honed for walkability for thousands of years after all.The night before we had arrived in Seville, the place that we had rented and paid for a month prior through Hotels.com informed us that they had double booked and were bumping us.  Not super cool since the city was over 99% booked and it was a weekend.  Oh yeah that’s why we were forced to book in advance in the first place.  However, after a few phone calls the lemons turned quickly to lemonade as they made everything great again by putting us up in a suite at a 4 star hotel.  I am really not that into being called sir and other people carrying my pack for me. However, it did feel like a bargain staying in a $500 room for a little less than a hundred bucks.  The place was beautiful and the boys definitely enjoyed taking a bath and wearing fancy robes and slippers. When I found out that the suites all adjoined to a private courtyard with complimentary drinks and a tapas buffet from noon to midnight I was feeling pretty lavish but definitely regretted leaving my cummerbund and monocle at home:

The city of Seville kind of builds until it overtakes you with its charming side streets and beautiful buildings in all directions.  We had the best Tapas on the trip in the side streets around the cathedral:

We also had a family rowing competition at the Plaza De Espana:

Copious gelato and lots of water helped fuel the boys to keep walking an average of about 7-10 miles each day on this trip.  However, after subjecting them to many days of churches, alcazars, and alcazabas, we thought we would throw the boys a bone and took an afternoon to go to Isla Magica by request.  It had all the crowds and lines of an amusement park / waterpark back home only with everything in Spanish for an added challenge on the nerves in 90 degree heat.  

It felt a bit like a time warp to go from old town Seville to modern kitch park but we banked some good will with the chilluns and they had huge smiles all day.

Sherry (Jerez)

Since we were approaching the sherry growing region of Spain, we found about a dozen types of sherry added to most of the wine lists and did some tasting.  We also enjoyed orange wine which is something of a specialty around Seville.  I did get an appreciation for the style. 

Cadiz

Cadiz is the oldest city in Europe and has been continuously inhabited for over 3000 years.  Damn, and we call a 100 year old church historic here in the USA!  We spent a day on the beaches and touring the castles of this island city that looks out over the Atlantic.

Vejer De La Frontera

Prior to this trip, I got in touch with a woman who was renting out her place on Airbnb.  It had a 360 view on a rooftop terrace where you could see Africa across the Straight of Gibraltar on a clear day.  It was perched in a hilltop white village and her house was built right into the fortress wall that once protected the town.  When I found out that there are undeveloped beaches all down the coast less than a half hour from this town as well, I rearranged some things just to stay at this place.  This place turned out to be Vejer De La Frontera.  While a tiny town, it seemed to be packed with fancy restaurants some even in the Michelin guide.  I asked someone about it and he told me that a few years back this tiny town had been called the most beautiful place in Spain by some major Spanish magazine.  Wait I thought Seville was ranked the most beautiful?!  Someone needs to pull out the beautiful meter and settle this.  Anyway, as a result of the press, chefs flocked to this tiny place and the guy I was talking to moved from the Portugal border just to be a part of it and live a more laid back life.  It is a stunning town and at this point in the trip I was already feeling almost guilty from the overload of good fortune that hit me each day with our experience of Andalusia.

We spent a day dotting along the coast swimming and relaxing on beach after beach that could have almost been private:

The white villages of Cadiz refer to about 20 little villages scattered around hills and fields west of Malaga and it makes for a nice adventure to choose a few and go exploring.  We shared the road with tractors as we drove through the yellow sunflower fields with bulls roaming the pastures:

Fools may still tilt at windmills old and new but most of them now create clean renewable energy:

Every once in a while another white village just appears:

We explored some and just drove by others finally emptying out of a valley to see Ronda where we would spend a couple of days.

Ronda

This is where I started part 1 of this post on Spain and where we have arrived at again.  The feeling I described while looking out over the gorge may have a bit more context now that you have seen what built to it.  

We hiked to the bottom of the gorge prepared with a couple liters of water and a promise of more gelato for the boys if they made the whole hike without complaint.  The view helped provide some energy for sure:

After a number of splits in the trail and dubious choices, we found ourselves crossing a mini ravine over some water and then exploring some ruins of old houses that had grown into the forest at the bottom of the gorge.  To quote my 10 year old, “it was like Tomb Raider except I was worried that a homeless man was going to jump out”:

Caminito Del Rey

One of the things I was hoping to do on this trip was a hike called Caminito Del Rey.  It follows a set of paths that cling to the side of a gorge 330 feet above the river below.  Before it was rehabbed in 2015, 5 people died while trying to complete this hike and while it is now safe enough for an 8 year old, it is not for the acrophobic.  Unfortunately, it has become very popular and the 10 euro tickets for the hike now sell out about a month in advance.  I tried to get some tickets 2 weeks before we arrived but did not want to pay $100 per person for a tour reseller and had kind of given up. I am not going to go into details but due to some amazingly good luck and quick thinking, I was somehow able to procure 4 tickets the day we passed by on our way back to Malaga.  The boys hiked like mountain goats and we had a blast taking in this really beautiful canyon:

Going home

I definitely breathed a huge sigh of relief when I returned the rental car unscathed in Malaga after driving all those tight roads with unfamiliar laws. As I took my last jog along the beach the morning of our flight home, I was somewhat ready to go but also bittersweet with the end of this Spanish adventure.

If you liked this or other posts please do me a favor and like this newly created Life Outside The Maze page on facebook by clicking “Like Page” here:

apparently I need some likes before FB will even let me create a username for the site :/ What do you think of this Andalusian adventure? Let me know or feel free to ask any questions in the comments below…