Still enjoying our lurchers and our villa sit in one of the Pueblos Blancos in Andalucía Spain. This area of the world is brilliant in Springtime. The mountains are very picturesque, some covered in cork oak forest that is harvested by hand and mule to make wine corks. Interesting wild flowers are blooming and the hiking is divine.
It has been having a blast keeping these lurchers exercised. We are hiking all over Andalucía: beach walks, and get this, there are shells on the beach! It’s been years since I’ve seen collectable shells on a beach. We have the place to ourselves because it is still early for tourists and not hot, and of course, windy.
Often we hike along the Hozgarganta river (more like a big stream). We snuck up on a terrapin turtle sunning on a rock, and a couple of lizards intertwined in a mating knot that looked like exquisite macramé (one was green striped, the other orange).
Alongside the river is an 18th century bomb factory. It amounts to a series of locks used to cool cannon balls that were lobed at Gibraltar in the siege of 1780. Along this was the trail that still shows sections of an ancient roman road. The castle on the top of Jimena is aside the remnants of a roman fort. This river is the base of that hill. Andalusian horses graze across the river.
All that was amazing, but the icing was the flora. Oleander grows wild here. So does Spanish lavender, rock rose (Cistus), matilha poppies, and cork oak. I call these the trees without pants. Because people harvest the cork to as high as they can reach, and it leaves the trees looking naked from the waist down. Reportedly, this area grows the highest quality cork in the world and it is used exclusively for wine corks (which evidently need to be the highest quality cork), no floors come from here. The wild flowers, which are just starting to bloom, are all new to me too. We have seen our first red poppy – looks just like the buttons all brits wear (Brits wear the poppy like we wear yellow ribbons to commemorate people who have died in war); wild irises, which are exactly the same as ornamental irises, except about 4” tall; there is a variegated thistle that is gorgeous, but prickly; and lots of other flowers I don’t know the names of. I will have to do some research.
Today we hiked up to a castle at the top of another white village, along another ancient stone road with the lurchers. We looked down upon a soaring eagle. Must have had a 8-10’ wingspan. Sorry, but I did not get a picture, I was mesmerized. Interesting fact: there are no hummingbirds in Europe. But big birds of prey, they have by the dozen: several species of eagles, vultures, including Egyptian (the biggest birds here), hawks, kestrels, merlins, falcons and kites. We have seen some of each. The house where we are staying is called Cortijo el Aguila (the eagle farmhouse).
Ronda, Spain, A favorite of Hemmingway
One day we left the dogs and drove to Ronda. I think Ronda is the city where bullfighting originated. At least it is where Hemingway discovered it. Another town that Hemingway loved, and wrote, and made an impact. It is perched on a rock, with a clear Mediterranean blue-green river snaking around it. In the hotter months, it is probably full of people. It is a beautiful town and we are glad we trekked out there. But the best part was probably the drive. Amazing drive through changing topography. We stopped at numerous miradors (viewpoints) to see down into deep gorges, most with a white village on the cliffs, most of those topped with a castle; pine forests, cork oak forests, and high enough – no forests, but amazing old rock escarpments. These mountains are very old, just steep rock cliffs and jagged spines.
We try treat ourselves to one day trip a week while we are here to see other parts of Andalucia. There is so much within a short drive: Gibraltar, Jerez, Ronda, Marbella; in addition to scores of Pueblos Blancas.
We made it to Marbella. Marbella is the opposite of everything else I have described in this postcard, so I’ll save it for another time. And we must visit Gibraltar. We have seen it from a distance (and we can see Africa beyond it). It is amazing! It is a big, steep, rock.