Month: September 2023

Barcelona: An ancient yet modern metropolis

| 2suitcasesfor2years

Usually, we shy away from large cities. I am not sure exactly why, though it’s probably anxiety about how hectic a new city might be and imaginary stress of navigating public transit, or predatory taxi drivers. But we’ve only ever heard how wonderful Barcelona was from our friends and decided to take the plunge ourselves. Boy were our pre-conceived notions way off! Starting with a trouble-free taxi ride (it’s as if the Barcelona City Council told the taxi union to treat the tourists well or we’ll allow Uber and Lyft to operate in the city) from the airport to our hotel, One Shot Aragó 257 in Barcelona’s Eixample district.

The district dates from the city’s expansion in 1855 when the Spanish Crown finally relented and permitted the demolition of the ancient defensive walls around the historic core of Barcelona. This allowed the city to expand beyond its ancient footprint to accommodate a growing population, that was literally bursting the city’s walls. A visionary plan by Ildefons Cerdà to urbanize the farmlands surrounding the old walled city was chosen.

An enlightened architect and civil engineer, he envisioned Eixample to be a model of urban living, where every citizen had enough sunlight, clean air, water and green space for a healthy lifestyle. Cerdà designed the Eixample district with short blocks to encourage “walking, mixing, and vibrant street life,” and oriented the streets to run northwest to southeast to receive maximum sunlight. The buildings on each block were no higher than seven floors and built around a central treed courtyard.

Comprised of six neighborhoods, Dreta de l’Eixample, Antiga Esquerra, Sagrada Familia, Fort Pienc, Sant Antoni, and Nova Esquerra, we can attest that Cerdà’s Eixample district and his vision for Barcelona’s future has withstood the test of time and the city continues to be a wonderful, people-friendly place to explore by foot. Today Barcelona is a sprawling city of millions; still, with most of its 19th century buildings only 7 stories tall, it never felt congested and always felt as if we were strolling through intimate neighborhoods. Of course, there were exceptions on La Rambla and the promenade along the Platja de la Barceloneta oceanfront, which were busy even in off-season March.

Today, continuing improvements to the city’s urban landscape, fostered by the concerns of climate change, are being implemented to the city’s 19th century footprint with the pioneering of Superblocks. These are 3 square block areas that will become pedestrian only with trees planted where the roadway was removed in order to expand the city’s green spaces and enhance urban living.

Just exploring the blocks immediately surrounding our hotel was rewarding with discoveries of cafés, tapas bars and interesting shops. Our favorite for morning coffee was the Catalan pastry shop, Casa Vives, located too easily, on the corner down the street from our hotel. The contemporary tapas at Vinitus couldn’t be beaten, and a formidable line awaited if we didn’t arrive early enough.

Contemporary interior design has always intrigued us, and fine examples can be found all across the city. But in our neighborhood the bookstore Llibreria Finestres and Lucciano’s Barcelona, an ice cream shop, stood out, along with Bolibar Bronzes with its vast array of fascinating architectural door hardware. We can’t imagine how much our suitcases would have weighed if we had indulged ourselves by shopping there.

Eixample also claims several buildings designed by the innovative modernista architect Antoni Gaudi. Near our hotel, on Passeig de Graçia, was the Casa Batlló, a private residence that Gaudi redesigned in 1904 with his signature use of flowing organic forms, whimsical decorative elements, and texture. Also, on Passeig de Graçia is Gaudi’s La Pedrera-Casa Milà, 1906, a private residence for his client on the lower floor and apartments above. The building is known for the undulating lines of its facade and sculptural chimneys. Sadly, we sufficed with just viewing the exteriors of these landmarks, as we felt the entrance fees were exorbitant at €30 per person at each site.

We put these savings towards the tickets for the Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família, or simply the Sagrada Familia, Antoni Gaudi’s masterpiece. Like the Eiffel Tower in Paris, Big Ben in London, and Rome’s Coliseum, Gaudi’s soaring towers at the Sagrada Familia serve as Barcelona’s iconic landmark.

The cornerstone of the Sagrada Familia was laid in 1882, but Gaudi was not the first architect. He replaced a colleague who designed a more traditional church with a gothic façade, flying buttresses and a pointed bell tower. Gaudi transformed it into the enlightened, visionary structure that now graces Barcelona with eighteen spires.

Twelve of the spires are dedicated to the Apostles, while the remaining six are dedicated to the four Evangelists, the Virgin Mary and Jesus Christ. Realizing the project would outlive him, Gaudi left detailed plans and models that are still being followed, nearly 100 years after his untimely death in 1926 (he was struck by a tram and died from his injuries a few days later.) Construction of the cathedral relies on ticket sales and private donations, consequently during the pandemic, work nearly came to a stop. Currently the church’s final completion date is set for 2026, one-hundred-forty-four years after that cornerstone was laid and 100 years after its architect’s death. Talk about a lasting vision!

The Cathedral is an awe-inspiring temple that is visually uplifting and celebrates life, with its unique use of organic forms and stunning play of light from its stained-glass windows. We highly recommend purchasing your tickets and scheduling a time to visit online, well ahead of your visit to avoid the queue at this celebrated monument.

Walking between landmarks is one of the best ways to experience Barcelona and with that in mind we headed to Mercat de l’Abaceria, a traditional neighborhood mercado with multiple vendors on Pg. de St. Joan. Though much smaller than the famed Mercado de La Boqueria on La Rambla, which has sadly become gentrified and overly touristy, this mercado is a genuine neighborhood experience, where we enjoyed lunch and purchased olives, cheese, and sausages for snacking later.

Any first visit to Barcelona can’t be complete without a stroll down La Rambla, taking its name from the Arab word “ramla,” for sandy riverbed, which is how the path from the old walled city to the Mediterranean Sea started eons ago. La Rambla became a street leading to one of city’s ancient gates in the 1400s when a riverbed was filled in and folks trekked to an open-air market in an area known as Pla de la Boquería. It eventually became the main thoroughfare to the port and was lined with several convents.

The market wasn’t officially recognized as La Boqueria until the 1840s and didn’t exist in a covered structure until 1914 and now famously hosts 200 food stalls and millions of visitors every year. Flowers have always been a tradition along La Rambla and it started with La Boqueria’s market stall owners, centuries ago, giving flowers to their customers as a token of appreciation for their shopping. In 1702, 280 trees were planted along La Rambla. Streetlamps were installed along its length in 1860 and its newspaper stands remained open all night. Since then, it has been Barcelona’s most historic boulevard, the place to stroll, to be seen, to people watch.

Now three quarters of a mile long, the tree lined boulevard runs from the Columbus Monument at the harbor past the historic Gothic Quarter to Plaça de Catalunya, Barcelona’s central plaza where the old medieval city ends and the newer Eixample district begins.

Wandering through the historic old town section, we visited the Cathedral of Barcelona, a massive Gothic structure that dates from 1298, when it was built upon the ruins of an old Roman temple.

It was the city’s most important church for 600 years until the construction of the Sagrada Familia was started. The difference between the two is night and day. The cathedral is somber, while the Sagrada Familia lifts your spirit.

Afterwards on our way to the Palau de la Música Catalana, we stumbled upon Raima, a fantastic stationery and art supply store that is so out of place in the medieval old town, it’s wonderful. If you enjoy artful things, Raima has four floors full of visually stimulating displays and a hidden gem, a quiet rooftop café.

The walk through the narrow alleys of Barcelona’s ancient city center is filled with interesting architectural details fronting centuries-old buildings. Each successive generation decorated their city with sculptures and monuments, small visually intriguing vignettes, but which sadly have lost their historical significance over time. Now in many of the city’s plazas, modern art stands wonderfully juxtaposed against the ancient buildings.

The Palau de la Música Catalana is Barcelona’s most beautiful concert hall and is often referred to as the city’s, “magical music box.” It was constructed in 1905 by a contemporary of Gaudi’s, modernist architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner, in a style that is referred to as Catalan Art Nouveau, which incorporates the decorative arts of stained glass, ironwork, mosaic, painting, and sculpture together in a project. It’s a captivating space that highlights the great craftsmanship of the era. 

The Barcelona beaches were not tempting us, but someone during our travels suggested that we must go to the seaside district of Barceloneta and find Bar Electricitat. “Because, they have the best bombas in Barcelona.” Try saying that tongue twister three times fast! We haven’t done a lot of comparative taste testing regarding this, however the bombas, fried mashed potato balls stuffed with sauteed ground pork and beef, were delicious. And the bar itself is a friendly, delightful no-frills place with a gregarious waiter, who seemed to know everyone, and a good house wine. We cut our walk along the beach short when the wind started to kick up sand.

Unfortunately, by the time we reached Parc de la Ciutadella, our cloudless morning was becoming overcast, though that did not deter folks from relaxing on the parks expansive lawns and enjoying a warm Spring Day in mid-March. Designed in the late 19th century for the Universal Exposition of 1888, the park has an assortment of monuments dedicated to Spain’s glories, a boating lake, and life-size concrete sculpture of a woolly mammoth named Júlia. She’s been popular with generations of Barcelonian families since she was installed in the park over 100 years ago.

The next morning, we took a cab to Park Guell, another Antoni Gaudí creation set in the hills above Barcelona. In 1900, Eusebi Güell, a wealthy industrialist, envisioned the wooded hillside as an exclusive gated community with sixty homes and common areas designed by Gaudí.

By 1907, the whimsical entrance pavilions, viaducts, hypostyle market area, and the grand esplanade with its stairway were completed.

But the project failed to attract buyers and the hillside became Güell’s private retreat. Upon his death his heirs offered to sell the park to the city. Barcelona agreed and opened the park to the public in 1926. The park has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984 and annually attracts nine million visitors. Get your tickets online ahead of time and arrive at the park as early as possible. Even by 11AM, in March, there was a hefty crowd of folks visiting the park.

Something old, something new, there are plenty of interesting things to do and see in this dynamic, ancient yet modern metropolis. We had a great 5 days exploring Barcelona. And one of the surprising things we discovered about ourselves during our years of travel is that after having purposedly avoided living and working in cities in the United States, we actually enjoy European city life!

“Just close your eyes and let’s pretend we’re dancing in the street in Barcelona”- Ed Sheeran

Till next time, Craig & Donna

Road Tripping Through Andalucia: The Pueblos Blancos of Ubrique, Villaluenga del Rosario and Arcos de la Frontera

| 2suitcasesfor2years

Just below the northern horizon, a white brushstroke highlighted the verdant canvas before us as we savored the view from the top of the castillo in Castellar de Frontera one last time. That swath of white slowly changed into Jimena de la Frontera as we drove closer. One of Andalucia’s famed Pueblos Blancos, the village is set on the hillside below the ruins of its ancient castle which once protected it.

In ancient times the homes in villages featured roughhewn stone masonry. Lime paint was a luxury, until its use was greatly expanded during the mid-1300’s when a bubonic plague pandemic swept through the Mediterranean countries. Residents of villages were required yearly to cover the outside and the interiors of their homes and churches with a limewash, known for its natural anti-bacterial and insecticidal properties, in an effort to reduce the spread of disease. Community inspections were done, and folks were fined for noncompliance. This mandated conformity was eventually appreciated as an aesthetically pleasing look and a symbol of meticulous tidiness. Fortunately, the custom stayed and has become an iconic signature of southern Andalusia.

Villaluenga del Rosario was our ultimate destination for the day, but before that we would be driving through the expansive forests of Parque Natural Sierra de Grazalema and stopping along the way in Ubrique, and Benaocaz. All pueblos blancos, though all different in size, setting and atmosphere. According to our maps app the trip would take 2 hours. But it was a glorious 58-mile sinuous route through the mountains, and with several stops it took us most of the day.

The vast 130,000-acre Parque Natural Sierra de Grazalema, with peaks reaching 5400 feet, is one of the wettest areas in Spain, receiving almost 80 inches of rain a year. This is surprising, considering that many areas in Andalucia are often used to replicate the American southwest for European filmmakers. These wet conditions over many millennia have created a dramatic karstic landscape of shear mountains, lush valleys and caves, especially Pileta Cave with its 30,000 year old prehistoric paintings. The park’s lower elevations feature forests of cork oak, carob, hawthorn, and mastic. Higher slopes transition to a landscape of gall oaks and Spanish fir, a tree species that survived the last Ice Age. This ecosystem supports a diverse fauna that contains 136 species of birds, most notably a large population of griffon vultures, and 42 mammal species, that include foxes, badgers, roe deer, otters, and Spanish ibex. And in ancient times it was the refuge of wild, now extinct, aurochs, the ancestor of the famous Spanish Fighting Bulls, toro bravo. The park has been a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve since 1977.

Farmers still harvest cork and olives amidst the rocky terrain and graze cattle, sheep, and goats within the park. This practice made for an interesting encounter when we rounded a curve and faced a VERY LARGE BULL standing in the middle of the road, adjacent to some pasture. We stopped, looked around for his farmer, but there was no one in sight. It was obvious he was the king of this domain, with no intention of moving aside until he felt like it. Slowly we inched forward and watched him eye us until he decided to saunter across the road and let us pass.

Ubrique is a large thriving town with 17,000 inhabitants set in a valley surrounded by tall peaks and steep scree slopes, its homes built above and around boulders too large to move. The town’s prosperity comes from its fine leather workshops, which account for 60% of the townspeople being employed directly or indirectly in the creation of leather products. It started simply enough with leather cases and pouches to carry tobacco and the Precise, a heavy-duty strap that allowed workers to safely carry silex stones and iron bricks.

By the mid-1700s their fine leather products and artisanal craftsmanship was recognized across Europe which fueled an export industry. The good fortunes of the town continued to grow until the mid-2000 when clients seeking higher profit margins moved their leather goods production to China and other Asian countries. Fortunately, their exodus did not last long, and they returned to Ubrique when they realized that the excellent craftsmanship in this small Andalucian town could not be rivaled by cheap labor. Today Ubrique is considered the “artisanal leather capital, “ for high-end fashion brands like Chloe, Gucci, Hermes and Louis Vuitton. “So many stores, so little time.” Of course, we shopped! The decision-making process was painful, but Donna managed to select one single beautiful purse to take home.

In March the twisting roads, higher into the mountains, were nearly void of traffic. Occasionally a campervan passed. Reaching Benaocaz, we parked and strolled through a nearly empty town square in search of coffee. It was a quiet weekend afternoon in the shoulder season, and few people were about, but luckily, we happened to come across Restaurante Nazari, a rustic restaurant with outside tables that had a view of the valley below the town.

Villaluenga del Rosario was only a little farther, and higher into the mountains. The village is dramatically set along one side of a narrow green valley at the base of a sheer mountain massif. The lane to our inn, the Tugasa La Posada, looked too narrow to drive down, and I was concerned about getting to a point that required backing up. A difficult task in an alley barely wider than our rental car, and there was plenty of parking above the village.  La Posada wonderfully reflects the typical inn of centuries past, with a large tavern, featuring regional recipes, on the ground level and a handful of rooms above.

Several things are unique to this pueblo: Snowy winters are common in the Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park’s highest village, situated at an elevation of 2800ft. It is also the smallest village in the Province of Cadiz, with only 438 residents. And the village has a unique octagon shaped bullring, built around a natural rock formation, that is the oldest in Cadiz Province, dating from the mid-1700s. The exact year of construction for the bullring isn’t known, as the town’s archives were lost in a 1936 fire. Located on an important cattle trading route through the mountains, the bullring was also used as a corral during livestock festivals.

But before domestic cattle were raised in the area, prehistoric people used to pursue auroch, a wild bull that lived in the Sierra de Grazalema until it was hunted to extinction in the Middle Ages. Nearby in Cueva de la Pileta, primitive cave paintings of bulls have been dated to the Paleolithic era 27,000 years ago. The famous fighting bulls of Spain, Toro Bravo, descend from this primal auroch lineage that once roamed wild. Ancient pagan festivals often conducted a running of the wild bulls, tethered to a group of men by a long rope, through their villages before a ritual sacrifice.  “Toro de Cuerda'”(Bull on Rope) festivals, are thought to be the foundation of the modern Spanish Bull Fight, and are still held in Villaluenga del Rosario, Grazalema, and Benamahoma. With the advent of Christianity some of these pagan elements were incorporated into church celebrations of a pueblo’s patron Saint. In Grazalema the early church Christianized the practice and includes the Feast of the Bull in celebrations to the Virgen del Carmen every July. Benamahoma’s “Toro de Cuerda” is held in August during their festival to honor the town’s patron saint, Anthony of Padua.

This tranquil village has gone through some turbulent times in its past. Villaluenga del Rosario, known for its woolen textiles in the 17th century, did not escape Napoleon’s destruction as his troops retreated across the mountains after they abandoned their siege of Cadiz in 1812. French troops sacked the village and torched the old Church of El Salvador. Now only the walls and roof arches remain, open to the sky. The sanctuary is now used as a cemetery.  The economy declined throughout the region in the 1800s and early 1900s, and the mountains were beset with bandits. Notoriously, José María El Tempranillo and Pasos Largos, the most infamous of the Sierra’s outlaws, would frequent the village and hideout in the surrounding caves. They are celebrated as Robin Hood bandoleros, robbing the wealthy and redistributing their stolen goods to help the poverty-stricken locals – Andalucia’s mountain justice. These same caves in the 1930s would shelter Republican resistance fighters escaping Fascist troops during the Spanish Civil War. A hiking trail, Los Llanos del Republicano, from the village to caves is named after them.

The rural population continued to emigrate, contributing to further economic deterioration until the villages’ employment prospects improved with the opening of a cheese factory, Queso Payoyo, in 1997. The Payoyo goat is an ancient breed from the Sierra de Grazalema and considered endangered. Since Queso Payoyo opened 25 years ago, its goat and sheep cheeses have received 175 national and international awards. Thirty-five farms now supply Payoyo goat and Merina grazalemeña sheep milk to the cheesemaker. Their shop just across the road from the village seems to be a Mecca for cheese aficionados. Open seven days a week, we were surprised to find it packed with customers early on a Sunday morning, when we stopped to buy some cheese before we headed to Benamahoma.

It was a beautiful crisp spring day, and we enjoyed a slow walk uphill into the village. Next to the Plaza de las Huertas the façade of the Ermita/mezquita de San Antonio, a church/mosque, visually represents Benamahoma’s complex cultural identity, with Moorish horseshoe-shaped arches and three golden spheres topped by with a gold crescent, typically seen on minarets, atop its tower.

This region in Spain has a very complicated history, beginning with Alfonso X’s Reconquista which started in the mid-1200s, paused, then continued for the next 400 years with his successors. Benamahoma was the last Moorish village in the mountains to have its inhabitants expelled from the region in 1609, eighteen years after Grazalema’s Muslim villagers were forced out, though the hamlets are only nine miles apart. Their reprieve was caused by the fact that although Alfonso X and later Kings achieved military victories, they did not have enough troops to garrison each village, nor sufficient numbers of willing Christian settlers from Northern Spain to repopulate the conquered towns. Consequently, to keep the economy of the area going and subjects to collect taxes from, Moors were allowed to stay as long as their local Princes swore allegiance to a Christian King and declared themselves loyal vassals.  This did not always go smoothly and there were rebellions. Most famously the Mudéjar Revolt in 1264, when the towns of Jerez, Lebrija, Arcos, and Medina-Sidonia were recaptured and occupied by Moors for several years before Christian armies secured the towns once again. 

Benamahoma’s historic, pragmatic tolerance is celebrated the first weekend every August with a Moros y Cristianos Festival. Carrying swords, shields and blunderbusses, historical reenactors dressed in period clothing parade through the village to the bullring, where they then engage in mock hand-to-hand combat. The battles are won with the capture of an image of San Antonio de Padua by the Moors on Saturday and then won by Christians on Sunday with the rescue of his image. Many of the positions in the opposing armies are hereditary, the tradition being passed down from father to son, through the generations. Benamahoma is the only village in western Andalucia which celebrates this festival.

This village’s remoteness in the Sierra de Grazalema did not protect it from the atrocities committed during the Spanish Civil War. Near the bullring, in the Parque de Memoria Historica, silhouettes stand where villagers once stood against a wall before they were massacred by Fascists. Sadly, this memorial is also near the village’s second church, the Iglesia de San Antonio de Padua.

Backtracking as we headed to Arcos de la Frontera, we stopped at a radio station above El Bosque. A trail behind its tall antenna offered the perfect vantage point to capture a photo of the village below. We did not stop in El Bosque, but after catching glimpses of the village as we drove through, in hindsight we wished we had.  But there was a time constraint, we wanted to spend the afternoon exploring Arcos de la Frontera, before flying on to Barcelona the next morning. 

The A-372 between El Bosque and Arcos de la Frontera has to be one of the prettiest stretches of highway anywhere. With the reflection of the Sierra de Grazalema in our rearview mirrors, we wished we could have lingered longer.

I’ve always loved maps for researching routes, finding obscure sites, and figuring out the best vantage point to capture a landscape from. This brought us to our first two stops at the Molino de Angorrill, an old mill, and the Mirador Los Cabezuelos, before we entered the hilltop citadel. Both places along Guadalete River had wonderful views of the ancient city.

After this our map app failed us when it suggested we head the wrong way down a one-way calle into the village. We eventually found an underground parking garage at Parque El Paseo and towed our suitcases uphill to the Parador de Arcos de la Frontera.

It was LONG walk, but of course we stopped frequently to take photos. Located next to the 500-foot-high Mirador Plaza del Cabildo and adjacent to the Basílica de Santa María de la Asunción and the Castillo de los Duques de Arcos, the hotel was a perfect base for a one-night stay. Formerly the Casa del Corregidov was an Andulcian palace before it was acquired by the government and renovated to be a parador in 1966.

Arcos has always been a favored spot, appreciated for its access to abundant water sources and its easily defensible position atop a cliff face. It has hosted settlements since the Neolithic period, Bronze Age, Tartessians, Phoenicians and Romans periods.

The village continued to grow under the Moors and while the facades and interior of buildings in this ancient town have changed over the centuries the original Arab footprint of the village, with its exceedingly narrow lanes has remained the same.

The view from the mirador and the hotel’s patio were phenomenal during the golden hour. As the sun was setting, a large flock of storks appeared over the bell tower of the Basilica and circled for about fifteen minutes before flying away. It was a magical experience that nicely capped our short time in Arcos.

The next morning, we watched the sun rise over the Sierra de Grazalema and the village’s church steeples from our hotel room, before wandering through the village’s ancient lanes one last time.

Till next time,

Craig & Donna

Road Tripping Through Andalucia: Medina-Sidonia, Alcalá de los Gazules, & Castellar de la Frontera

| 2suitcasesfor2years

“We should tuck the mirrors in,” I said as we eyeballed the passage through the narrow arch ahead of us. We were on the Plaza de Espana in Medina-Sidonia, a forty-minute drive from Cadiz. But we couldn’t be further away, as it felt like a passage in time to centuries past as we drove into the village. Folks have lived on this hill since before the Phoenicians settled Cadiz in 1100 BC, making the village one of the oldest settlements in western Europe. But it is with the Phoenicians and later the Romans, Visgoths, Moors and finally the Spanish that the village grew. Sitting 1,000ft above the fertile rolling plains below, the highest point for miles around, the village offers incredible vistas of the surrounding countryside out to the Atlantic Ocean. The pueblo blanco we see today has its roots with the Moors in the 8th century.

The plaza was nearly deserted when we strolled across it, mid-week in the middle of March, looking for a café. While the plaza was empty, we found a café, Restaurante Paco Ortega, bustling with activity. We ordered Tostadas de Jamón and Alfajor, a sweet gingerbread-like confectionary from the Arab period, that the town is famous for. We enjoyed the tostadas and the lively chatter of the café, but we were pointed across the plaza to Pasteleria Aromas de Medina for the Alfajor. True to its name, delicious whiffs of fresh baked pastries greeted us as we crossed the threshold of temptation. The Alfajor de Medina Sidonia was heavenly. It’s made with local honey, nuts, breadcrumbs, and a variety of spices – what’s not to like? The only question was how much to buy.

The day was really the first one of our Andalucian road-trip. Previously we had stayed for multiple days in Jerez de la Frontera and Cadiz (click to read those blogs.) Medina-Sidonia was the first of two stops, before we stayed in Castellar de la Frontera.

I swear the 12th century Arco de Belén, one of the original gates into the old walled Arab village, was slimmer than the one at the plaza. Located on a narrow, uphill blind curve, it took me two tries to align the car correctly for safe passage through the wall.

It’s a nice walk from the plaza in front of the cathedral to the ruins of the ancient castillo that once crowned the crest of the village. It must have been magnificent when it was the seat of the Dukedom of Medina Sidonia in the 15th century. The hereditary dukedom was one of the oldest in the kingdom of Spain and its land holdings encompassed most of Andalucia. But the castle eventually lost its significance, and its massive walls were slowly dismantled. The castle’s stones used to expand the village are now hidden behind plaster and white paint. Interestingly, the 7th Duke of Medina Sidonia was commander of the Spanish Armada that sailed to attack the south of England in 1588. Currently the 22nd Duke of Medina Sidonia resides in Madrid.

Next to the cathedral there is another set of ruins, one massive corner of which is all that is left of the Torreón de Doña Blanca, named for Doña Blanca (who was Blanche of Borbón,) the 14-year-old child bride of King Peter of Castile. They married in 1353 for King Peter to secure an alliance with France. However, there were difficulties in receiving her promised dowry. Shortly after their marriage, Peter abandoned Blanche for his lover, the Castilian noblewoman Maria de Padilla, who many believed he had married in secret before Blanche. He ordered Blanche, now officially the Queen of Castille, imprisoned in the Castle of Arevalo. In 1361 she was moved to the tower in Medina Sidonia to prevent rescue by French forces that were now battling King Peter. He ordered one of his noblemen to execute Blanche, now 22, but the knight bravely refused the king’s command, saying it was treasonous and would cause further disorder in the country. However, she was handed over to the King’s willing crossbowman, Juan Pérez de Rebolledo of Jeréz, who executed her. I can only imagine how many bags of silver changed hands. Peter only lasted another eight years on his throne until his half-brother, Henry of Trastámara, defeated him.

Built in the 16th century on the foundations of the village’s old mosque, the Iglesia de Santa María la Mayor still gracefully commands the hilltop. With Gothic and Renaissance elements inside and out, we found it to be one of the more interesting churches we had visited in Andalucia, not including Seville.

It is filled with wonderful pieces of religious art and has a very fine baroque sculpted altar, depicting stories from the Bible, and an ornate choir stall. The church also has a very nice arched cloister. The 135-foot-tall belltower, its upper portion built upon the minaret of the former mosque, was definitely worth the climb for the fantastic aerial views of the town and surrounding farmlands.

Next to the church, we were delighted to find that the Monasterio De Jesús, María Y José has a dulce turno. This is a lazy-susan type cabinet that allows you to purchase cookies and pastries made by the sequestered nuns who follow the convent’s centuries old recipes. It’s an interesting experience, talking in our inadequate Spanish through the wall to the invisible nun on the other side. We now seek out this opportunity wherever possible. The convent’s church has a noteworthy octagonal floor plan with its ceiling decorated with mural paintings.

Alcalá de los Gazules, a half hour away, was our next destination. Along with Medina-Sidonia and several other pueblos blancos, it is on the Ruta del Toro. This route through the open ranges of Cadiz Province highlights the region’s equestrian traditions on large fincas that raise Spain’s famous fighting bulls for the ring, as well as for their beef. Along the roadside here the iconic Osbourne Bull billboards playfully promote their brandy.

Rounding a curve, the hillside before us glittered with impressionistic white dots, which were nearly blinding in the midday sun. As we approached, their definition improved and revealed the old Arab village.  The ancient footprint of the town hasn’t changed in centuries. The village is composed of multiple levels of terraced dwellings built above each other, along staircases, winding narrow lanes and alleys that traced the natural topography of the hill to its apex.

One of the advantages of shoulder season travel is that it is much easier to find a parking space. The disadvantage, though, is that some sites of interest have off-season hours, which was what we encountered with the Iglesia Parroquial de San Jorge and the Castillo de Alcala de los Gazules.

Since the Romans first laid stones for a fortress, the town has had a castle at its summit. It was the Moors though who built a small but substantial fortification that used the sloping wall technique, copied from the Templars, to build the Homage Tower. This impressive tower is all that is left after Napoleon’s troops blew apart the rest of the castillo as they exited following a brutal occupation of the town in 1810.

After the Reconquista, the towns’ Moorish past was erased with the construction of the Iglesia Parroquial de San Jorge above the old mosque. Its ornate gothic façade, carved from soft stone, now shows centuries of erosion. Later with the building of the Santo Domingo monastery, in 1506, the town was decreed to be a religious learning center. Although the monastery served as a training center for priests, it was also used for centuries to hold prisoners of the Spanish Inquisition.

A few minutes outside of the village, before continuing onto Castellar de la Frontera, we stopped for a late lunch/early dinner at los Corzos. It’s a large facility with a restaurant, café, grill and charcuterie shop, all featuring typical Andalusian fare. Though it appears to be geared for tourist buses that ply the route between Malaga and Cadiz, they take their cuisine very seriously and we had a splendid lunch.

The de la Frontera attached to many village names in Andalucia refers to a region officially called “Terra Nullius,” a ‘no man’s land.’ A fluctuating border area was established in the 1200s, when the first Reconquista, led by Ferdinand III of Castile-León, ran out of resources to continue their conquests farther. For two-hundred years this was an unclaimed land, in which Christian crusaders and Islamic jihadists continued to clash.

Castellar de la Frontera, still remotely isolated in the cork forests of Los Alcornocales Natural Park, truly exemplifies a wilderness fortress; with only one serpentine road in and out, it’s many miles off the main road. Today it is one of Europe’s best-preserved examples of a medieval village existing within a castle. But in the 1960’s it was a different story, when after centuries of neglect, and a dwindling population due to emigration, the remaining residents were relocated to a newly constructed town, Nuevo Castellar, ten miles away.

In the 1970s, northern European “hippies” discovered the fine Andalucian weather and the now abandoned village, squatting in some homes, and building rough shelters outside the castle walls. The old town was eventually obtained as an investment by the Rumasa Group, Spain’s largest conglomerate and the country’s leading hotel chain in the 1980’s. Later the company’s financial troubles led the Spanish Government to expropriate Castellar. They declared it a ‘Historical and Artistic Monument,’ and invested funding to restore the old castle and its village. Today rooms in the castle and several casas in the old village are reservable through Tugasa Castillo de Castellar Tugasa is a hotel organization formed by the Cadiz regional government and operates nine hotels and nine separate restaurants throughout the province.

We didn’t realize our modestly priced (under €100) room would be ideally located in the Torre del Homenaje, the highest part of the castle with spectacular panoramic views. Getting to it was a bit of a challenge, even with the use of an elevator. The castle was built atop a huge multi-faceted rock protrusion, so that each ledge of the stone became one floor for rooms. While there are hallways from the elevator landings, they branch off and have short flights of stairs, up and down, to the rooms in various wings of castle. Signage was rather lacking, but after a few wrong turns we located No. 206.

We were further surprised when we discovered that a narrow alcove in our room, with a twist and a turn, led to a sitting area with a small bedroom. Geez, if we had known we would have invited our kids. Better still, a set of stairs led to the top of the tower – our private mirador! To the manor born, for the next two days! We enjoyed incredible views: to the west over the Guadarranque reservoir, below the village, and southeast to the Rock of Gibraltar and the coast of Morocco beyond.

“Hey Rosa,” a lanky toothless patron smiled as he yelled, “tienes clientes,” you have customers, after we stood at the bar long enough to learn the gentleman was one of the original squatters of the 70’s. Two beers were all we could get from Rosa, as the kitchen was only open on weekends until the tourist season started later that Spring. Fortunately, we had purchased some bread, cheese, and sausage at los Corzos earlier, and we still had a vermut with us from Jerez de la Frontera, so we were set for a picnic dinner.

We rose for sunrise the next morning and watched kestrals zip along the castle’s walls. Over the reservoir a kettle of griffon vultures circled for a while before flying off. The medieval village within the castle’s wall is very compact and it was easy to wander through its attractive lanes. Outside the walls we spent a good bit of time walking about looking for the best vantage points to photograph this pretty village, which is recognized by Los Pueblos más Bonitos de España as being one of the nicest in Spain.

Later for coffee we stopped at the Hotel La Almoraima, located off the only road between the old town and Nuevo Castellar. The stunning hotel is set in what once was a 1600s convent and takes excellent advantage of the orange tree-filled courtyard and surrounding old cloisters, now renovated into chic rooms.  

The convent’s original chapel has also been lovingly restored and is used regularly for weddings. The history of the architecturally distinctive tower that stands next to the cloister is vague, with some thinking it was an Arab watch tower, when this was the “Terra Nullius,” and existed before the religious complex was built. The old convent and its extensive lands, a vast 34,000-acre cork forest, eventually became the property of the Dukes of Medinaceli, who turned it into a palatial hunting estate, one of the largest in Spain.

By the 1890’s it was the destination for Spanish nobles and English aristocrats from Gibraltar, who participated in Royal Equestrian Hunts, and the Duke had a private station built on Henderson’s railway for their use. In 1922 Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain exited at the Duke’s station and then traveled by horse drawn carriage to the estate and the ancient castillo for a brief visit. The eroded cart track to the castillo was finally improved and paved in 1924. In 1973 the 18th Duchess of Medinaceli sold the estate, which included the old hilltop castle, to the Rumasa Group. It was later seized by the Spanish government in the financially troubled 2010s and the Mexican actress Salma Hayek expressed interest in acquiring it before the government decided to manage the estate itself. I find these obscure histories fascinating!

Bar el Molino, a small taberna on the edge of Nuevo Castellar’s central plaza, was a wonderful untouristy spot. With shaded outside tables, cold beer and delicious food, our lunch was perfect. In an effort to experience as many different places as possible, we’ve started to take our after lunch or dinner coffee and dessert at a different establishment.

With this in mind we found Pasteleria Gastrokook, off by itself on the edge of town. Wow! We were so fortunate to stumble across this incredible pastry shop. This gourmet pastelería is reason enough to visit Castellar de la Frontera or even Spain. It is definitely worth a detour especially if you are near Gibraltar. We quickly conferred and declared a calorie-free day! I mean, what is the point of exploring all these distant locales without enjoying their cuisine. Geez, at our home in Georgia, USA, we can’t even find artisanal bread! I did gently chide the two cyclists that pedaled over from Gibraltar for ordering only black coffee. Surely, they would have burnt off all those calories by the time they returned to the rock. Sometimes, willpower is simply deprivation by choice.

Till next time,

Craig & Donna

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