Spain Part 2 - Andalucía – the most diverse, historic & beautiful region of Spain (in our opinion!)

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Cordoba – the city of the Mezquita & beautiful Patios

The drive to Cordoba from Madrid is quite quick as we take the fast Toll road and it’s surprisingly inexpensive. The scenery varies and we pass some lovely villages with fortresses or churches perched high on the hills. We arrive at about mid-day and are very lucky to find a parking space (free 1pm to 4pm, Siesta time, something quite common in Spain we discover) very near the International Youth Hostel in the Old Jewish quarter (Juderia), where we are booked in.

The YHA is quite nice and clean and very centrally located. Though our room is spacious and opens on to a covered patio, it smells of bleach – their way of trying to deal with some dampness we suspect. Bad move guys. Breakfast is included (not that we try it as there are too many lovelier options around outside) and we get a discounted rate as YHA members.

As we are starving we head off to check out a couple of foodie places mentioned in the guide book. We settle for the Taberna San Miguel El Pisto for lunch which is tucked away in a little corner by Plaza San Miguel. We have some great Tapas - pork cheeks and Rabo de Toro. The service was ace and very friendly so much so we went back for there for dinner as well and had some lovely house Vino and local Vermouth from a barrel – something we haven’t tried before & that is quite popular now in Spain.

After lunch we set out to explore the central medieval Old Jewish area (a maze of narrow streets & whitewashed buildings with flowery window boxes) and visit the ancient Synagogue or what’s left of it. It’s now a Museum & quite interesting, from a historical perspective and an indication of the diverse religious origins of the city.

We walk around the old city and across the bridges (the Torre de la Calahorra & Puente Romano) & see the restored Islamic water wheel, and get some great views of the panorama from across the river. It’s well worth the effort and we stop at a little café for some coffee and ice cream while lazily gazing across at the views. Other places of interest in the town are Plaza de Portro & various Museums.

There's a sort of spring festival in town and we come upon lots Crosses in various squares covered in flowers. This is also a precursor of another city Fiesta called Los Patios Cordobeses, which lasts 2 weeks. It’s a celebration of the private gardens/patios of local houses with fancy courtyards. They are decorated and shown off to the public during this festival. One home wins the prestigious Annual Award at the end.

We also discover that we can do a ‘Free Trip’ to The Mezquita at 8.30am every day. At other times you have to pay to get in. Strange custom?! The history of the place is quite intriguing but also a sad indictment of religious intolerance – when the Catholic Spaniards got rid of the Moors the once beautiful Mosque was reconstructed as a church (and even operated as both for a while).

The Mezquita is more impressive than we can remember from our travels here before. The beauty of the architecture is fabulous and it’s a must visit if you are ever in this part of the world. Check out the ‘Images of The Mezquita’ on google, as we can’t quite do the place justice with our inadequate prose.

Some of the highlights include the Mihrab (a scallop shaped prayer niche facing Mecca), Capilla Mayor, the Mezquita arches & various chapels, before you emerge into the Puera del Perdon & Patio de los Narajnas fomr where the courtyard & Torre del Alminar are most impressive.

During our time in Cordoba we experience traditional music and dancing in the squares, some impromptu performing and arts displays etc. It definitely has a great cultural vibe and we’re glad we stayed a bit longer to enjoy it.

We are sure to come back again……..

Granada – the city of the beautiful Alhambra

We set off early to Granada - the next stop in our Spanish (Andalusian) Adventure. However, as the route takes us near by Antequera, we decide to go via Villaneuva del Trabuco (close to Antequera), a small village where we stayed a couple of times when we used to come to Andalusia many years ago before our travels around the world started 8 years ago. The main reason is to see if we can have some lunch at Venta Tallilas, a local restaurant which was our favourite which did amazing food.

The owner turns up as we arrive and it’s the same guy. So are the staff working there and serving us. We had some awesome kid goat (Choto) and Callos (tripe). Then it’s onto Granada.

Driving into the centre of the city to find our abode - the Hotel La Ninfa - was a bit crazy due to their one way road system which felt like we drove all around the area we needed to be in and it took forever with traffic lights out of sync causing traffic to just back up. Once we got across the bridge it was smooth sailing bar the parking.

The Hotel La Ninfa is in a great central location and we can actually walk uphill to the Alhambra from here. It’s also a bit quirky both on the outside and the inside. The outside is decorated with brightly multi-coloured ceramic seashells. The inside is decorated as an ‘old school’ house. The room is lovely and the German woman owner is definitely interesting and a bit odd, but very helpful & speaks good English. We are also very lucky to find a free parking spot literally 50 yards away from the hotel and we leave our car here for the rest of our stay.

It’s pretty warm (27C) and feels humid. We walk around the centre of the city, which is crowded as it’s a bank holiday weekend in Spain, and Granada is much bigger and more interesting than we recall from our previous day trip here all those years ago.

We hop onto a local bus that takes us to the Albayzin district – the old Muslim quarter, which has some lovely bars, cafes and interesting sites. It’s an ancient walled district on a hill overlooking the Alhambra, and it’s delightfully old Moorish in architecture & has rustic cobblestoned streets, with a quaint church (Colegiata del Salvador) in its midst.

The trip takes us to the top of the hill across the valley from the Alhambra. We get off at a square (Mirador San Nicholas) from where the views across the valley to the Alhambra are quite spectacular against the Sierra Nevada with snow-capped mountains. The small square is full of tourists and some local Roma gypsies playing flamenco guitar and singing in their dialect, which is quite impressive and entertaining.

After exploring the area a bit we make our way to the Sacromonte area, which is about 2 kms away to walk along the valley. This area is famous for the community of Roma Gypsies who traditionally built their homes into the hillsides. They are credited with starting Flamenco as an art form. How ironic that the Roma gypsies who suffer so much discrimination throughout Europe even today should have their musical culture & tradition ‘adopted’ (or stolen?) as Spain’s Classical dance and music.

In the afternoon we end up at Bodegas Castaneda for some tapas & return there for dinner. It’s in the square opposite our hotel. We are recommended by the owner to try some red wine from the high regions of the Alpujarras and it is really good. We weren’t even aware that such wine existed and we would highly recommend it as well.

As it’s a bank holiday we haven’t been able to book a slot (we tried 2 months ago) to get into the inner sections of the Alhambra. However, we have a slot in about a month’s time and will drive down for the morning. (Blog update – we never did make the slot as it was booked for 8 am in the morning & we were too lazy to drive all the way to Granada as we having a great time by the coast!).

However, there is actually a public section of the Alhambra, which is easy to access & equally nice to visit as it sits above the city and you get great views from the outer areas of the city and the surrounding countryside. The public sections have some lovely gardens, a church you can visit and the famous Parador with manicured gardens.

The city itself has a lot to offer, some great building and interesting streets including Calle Caldereria Nueva (a narrow street famous for it’s teterias – Arabic/Moroccan shops), Capilla Real (Royal Chapel), The Cathedral, Alcaiceria (old slik exchange) & Plaza Bib-Rambla, Plaza Santa Ana, various museums & Hammams de Al Andalus – yes bath houses.

Its lunch in the square again & the food and drink are sooo good we go back for dinner and try our first Codillo (pig’s knuckle cooked for 5 hrs & amazingly tender and moist), Rabo de Toro (oxtail in red wine, cooked for 7 hrs – quite exquisite) and some Boquerones (whitebait done beautifully as only the Spanish know how).

One quirk of the Spanish diet, which we definitely find hard to understand and like is their obsession with tinned tuna which they have in various tapas (that taste awful) and in all salads as well. We are surprised by this as they readily have access to so much lovely fresh fish & seafood – why eat canned food?!

The Costa Del Sol - Nerja & Malaga

It’s an early start for the drive to Nerja, which will be our base for the next 6 weeks. We’ve visited the town a few times and are looking forward to an extended stay. The initial attempt to get out of Granada was a pain, when we had to do a few U turns around roundabouts as the GPS and our lack of preparedness took us the wrong way twice and we had to find our way back to the right Highway south.

The rest of the journey was smooth sailing as we drive past the Jaen region, which is famous for its Olive Oil (some say the best in the world). We arrive to meet May, our host for the AirBnB Cortijo we have rented for our time here at a Service station 2 mins drive from the Cortijo as the route to the house is not well marked on the map.

We eventually get there, meet Miguel the owner (a local boy born & bread & the cortijo used to be his family home). We are totally knocked out by how beautiful the place is. It has its own gated parking area, really mature gardens & mini orchard with fresh fruit & vegetables that we are encouraged to enjoy, and do.

There’s a lovely swimming pool (though cool as the weather isn’t that hot yet). The veranda is ideal for eating out and there’s an outside cooking area where there’s a Paella cooking pan and gas ring which we make use of later during our stay.

There is a large colourful parrot (called Anna) in a cage in the garden, which says Ola and Hello randomly during the day and a stray cat that is quite loveable who sleeps on the parrot’s hutch under the beautifully blooming Angel Trumpet flowering tree. And we discover later in the week it’s on the path for the local goats herd which run across the roofs of the attached buildings. If ever we do buy a place in Spain – this is what we are looking for!

The cortijo is a 20 minute walk downhill from town (or 5 minute drive to a large free car park on the edge of town). All in all - a great location. We are spoilt for choice for produce shopping as we have the Super Mercardo, Super Sol and Lidl to choose from very nearby and to top it all there is a regular Tuesday Market which is amazing value for whatever fruit and vegetables are in season. It’s incredibly cheap, fresh & tasty with the sellers being quite generous and helpful. The market also has a clothes and ceramics section so we get some housewarming pressies for Romi (M’s sister) & John (her partner) who have a Townshouse further along the coast in Palomares , who we visit later during our stay here.

We rediscover and enjoy a few local tapas bars – the main ones are El Pulguilla, which is the most popular in the heart of town, El Chispa (not our favourite) and La Puntilla in the old town area (it’s hard to find in the maze of streets but all the locals know where it is)! The tapas bars here offer a selection of amazingly delicious free tapas (snacks) with every drink, such as Sea Bream, Calamari, Cuttlefish, Prawns, Fish a la plancha, Patatas a la Pobre, Boquerones (whitebait) to name a few. Of the few meat dishes we had the Pincho Morenos were absolutely amazing in most places. The upside of this is you don’t need to order a full meal to be well fed. The downside is you consume a little more wine and beer than is probably sensible!

Other bars and cafes worthy of a mention are Bar Redondo in the centre of Nerja which we discover on our last few days, La Marina (a basic looking very local Tapas bar – we were the only foreigners – with good tapas at cheap local prices and finally for a good coffee – Café Biznaga. The LP guide recommends one we tried and found to be awful – so let your instincts lead you. Salut!

As the weather is good i.e. hot, we spend a few days grabbing rays at Calahonda Beach just below the Balcon de Europa – the main promenade in town on the seafront. Sadly, the paella place that used to be there has closed down but the old fisherman’s cottage painted bright blue and white is still there. We also rediscover Anahi – a café overlooking the beach which does great coffees and snacks – the cheese, ham and tomato toasties were awesome (especially loved by Olive our granddaughter when she comes to stay).

A little interlude in Almeria

After a few days we head off to Palomares in Almeria Province to stay with Romi & John for a couple of days & to drop off stuff we brought for them from the UK. It’s a 2.5 hour drive along the coast and through the main salad/vegetable growing area of Spain – which means vast areas of plastic covered cloches; ugly and a real blight on a beautiful coast – but so essential to the local economy.

R & J have a lovely Townhouse in a nice complex with a large pool, close to a lovely beach. The village is quaint and there are a couple of good tapas places around the square (the morcilla with a glass or two of local wine is especially good) only a short walk away. It’s a nice mix of ex-pat community and local workers. Nearby are the larger towns we visited with them - Garrucha (a bit upmarket with a long attractive promenade) & Mojacar – an old pretty hilltop white village with some history. We also take a walk to Villaricos for Paella at Brisas Chiringuito on the beachfront for lunch on the Sunday.

Having enjoyed our couple of days here we drive back to base…..

Back in Nerja

One of the reasons for renting the cortijo with its extra space was to enable the family to join us if they wanted. And we have a wonderful week with Louise (M’s daughter) & Olive (granddaughter) when they come to stay. Olive is on song and incredible fun. She made friends with the stray cat that has adopted the place as it’s home, though the Parrot was not quite ‘friends’ with her (despite Olive’s best efforts). It appears that it may have had a bad experience with children who stayed here before, as it’s perfectly fine with the adults.

Olive enjoyed the space, the hammock (the “weeeeh” in Olive speak), the pool and lilo (once the water warmed up), and the beaches; Burriana is the largest local beach (with loads of eateries and shops), El Salon is on the other side of the Balcon de Europa from Calahonda beach (the prettiest, though small bay). El Salon has some lovely fisherman’s cottages fronting the beach but no food & drink facilities. It seems you can spend hours as an 18-month-old putting pebbles in and out of buckets!!

Apart from the old faithfuls of Pulguilla and Puntilla we also head out for lunch one day to Merendero Ayo at Burriana for freshly cooked paella, done over a huge wood fire (and what a spectacle to see). The deal here is you can go back as many times as you like for paella so the local tip is - order just one paella and a salad, so you and the family eat your fill on paella refills!! Great tip and we do!

The staff there are also really family friendly so when Olive gets bored during lunch, the waitress whisks her off to join her taking food orders so Louise can enjoy her lunch. Service or what?! We also go to Morenos at Burriana for dinner on Louise and Olive’s final night. It’s a bit pricier but does some really nice food including traditional stews.

One of the days during their stay is a bit cloudy so we head up to Frigiliana, an old white village about 5 miles above Nerja in the hills with fantastic views out to sea and inland across the hills and olive groves. (Tip for travellers with young kids – there’s a place XXX in Nerja, run by ex-pats where you can hire a baby cot and car seat for very little money & this saves on the need for worrying or trying to bring stuff over here).

Frigilana has cobblestone streets, an old Moorish area and lots of steps but it’s incredibly photogenic and has some lovely shops, café’s, restaurants and views. (We found a fab local restaurant here with great food during one of our visits). Their local ‘feria’ starts the day after we leave and they are already starting the prep and decoration of the town.

R & J also decide to come over to Nerja as they haven’t been to this area before, and we have a great time enjoying the local tapas bars and exploring the area. They stay for a couple of nights, longer than planned, as it’s the San Isidro Fiesta – a very colourful celebration of the saint of the poor and animals, and it’s Spanish Tradition at its best.

It’sa lovely warm sunny day & everyone is in full traditional dress – flamenco for the women, traje corto for the men, lots of horse or bull drawn dressed carriages and party central! The procession goes from the town centre to the Nerja Caves 3 miles away and then folk party till the sun rises the next day. Free buses get everyone else there and it’s a real family affair and fun to see & be part of.

Malaga – aspiring European City of Culture

During our stay we spend a few days on and off in Malaga, which is a city we really like. It has an amazing food market (Mercado Atarazanas) where you can get every sort of meat, fish, seafood and veg, and enjoy some lovely tapas at a few eateries. We also find La Malaguena – an awesome churros and coffee/chocolate place in the old town; a Spanish haven and institution. We go there several times!!

We also visit the Picasso Museum - a real education in modern art for us. C isn’t a Picasso fan at all but even she found some of his pieces interesting and we both got a much better understanding of what some of his “contorted” images are trying to project.

He was born in the city and even though he moved out when very young the city proudly proclaim his connection. The house where he was born is also a Museum, on an attractive square (Plaza de la Merced) with lots of restaurants packed with tourists.

M’s cousin Alan Davids has lived in Marbella for over 25 years, so we meet up with him in Malaga for lunch one day. It’s great to see him after all these years – he’s looking really well & the Spanish life definitely suits him. There are a lot of reminiscing and wonderful memories to recapture, which makes for a lovely day out.

After a stroll around the Cathedral area we enjoy a couple of beers in the main market (the bars are 4 deep with folk enjoying beers, wine and tapas) then find a little local place out near the ports where we have lovely Pork in sherry & spiced Albondigas.

After lunch Alan catches a fast bus home to Marbella

Marbella

On Sunday, Alan invites us over to his place in Marbella for a BBQ lunch to meet his family – his wife Lin and their two daughters and grandchildren. Before we meet up with him though we take a visit to the lovely Old Town of Marbella (thanks for the recommendation Sarah – M’s eldest daughter). It’s really attractive and not at all like the commercial costa area. The old town is walled and has lovely pretty courtyards, lots of bougainvillea and orange blossom trees & some very nice looking restaurants in a beautiful small Plaza.

Alan lives in a small complex of flat’s that has communal gardens that the residents can book for parties. Many Spanish friends join the party including a neighbour who has made a firepit and is busy putting sardines onto bamboo skewers (traditional style). The food is a mix of Anglo Indian and Spanish (all lovely) and accompanied by lots of beers, wine and whisky! We also meet up with another ex KGF (Kolar Gold Fields) friend. There is a large Anglo Indian community that included Alan & M’s mother’s families and cousins lived in KGF in South India), Doug Paul who ironically lives not that far from us in Chiswick, London; but M hasn't see for 35 years!! A lot of the afternoon is spent reminiscing.

The kids enjoy a spot of face painting, thanks to Alan’s eldest and he gets in on the act.

Alhuarin de Torre

It’s an unexpected treat, when we head to a small town near Malaga, Alhuarin de Torre, where a travel friend of ours who we met in Jordan 3 years ago, Ann, is staying & working at Rancho del Inglese (a beautiful ranch style hotel and wedding venue).

Ann is from Georgia in the USA and was on the trip we did to Jordan a few years ago at the start of her world travels. 3 years on she’s still going and has been to some amazing places and keeps a brilliant blog with great pics of all her experiences. We continue to communicate on Facebook. She also acted as a remote tour guide for us when we went to Savannah and the southern US states where she’s from & gave us tips of places to see & go when we were in NYC where she used to work.

She gives us a guided tour of the best rooms in the house before we head off in to quaint, colourful & typical local town for tapas and lunch. It’s good to catch up with her and see another part of Andalucia that we hadn’t visited before.

Las Alpujarras – the region of beautiful white villages

We decide on some days, especially when the weather is a little overcast, to drive to the Alpujarras. It’s an area of beautiful hills and white villages dotted about, inland where Chris Stewart author of ‘Driving Over Lemons’ & original drummer of the band Genesis & his family lives.

The roads are quite windy once there, so even though the distance isn’t great it takes a couple of hours. Orgiva is the main town where we have lunch one day. On the next trip go for a short hike (3miles each way) up through three lovely villages: Starting at Pampaneira (ehich has a beautiful square, lots of craft shops, free parking, lots of cats & a very Alpujarran feel to it) to Bubion (where we have stayed before & has a different character to P – it’s much more of a local village) and on to Capileira (which is very pretty, and has lots of local produce inc Veleta wine, liqueurs, locally famous Jamon Serrano etc).

The weather is kind, the scenery lovely with lots of poppies and we treat ourselves to an awesome lunch when we get to Capileira at La Tapa - Wild boar stew & Asturian Fabada – though we have a slight difference of opinion on the Costa Rosada, a rough rose wine which C loves and M hates!! And we get some fabulous Jamon Serrano from the local butchers (for about €4!!) to take back to the UK with us.

If ever in this part of Andalucía we’d recommend a trip to this lovely corner of the Province.

Seville – a beautiful, charming & stylish ‘Spanish’ city

We have booked a hotel for a couple of days in Seville and leave early for the long journey. The roads are good and we pass fields of sunflowers on the drive and lots of lovely villages. We also see a caravan of flower clad wagons pulled by tractors heading back from the El Rocio festival near Cadiz and decide we should definitely visit one year.

Seville is a beautiful old city with a maze of small roads in the centre (Santa Cruz being the more famous neighbourhood). Thankfully the iPad navigates us to our hotel on the edge of the old town area about 20 mins walk along the riverside (Rio Guadalquivir) from the centre, and we park the car in the hotel car park and leave it there for the duration.

We had thought of going to Jerez for a day trip by bus or train (there’s a good rail system to help cover most of Spain) but decide Seville has more to offer so will do Jerez on the way back. It’s also nice and hot (32C) or more accurately steamy!

Seville is a beautiful city. It has loads of impressive ornate buildings, lots of wrought iron balconies and elaborate tiled friezes - many religious. Places of note are the Cathedral & Giralda church. It’s reputed to be the biggest Cathedral in the world; it’s just by the Alcazar (castle). There’s an impressive bullring with a Museum which you pay to visit now (last time we visited it was free). There are horse drawn carriages & narrow cobbled streets in the old town. The Plaza de Espana (about 800m from the Cathedral) is awesome and is a must see; we hadn't remembered it being so lovely and beautiful with fountains and a small canal in front that folk go up and down in rented boats. We spend our days walking and taking endless photo’s and trying to find some shade as it’s so hot.

It’s also a great place for creative tapas - mackerel with orange jelly, salmorejo made with avocado, pork cooked in Pedro Ximenez, fab lamb pincho's and we try lots of fino, manzanilla and local orange wine - quite nice but a bit sweet, which are regional specialities.

The three main barrios (neighbourhoods) we visit are Barrio Santa Cruz (the old Jewish quarter with homes with great patios) - where the must visit bars are Catalina and Santa Teresa for tapas, Triana across the river (where Cafe Cuesta is good for coffee), El Arenal around the bullring, and El Centro area (Los Terceras for good tapas). There are also some nice markets in El Arenal and Triana - fish, fruit & veg and a few bars, cafes & deli type stalls. All nicely tiled, Seville style and very attractive.

Seville has many churches apart from the cathedral, Museums (including the Museo del Baile Flamenco) plenty of lovely squares, The Plaza de Toros de la Real Maestranza, Parque de Maria Luisa by the Plaza Espana, the very impressive Hotel Alfonso XIII and many more. It would be quite easy to spend a longer time in the city as it has so much to offer. It’s quite impressive lit up at night and has a tram service which runs up & down the length of the Av de la Constitution.

We’ve booked to go to a flamenco show at one of the TripAdvisor recommended venues, Los Gallos in the heart of the old town. There show si full of lovely Spanish guitar (toque) playing, rhythmic hand clapping (palmas), and very expressive dancing (baile) and tap dance together with singing (cante) and vocalizations and handclapping (jaleo) and finger snapping (pitos). We feel we could have done with a programme or guide to really understand it better. The thing apparently to experience in flamenco is duende – the equivalent of a trance like euphoric state induced by the music. Not sure we quite got there but it was a great experience all the same.

Jerez – city of the best Sherry in the world

Having had a lovely couple of days in Seville we drive back via Jerez on the Toll Road (expensive at €7.25 we feel as it’s only a short motorway section), passing a beautiful a landscape of sunflowers and vineyards.

We arrive in Jerez old town to find the old Plaza by the Alcazar covered in blue flowers from the Jacaranda trees, which are in full bloom. Very picturesque. We are keen to do one of the Sherry tours so head to the tourist info centre and pick up lots of leaflets. We decide to head to the “big one” - Gonzalez Byas, makers of our favourite Sherries and Spanish brandies, and the owner of the huge black bull figures that adorn many of the hilltops in Andalucía.

The tour lasts 1.5 hours, is in English and very good; we get to tour the whole production area and see the huge barrels as well as the barrels that have been made for and signed by the notable and famous over the years (Churchill, the Spanish monarchy, Hemingway, David Bowie. Pablo Picasso etc) and it’s informative not only about the production process but also other titbits of local history & culture e.g. sherry is derived from the Arabic name for Jerez, ‘Sherish’. Our only complaint – they were a bit stingy with the tasters after the tour but given we’re driving that’s probably not a bad thing!

As it’s hot and there’s not much else to do in Jerez, we make for Arco de la Frontera on the recommendation of the LP guide. We feel it somewhat overstates the impressiveness of this place. It’s a pleasant town built on a cliff top with the usual narrow street and gothic church; ok but not sure it's worth the detour.

So we feel a great way to end the day is to head for Venta Tallilas in El Trabuco for dinner. We get there at 7pm after 2.5 hrs driving but they don’t start until 8pm! Not wishing to hang around with nothing to do in the village, we take the more direct but scenic back roads to Nerja and enjoy a great Octopus salad with Potata a le Pobre at home.

The last of Nerja before the long drive home

Our plan is to spend our last week or so in Nerja making the most of the sun, the beautiful cortijo and pool, and enjoying BBQ’s and evenings sitting on the veranda. Or at least it would have been if the power hadn’t gone!! (Workmen on the road hit the power lines!)

May and Miguel do what they can to get it fixed quickly but it forces us to head out to the beach and for dinner a few times; not too much of a hardship really.

Other highlights of our final few days – Louise’s best friend Liz & Patrick get married in Weston Super Mare (we had to send our apologies but we find them a nice gift in Frigiliana), Sepp Platter won the Presidency of FIFA again after lots of politics, Barca won 3-1 vs Juventus in the European Cup – we watched the second half at Puguillia over a few beers and tapas, we cook another paella at the cortijo (we have to buy a place with one of these paella gas cooking rings says C!!)



We have already decided to come back next year and agree with May and Miguel that we will stay at the cortijo again. But for now, we head off for a bit more adventure traveling back north through Spain seeing some more beautiful cities and enjoying yet more awesome food!! So accompany us if you like on the Road trip North & back to London………

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