We may stay here!

---

We have been without internet access for several days, but those days have been full. We left the Coimbra area of central Portugal on Tuesday and drove south to the very tip of Portugal. Sagres was once believed to be the end of the world. This is where Henry the Navigator set up a school in the 15th century, where Magellan and Columbus both studied.

Our drive south took us through varying terrains and climates. We drove out of the more lush hills and river valleys into country that was like the plains of the United States with farm crops and cattle and then we were back in grapes and olives before finally dropping down into the Algarve where there were miles of lemon, lime and orange orchards. The air was warm and dry, the stark white stucco of the houses was pronounced against the deep blue sky and it all felt great!

We had reserved an apartment in Sagres for one night but knew immediately that we should have planned for a week there. We explored the small, abandoned for the season, resort town and it had a very laid-back, checked-out beach feel to it. We stopped for a drink and listened to Aretha Franklin and other feel-good American tunes in the bar. As the sun started to sink low in the sky we walked out to the end of the point so that we could watch the sun set from the very tip of the world. The sky was clear and we sat high on the cliff and watched until the sun had dipped into the Atlantic Ocean. Afterwards we enjoyed our best meal so far - fresh fish, wonderful soup and an amazing almond cake for dessert.

The next day we spent a couple hours on the beach. I have been monitoring several webcams for months and we went to two of the beaches that I have been watching. The air was warm and the ocean was pleasant enough to swim. There were several surfers, and various retired couples (mostly British) on the sand, but it was peaceful and perfect. We easily could have spent the day, but as we walked to the car we noticed the bright pinks and deepening reds of the sunburns on the other pale-skinned tourists and we realized that it was best that we had to move on.

We drove across the Algarve area of southern Portugal and then into Andalucia Spain. Along the way we had glimpses of the coastline and ocean. The roads are so impressive here. The country roads are winding and too-narrow, but the highway system is wonderful. The European Union has poured so much money into Spain and Portugal, and there is extensive evidence of its good use. The roads are 3 lanes wide but with no traffic at all. The bridges are works of art - each one photo-worthy and different than the last, and the rest areas are clean and include service stations, cafes, convenience stores and picnic areas. The stores all sell alcohol and it is not uncommon to see truck drivers having a beer with their lunch before getting back on the road. Clearly some drivers have had too much, but for the most part they seem to handle it.

We turned north in Huelva and headed into the mountains. As we climbed, the roads narrowed and twisted more and more but the views also expanded and traffic thinned. We entered Sierra de Aracena y Picos de Aroche, a natural park filled with walking trails, chestnut groves, cork oak trees, ancient villages and pigs. The cork trees are striking. When the cork is harvested it leaves behind bright pink where the tree is exposed. It takes about nine years for the bark to regenerate to a point where it can be harvested again. We saw trees that have had the cork removed 5 or 6 times. The villages of this area grew up around fortress like churches, or hilltop castles constructed in medieval times to deter the Portuguese. Trails connect the villages and walking in this area offers endless vistas of surprisingly beautiful landscapes. The cork trees produce acorns that feed the free range pigs from which Serrano jamon is produced.

We are staying in Alajar, a village of 800 people and it is a live village devoted to the everyday activities of its residents rather than to tourists. The Posada where we have been for 4 nights is owned by Lucy and Angel. Lucy is British and her husband, Angel, grew up in Seville. They met years ago while working one summer at a camp in the Catskill mountains of New York. They have been lovely hosts and Lucy cooks dinner each night offering very traditional Andalucian meals, most include pork, utilizing the recipes of her mother-in-law. Last night we ate pork cheeks and after dinner she told us that those pigs had been alive in the morning. That was disturbing to me for some reason! For breakfast each day we have an assortment of olive oils (traditional for the area) and several liver pates and honey and jam for our toast.

We have enjoyed some wonderful hikes without encountering any other people. We have hiked on remnants of Roman roads, and through abandoned villages (Angel explained that many people starved under Franco and things were abandoned then, and only more recently some have been reclaimed and restored.) We have walked under chestnut trees full with the bright green burs that will drop in a few weeks to be gathered by local people, and past hundreds of the cork oak trees that show signs of generations of harvesting. Today we were on a path to an abandoned village and a small black piglet came running towards us before sneaking through a hole in the ancient stone wall that bordered our path. We have taken hundreds of photos as it seems that every where we turn there is another great shot. Don’t worry, we will sort them before making anyone sit through a showing!

Tomorrow we are on to our next stop in the Alpujarra mountains south of Granada.

Update….. We have made it to Ferreirola, an even smaller and more remote village than the last one, and I will try to find the words to describe this incredible day. Our drive from Alajar took us through thousands of acres of olive trees. We drove for at least three hours seeing nothing but olive groves as far as we could see, right up to the base of the distant mountain ranges. And each tree showed signs of individual attention. It was really amazing. We stopped at a rest area for coffee and there was some food on display so we ordered a serving of a tomato and onion and pepper and squid salad type thing that was spectacular! The sky was clear and the driving was fast and easy. About an hour south of Granada we took an exit for the Alpujarras. Just off the exit a woman was hitch hiking with a large suitcase and Sam said that we should give her a ride. She jumped in and said she was going to Orgiva, which we knew was sort of on our way. She is a German truck driver with a week off and was returning to Orgiva where she had parked her caravan (van). After this week she will be driving a truck for the group “Queen” while they are on tour. She talked non-stop as I inched along steep winding roads that cut back and forth up the side of the mountain. The views were unimaginable, but I was focused on the road and the vehicles coming around the corners towards us, often having crossed into our lane! The woman told us all about the things we must see in the area as well as what to eat! We made our way to Orgiva and sent her on her way. Next we headed further up the mountain. When Sam wasn’t saying unintelligible, fretful things under his breath (apparently my driving made him nervous as he saw through his window that I was within inches of the guard rail, more than once), he was trying to take photos out the window as every turn revealed vistas more fabulous than the moment before. We climbed higher and higher. The tiny villages of the Alpujarra were founded by Berber refugees from Seville in the 12th century and in the 15th century they were the last stronghold of the Moors after they were chased out of Granada having resisted a series of royal edicts demanding their conversion to Christianity.

There is only one main road going up the mountainside and then a couple of roads branch off to go to remote villages. We found our branch road and could not believe that the road could get more winding and more narrow. Fortunately we were now well off the tourist path and traffic was sparse. Soon we rounded the corner that opened the view into Ferreirola. We entered the very small square in front of the church, where we had been told to park, since there are no other streets in the town, and we locked the car and went in search of Sierra y Mar, our new Casa Rural, or B&B. We walked past the church and past the fountains where spring water pours out of the wall and next to that there are ancient basins once used for the washing and bathing of the village, and up some cobblestones and down a narrow corridor between high walls and around a corner until we saw the blue door that we had read about. We entered the complex behind the door and were soon greeted by Sepp, our host. The B&B consists of 9 different little houses, each with its own patio and on different levels (since it is built into a hill), with views out across the valley. We followed Sepp up several outside staircases and across a couple patios and behind the drying laundry to our room. We are high in the complex with views that really cannot be described until we can show you the photos.

We took time to sit on our patio enjoying the views and some Port that we had purchased in Portugal and then walked about 2 kilometers back up the road to another small village where there was a recommended restaurant. We had a drink and were served free tapas (olives and a potato quiche thingy that was really good), and then we went in for dinner. It seemed easiest to go with the menu del dia (menu of the day), since in the description we heard something about soup and salad and mushrooms. The soup was wonderful and the salad had brilliant flavors. The main course was pork, with a really good garlicky mushroom sauce, and fried potatos, and for dessert, flan. It was really good and less expensive than any meal up to this point. We walked back to our village with only the light of the moon and the brilliant stars to keep us on the road (there are no street lights, and there were no cars.) A village further up the mountain had its festival today (they all have one this time of year) and we had heard the church bells ringing as we walked to dinner but coming home we could hear fireworks being set off. There would be a flash reflected on the wall of the mountain across the valley from us and then we would hear the bang and then it thundered down the valley from our end to the ocean way below, in a wave of booming sound.

We suspect that these next three days will be the best of our trip. We found a newly renovated house in the village that is for sale and wondered if they would take an offer contingent on the results of the upcoming election!

---

Photos

Sagres
Sunset at the end of the world

Sagres
Sunset

Sagres
Beach that I've been watching on the webcam

Alajar
This cork tree had been harvested at least 5 times

Alajar
View from our room

Beautiful Village
Ferreirola

Roman Mill
Alpujarras

Alpujarras
Bridge built by the Moors

Ferreriola
After the hike!

Ferreriola
After hiking