Road Trip: ES/PT Day 3

The third day of our May trip was spent entirely in Spain.

 

Continuing to head east, we paused at the Roman-era "Gate to Córdoba", the last remaining city gate of Carmona (ES).

Theoretically, we were drawn further east to Estepa (ES) by its long Roman, Carthaginian, and Islamic history...but really we just wanted the view from citadel hill (including an 18th-century Baroque church tower).

We stretched our legs on a leisurely walk through Carcabuey (ES), another hill town surrounded by orchards.

You might think that tourism has supplanted olives as the basis for the local economy, but the orchards are mostly young and well maintained.

Sights included the castle (Cerro del Castillo) overlooking the convergence of five provinces of Andalusia,

and the 15th century San Marcos Church.

From there we continued on to a town I've been wanting to visit for decades due to the ancient Moorish castle, old Christian church, and snug aspect tucked into a hillside:  Montefrio (ES).

I hope you enjoyed it, because that was the first and last picture we took.  Shortly thereafter, while attempting to drive through town, we almost got our rental car stuck (twice...) driving through streets very nearly as narrow as shown here.

We recovered on the nice long drive to the easternmost point on our trip, the Barrio of Cave Houses in the town of Guadix (ES).  This neighborhood is literally carved into soft hills of sandstone, tuff, and clay.

Each house has a front door and usually one window, but the rest is underground, such that the slopes are dotted with chimneys.

Just a little south of there is another castle on a hill (Castillo de La Calahorra (ES).

We then retraced our steps heading back west, pausing to hike a bit in the Prado Negro forest in the Sierra de Huétor Natural Park.

The native Scots pines and Pyrenean oaks in this dry forest are dotted with colorful lichens. 

Day 3, spent entirely in Spain, down!