Road Trip: ES/PT Day 5

Our fifth road-trip day last spring was also spent entirely in Spain.

 

Our first stop as we continued west was for a lovely stroll through Setenil de las Bodegas (ES).

This town is famed for not just squeezing in between the narrow, overhanging gorge cut by the Rio Trejo river, 

but for also extending right on into the sandstone itself in several cave neighborhoods.  Definitely worth a visit!

Thereafter, we tried once again to trace our steps from decades ago by seeking out the town of Ronda (ES).  We spent a few hours walking about the medieval old town,

and over the 18th century Puente Nuevo that crosses the narrow gorge that splits town.  

Houses on both sides (new and old) perch atop the limestone cliffs.

Although Ronda, too, is now overwhelmed with tourists, you can at least still get excellent hard goat cheese in the market.

The cramped town contrasts fantastically with the open orchards and pastures that surround it.  Both defensible and with a great outlook, it has been an outpost of Celtic, Roman, Visigothic, Moorish, and Christian settlements.

Next up was Grazalema (ES), one of the "white villages" named for the white-washed house fronts

that are tucked into the mountains (in this case, the Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park).

Then we were off for a nearby hike on the Sendero Puerto de las Presillas trail.

Although the area is a little famous for a native fir (Abies) dubbed the "pinsapo pine", we mostly saw actual pines (Pinus).

On our way out of the area, we stopped at a mountain pass (Puerto de las Palomas) to take in one last view.

Moving north, our next target was a white village I have long had on my bucket list--Zahara (ES).

Not because it is necessarily any more spectacular than other white villages (although, it's pretty darn nice), but because back in the last century Zahara was one of the few towns that was actually shown on the German AAA maps that were our only planning guide.

Since then, it has also become more touristy and grown larger to accommodate all of us, but at least it's still white!

Although my favorite vistas are always of the landscape framed with the more colorful tile rooftops.

Our final vista of the day was over Arcos de la Frontera (ES) from an old cemetery on a hill.  Technically we had planned to walk about, but the town was overrun with festival goers, so we snuck out to enjoy a peaceful evening just outside of town.

Five days down!