Spain & Portugal

At the end of January we took a trip to Spain and Portugal. You might think we're always on holiday (and you wouldn't be far wrong!), but our trips are usually crammed into a weekend. This time I took a week off work and we had a great break! We flew into Malaga on the southern coast, in the Spanish region of Andalucia.

It was a welcome break from the cold temperatures in Geneva, with days around 18 degrees and sun! Peter had booked a car, but we didn't worry about pre-booking accommodation, so were free to decide where to head for each day and how long to stay. Our trip took us to many interesting places, the highlights being the mountain-top town of Ronda, Flamenco dancers in Seville and the two relaxing days we spent in Tavira, Portugal.

After arriving in the morning on Saturday, we headed straight up into the mountains to a town called Ronda. It's situated at an elevation of 723m and has a stunning 100m deep gorge running through the middle of town. About 34 thousand people live there, so it's fairly large, and definitely catering to tourists.

According to our trusty Lonely Planet guide, Ronda is also the home of Spanish bullfighting. We didn't get the chance to sit through one of those gory spectacles, but we did visit the bullring and museum.

As you can see from the pics, the sky was beautifully clear, but it was cold.

The next morning we awoke to find previously sunny Ronda, covered in a blanket of snow. We were saying "oh, how bewdiful", until we realised that it might be difficult to get off the mountain in our little rental car without snow tyres or chains.

After burning rubber to just get up the icy car park ramp, we set off down the road. Thankfully we quickly met up with a backhoe that was clearing the snow, making it safe for us to drive. The snow in Ronda must have been a rare thing. As we drove down we saw heaps of people playing in it on the side of the road, and there were pictures on the front page of the next day's paper. It was great to see, but we were in Spain to get away from the snow!!

Next it was off to Gibraltar, a British colony on the southern most tip on Spain. It is basically a large lump of limestone rock(5km long, 1.6km wide and 426m high), which has been under British control since 1713 (despite Spain's efforts to get it back). On top of the rock is a national park that is home to the Barbary apes, Europe's only wild primates. They are quite used to humans visiting their home, and as we pulled up in our car, one jumped onto the bonnet and started peering in the windows looking for food. She seemed very friendly, as we got out the car she was sitting near us and even put her hand in my pocket. I decided to give her a pat - BIG mistake! She freaked out and took a swipe at me, I turned and jumped out the way, but she kept coming at me and then bit me on the arm! It hurt, but there was no blood, just a little bruise. Lesson learned!

The next leg of the trip was a drive along the coast known as the Costa de la Luz. We were hoping to stay in a small beachside town, but nothing much seemed open, so we kept on driving to El Puerto de Santa Maria, past Cadiz. This was where Christopher Columbus's set off on his 2nd and 4th expeditions across the Atlantic.

The town wasn't all that interesting, but our acommodation was great. We stayed in a beautifully renovated 19th century Spanish 'casa'. Here's a photo of the patio, the entrance and centre of the house.

Next stop was Seville, the capital of the Andalucia region. This is a big city (population over 700,000) with plenty to see and do. The highlight of our visit here was the Flamenco show we saw that night. It was fantastic! There were three in the act: guitar player, female singer and a male dancer. They were all excellent, the dancer must have burned so many calories with his incredible foot stomping and dance moves!

At this stage of the trip we had two choices: head east to Cordoba and Granada (the other big cities in southern Spain), or west to Portugal. In the pursuit of visiting as many countries as possible, we had to choose Portugal! We were very happy we did, because it was lovely.

We went to Tavira, a fishing village about 30km over the Spanish border. It was quite busy with tourists (mostly British golfers), a noteable difference to Spain at this time of year. Not that more tourists is an attraction, but it generally means more places are open and things happening.

We had a relaxing stay, reading on our hotel room balcony (see photo on right of the view) and wandering around the town checking out the tiled houses. The seafood and wine here were excellent, especially at this little restaurant recommended by the tourist office where the "locals" go. The prices in Spain were cheap, but Portugal was cheaper again. Our 4* hotel cost €45 a night, including breakfast, and the most expensive bottle of red wine in the supermarket was €4.20.

After two days in the sun, it was back in the car for the 380km drive to Malaga, then the flight home the next day.

When we landed in Geneva it was -2 degrees. A long way from the beach, but it was nice to be home!