A stop at the troglodyte Museum and an exciting picnic! Day Ten

And so we bid farewell to the little village of Mairena and wind our way to Granada. Since the trip is relatively short and we are fairly certain that we won't get lost, we detour in Guadix to see the Troglodyte Cave Museum. These people continue to live in the many limestone caves of the region. What with the hot days, cave dwelling is cool and very practical.


Typical  dining room of today



A dining room from the 1800's

From Guadix we headed west and, overcome with hunger pulled off the road at one of Spain's many natural preserves. We soon found a shady spot along the path and pulled out our picnic. No sooner did we begin to eat than we were swarmed by hundreds of bees. Never have we moved so fast to pack up and get back in the car!

Andalucia Road Trip Days seven to ten

I've always wanted to go to Granada; the Alhambra has been calling to me for many years. So we put together a road trip that combined  rural adventure with city excitement. Our first stop was Casa Rural Las Chimeneas in the Alpujarra range of the Sierra Nevada mountains just west of Granada.

Intrepid travelers, we set out  from the Murcia airport in our rental car, with a poor excuse for a map, sketchy  directions, and a tempermental cellphone.
GPS? not for us!! Muy machismo! 
After an hour on the highway we found ourselves completely lost, heading for Almeria on the southeast coast.Spain has the only desert in Europe and I think Almeria is at its core.

click on the picture to see the set!

A bright note though, once we had our map and were headed toward Mairena, we happened to drive by Tabernas, where, from the highway you can see an Old West movie set. Yes, this is where all those good old spaghetti westerns were filmed! Casa Rural las Chimeneas, Mairena

Four hours later we arrived at our destination,  the tiny mountain village of Mairena. We were greeted by David, who with his wife Emma, fell in love with this town 12 years ago and  built a beautiful life around their inn. I think David took pity on two exhausted travelers, and also didn't want me to have to deal with too many stairs; so he set us up in the casita, their two bedroom apartment. The casita was comfortable, roomy, full of antiques, and every window had an amazing view down the valley toward the sea (and Africa!). The inn has a restaurant where we had breakfast and dinner each day. The food was authentic to the region and delicious. This is an area that attracts hikers from all over the world, and all of the guests were here to enjoy  the sights on foot.Our days were spent:

Walking the grounds, where we ran into a herd of goats and ate fresh figs, grapes and almonds right off the trees.

Deeelicious!

Working out at the Geriatric Gym!

What a hoot, it seems many of the towns have these playgrounds for adults.

Relaxing with a good book or Sudoku puzzle!

Touring the castle at Calhorra,

a Renaissance castle inside a Moorish fortress facade. Amazing! Scenes from Dr Zhivago have been filmed here, as well as a Spice Girls video!

We met up with Rob and Sue, a very nice couple from England, and the four of us did our best to parse together our guide's Spanish and hand gestures!

Attending a fiesta in a the neighboring town of Valor. The townspeople put on a pagent celebrating the Reconquista, the recapture of their town from the Moors. It was colorful, loud, and wonderful fun!

David, our innkeeper, a professor in his previous life, entertained and educated us on the history of the region. On our last day in Mairena, he took a group of us to a church in the little town of Jubar that, over the years, has served as a mosque, a synagogue, and is currently a catholic church.

Recently, during renovations, the workers discovered very old frescoes which they are in the process of restoring.

Our time in Mairena was truly magical! This is just a snippet of what we experienced.

click here to see more pictures from Picasa Web albums

Tapas Beach Day Six

Since every time I say tapas, people think I'm saying topless....so today,  unbeknowst to us, we went to a tapas beach! After a treck down a steep path and lots of stairs we weren't about to leave.

The beach itself was lovely- silky sand, refreshing surf, people of all ages enjoying the day.

Off to Alicante! Day Five

Under a rubber tree!

We needed to take a break from planning our upcoming week in Andalucia, so on Saturday we headed to Alicante, the capitol city of Alicante province. About an hour north of where we're staying, Alicante is a good sized city with a beautiful waterfront and lots of superb parks and trees. It's an old city, springing up on the ruins of the Roman colony of Luceum. We soon realized that there's lots to see and this trip would be the first of a few.The city has a great variety of history, green space, shopping, and food.We're yet to eat real Spanish food as the town where we're staying caters mostly to Northern  Europeans. Today it was paella for me. Pretty good lunch portion. I think I can find better!

Alicante's bike paths are marked with brass discs in the pavement

We're both intrigued by the old castle on the hill that you get to through a tunnel. We'll definitely need to see this!

A walk around town- and then some! Day Four

Feeling a lot spunkier today, we decided to venture out to explore our surroundings. Our first stop, the local beach. It was lovely; soft fine sand, great breeze and lots of people to watch.  Beaches stretch for many miles to the north and south, each having its own flavor and some linked by stone paths.

We decided to check out the next beach to the south. This one was a shallow bay, great for small children and waders. We walked along, enthralled by the natural beauty around us. Before we knew it we had no idea where we were and how to get back. Fortunately we came upon a little market. The good news- we were able to buy a bottle of water. The bad news- no one there was able to understand our halting Spanish; so on we went. Finally a rental office! We figured the person inside would know some English, and she did. She pointed us in the right direction and off we trudged. The entire outing lasted over two hours in the blistering midday heat.



Almost home!

Settling In - Day Three

This post will be brief. Thursday was a down day. After a long and much-needed rest, we spent much of the day getting our bearings, unpacking, finding the necessities. Stan and Anne left this place so clean and well-organized.

They are great role models for future home exchanges.
 We have everything we need and are enjoying the love and good humor that resides here.

Heading East! Days One and Two

 We left Seattle on September 6th at an absurdly early hour in the morning. Our thanks to our friends Bill and Colene for feeding us a beautiful farewell dinner and putting us up for the night, and to Stan and Maggie for driving us to the airport!

The flight went pretty smoothly. (details to follow).  We connected through Washington DC to Madrid. From there we took a Spanish commuter airline to the little city of Murcia.
 All in all, the trip took 25 hours which included a loooong layover in the vast Madrid airport.  In Murcia, we were met by Ray, a good friend of Stan and Anne our home exchange partners.

Our home away from home

Ray took us to our home, giving us a bunch of information that we desperately tried to remember in our exhausted state! Stan and Anne moved here a number of years ago from Britain. They live in a community, called an urbanization.This is one of many communites that have sprouted up along the coast, catering to northern Europeans desperate for warmth and sunshine. Their place is well-located, well- equipped and quite charming. The home and grounds are beautiful.
After a light dinner at Alejandros, a local favorite, we made an early night of it!    ZZZZZZZ!!!