Andalusia, Spain

It was always going to happen, it was inevitable. Death, taxes and falling behind on the blog. I thought we would last a bit longer than this, but alas nearly 6 weeks in and we’re already digging into the archives. I tell you, it’s lucky that Cadiz, Ronda and Granada are all in the Andalusian region, it certainly makes my life, well this blog post at least, a lot easier.

Two hours south of Sevilla resides Europe’s oldest continually inhabited city, Cadiz; despite clocking in at over 3000 years it has that youthful and energetic feel that oozes from coastal cities. Cadiz is particularly lovely in that it’s where many Spaniards go for their summer holidays, which means a plethora of excellent, well-priced restaurants, and a lot of happy, smiling faces everywhere you go. It’s also a very beautiful town, packed with lush gardens, striking architecture and squeaky-clean boulevards and plazas. The coast reminds me of SA, with soft sand and a sun that sets on the water, the lengthy walk to the offshore forts is worth it for the perfect sunset spot. Breakfast is a treat here, freshly fried churros dipped in hot chocolate sauce - talk about maxing out your cholesterol before midday. By night you’ll find squawking diners and local seafood on every corner, and you might be lucky enough to see a flamboyant, carnival-style men’s choir, called a Coro, serenading diners on the street. If you come to Cadiz don’t miss the central market, it’s one of the best I’ve ever been to (not a patch on ours in Adelaide though). The undercover fresh produce section is surrounded by an open-air area full of taberna’s slinging cold beers, paella, tortillas gambas, calamar frito and so much more. It was hot, tasty and chaotic – perfect.

Ronda is next up, tucked away in the mountains and surrounded by farms and vineyards it is the perfect nature break. It’s famous for the Puento Nuevo, a 120m high bridge that spans the gorge that divides the town, it is nothing short of spectacular. But Ronda has plenty more to keep you here – skip a daytrip and stay a couple of nights if you can. There are beautiful and accessible hikes, viewpoints a plenty, and a laid-back atmosphere that lends itself to relaxed evening strolls with a cool ice-cream in hand. My tip for Ronda is to stay south of the city near the Puerta del Almocabar where it’s quiet and the bars and restaurants spill out onto the plaza for lazy dinners late into the night. After a lot of city-living, Ronda offered us a much-needed return to natural landscapes and felt like a holiday within a holiday.

Capping off Andalusia is Granada, famous for the 2^nd most visited tourist attraction in Spain, the sprawling Alhambra palace. Granada was the final stronghold of the Moors that ruled Spain for over 800 years, and you can see and feel their influence here much more than in other parts of Spain and Portugal (where they also ruled). Importantly, this means you can get Arabic shawarma everywhere, and as Hannah will tell you this is something I have been obsessed with since I first ate it in Malaysia a few years ago (and have not shut up about since). We of course toured the Alhambra, which earns its fame for a reason, it is unique, beautiful and steeped in history. It's also very busy – at one point I physically stuck my arm out and told a lady to wait her turn, she looked stunned, sorry lady but my already thin veneer of patience for pushy people is eroding at record pace! The Andalusian region felt like a bit of a blur as we stayed fewer nights and had busy days and long bus rides in-between, but it was absolutely worth the bit of extra effort. Each place left an impression on us and was unique and special in many ways.

I write this on our last day in Barcelona knowing we are still yet to write about here, Madrid or Valencia – too busy enjoying myself I suppose, but also absolutely shagged too. I think 8 days on a beach in Sicily is just what we need.

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Hannah's Thoughts:

I had written a section about Cadiz however it was very similar to Jesse, so rather than boring you to tears I will give you three words to describe it instead. Lively, pristine and timeless.

Ronda is a small place in the hills surrounded by nature with its largest attraction being a beautiful old bridge. Here in Ronda Jesse and I, you guessed it, did more walking. We have been doing around, if not more than, 25,000 steps daily. However, we need to do this as we haven’t had an alcohol free day in 5 weeks. It’s all about balance isn’t it?

Jesse chose the hottest part of the day to walk down a cliff face to get a better look at the bridge and when he said he wanted to go further I just looked and him dripping in sweat and I think he knew the answer, mind you we didn’t bring any water because he said “come on it will just be a quick one.”

Cold water and a cerveza were very much needed afterwards!

This little place also brought me back memories of my late Nan Rhonda, it made me think of what an adventurer she was and how much she would have loved to explore and see the amazing sights that we have seen on this trip, she would have said “how lucky you are”, and truly we are extremely lucky and so very grateful.

After our two nights in Ronda we left on a 4 hour bus ride to Granada. And we landed ourselves back in the Old town which Jesse and I swore we would never do again! However Granada was absolutely delightful. We stayed with our host Kasia, who had an apartment picked out of architectural digest magazine, with cats, dogs, a great room, and a large patio area perfect for afternoon drinks and card games. We have found having accommodation with either a balcony or patio area to go and chill in are lifesavers, as we are doing this on a tight budget staying in places with pools is mostly out of the question. But patios and balconies are the next best thing in our opinion. We find having this allows us to not feel guilty about just relaxing at our accommodation and resting our poor legs and feet. With restaurant tips from Kasia we braved probably the busiest restaurant we have been to, scrambling for space we grabbed the nearest 1/2 metre of the bar and managed to get two beers “Hola, dos cerveza por favor” we have nailed saying this one line, I wonder why? As we sounded so very Spanish ordering our drinks the waiter then spoke to us in Spanish, and he wasn’t messing around! It’s get in, order, eat and get out, he has no time for dilly dallying. Speaking 100 miles an hour we assumed he asked us what we wanted, we gave him an awkward glance back and he read between the lines and handed us an English menu. We were given bread and their own style of patatas bravas, we always hesitate at first because you just don’t get free food in Australia, but once we realised it was all for us we dug in, and honestly Jesse and I both agree that one free dish of patatas bravas was one of the most delicious thing we have eaten.

These last three places went by in a blur and we are swiftly moving through Spain and onto our next country already!