If you are a nature love, you will love this area! This sierra is surrounded by motorways, so accessibility should not be a problem: E 902 in the west, E315 and E326 in the east, A324 in the North and GR5100 in the south. We usually drive via the town of GUadahortuna, which we did that day too, and afterward ended up by coincidence in Cuadros, where we found road signs to a mirador.
We let ourselves be guided by our curiosity, the landscapes were magnificent! This is the video we made:
So far we have mainly paid attention to Malaga and Granada. From now on, we will pay more attention to Jaén as well. This is one of the least touristic provinces of Spain. But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t anything to be seen there. Jaén is home to Nature Parks and historic cities and much more. JOIN us to a new destination!
Later this week, we will start with the first new episode.
I grew up with my grandparents and when I was six my grandmother introduced me to Lawrence of Arabia. Although I didn’t really understand the movie, thanks to the landscapes, the soundtrack and the enigmatic Peter O’Toole, this was the start of a lifelong affair with movies. Furthermore, When I saw the movie again in the fall of 2018, I discovered that part of the movie had been filmed in Spain! The next day we found ourselves in Tabernas for some exploring:
This small town is located not far from a desert, as you can see from the surrounding mountains:
Last Summer, we were back in Tabernas, for some further exploring.
On top of a hill, you can see the ruins of an 11th century castle. The local church is also worth a look:
There are picturesque villages nearby:
And there is of course the desert:
Let’s start with the bad news; our travel plans of last year mentioned a number of destinations, outside Spain. Although we got vaccinated pretty quickly, it was the growing list of extra safety measures that demotivated us. In other words: we stuck to Spain.
10. Booking an accommodation and upon arrival discovering that not only the pension, but basically the whole village is one movie location! Have a look here. 2021 has been a year of astonishing movie locations. Just look at this one!
9. Diving around in the Pyrenees. If you love majestic mountains, put this on your bucket list!
7. TheMost Beautiful Monastery. The first trip of the year took us to the north of Spain, the land of El Cid This monastery was the highlight of this trip.
6. A plce of history: the Birthplace of El CID .
5.A Warm Welcome in Murcia. We spent midweek in Murcia, during which San Pedro del Pinatar was our home, not the most picturesque of Spanish towns, but with its beaches, bars and restaurant, it has a relaxing vibe
a yearly event we always look out for: the first snow in the Sierra Nevada
3.And even in our Sierra Arana, there are still places to discover
2. In the footsteps of Lawrence of Arabia; I still have to write this post, but since i have so many pictures to edit,Ihope you will be patient with me
Our meal in the pyrenees was the best travelmoment of the year!it’s another reminder that the Spanih can with humble ingredients create magic!
It was time to return home, This time we had a stop in Ciudad Rodrigo, where we stayed in hotel Yoanna. The big advantage of this hotel is not only that it’s cheap, it also comes with an Irish pub! When we arrived, we were not only tired, but also very hungry and thirsty! The Pub was therefore the first place we checked out! And we were not disappointed, because the pub sold Belgian beer!
Afterwards we had dinner, consisting of a German bratwurst and cake, a tasty multicultural meal.
Ciudad Rodrigo is a medieval town whose old center is walled, and that was our focus for sightseeing the day after.
In between all the festivities, we will publish the last post of the year with the best travel experiences of this year. Happy holidays!
During our day in the Pyrenees, we decided to follow a touristic route in the area, we basically drove from one village to another. In Valle de Villaverde we decided to take a lunch break, we had become hungry!
So we parked our car near the Santa Maria Church and made our way to the Posada Calera. As soon as we entered the dining room, we were welcomed by delicious smells coming from the kitchen and a very friendly woman presenting the menu del dia to us.
Lars chose chickpea soup with extra cabbage for the starter, and I had macaroni. Both dishes were incredibly delicious. The Posada has an excellent cook!
For the second course we both had French fries, eggs, and the best smoked ham we had ever eaten:
Dessert was Natillas (Vanilla custard), containing about a miliion calories! One of the best meals we ever had, we were in foodie paradise.
When we were back in the car, the explorers in us woke up, and we decided to go to Bakio (am small coastal town):
Huge change of scenery, and what a scenery:
it was the end of the afternoon and lots of people were soaking up the last sun rays on the beach with their pooch.
And after all the fantastic events of that superb day, It was time to return to Santander.
With its more than 170.000inhabitants,Santander is one of the bigger towns in the north of Spain. During our stay, El Figon was our temporary home. The hostel is spread over two blocks, one contains the reception, restaurant, and bodega, the other block further away from the very busy street contains the rooms. Amongst the interesting sights are the beaches, cathedral, Old Town and a center for contemporary art. And it’s close to the Pyrenees! After checking in, we had dinner; our first course resembled paella, and the main course -fish-was to die for. Just look at the smile on the Viking’s face!
A very good meal indeed, but it didn’t prepare us for the gastronomical adventure that awaited us in the Pyrenees!
Anyway, you can easily find this hostel on booking.com. And the adventure continues!
Lars had decided that during our explorations in the Pyrenees we would stay in Santander, but the drive from our hometown to Santander proved to be longer than expected, so we decided to stay in Guadalajara for one night. Via booking.com, we found hotel España, in general, we were very happy with the accommodations, except that there was no restaurant in the hotel. Moreover, there was a public holiday, and all nearby bars and restaurants were closed. Thanks to the GPS we found one: Puerta Gayola at the Plaza San Esteban. But our troubles weren’t over yet. The kitchen had just closed, and we would have to wait 4 hours before it opened again. And wait we did.
Finally, we could order some food! So far, our interactions with the waiters had been very limited, now we discovered that some of them were quite unfriendly. I was too hungry to pay attention to it, because I was so hungry. Finally, a big, juicy burger made its way to our table!
The morning afterwards, we went for a short walk, before leaving for Santander. Too bad we couldn’t spend some more time in Guadalajara, it looked like a really agreeable town.
Later this week, we will introduce Santander to you!
There’s no denying it, winter is approaching. The weather is still sunny, but temperatures have gone down to 15-20 degrees Celsius, which is about half of what we enjoyed during summer. Lars and I both miss summer, but seeing the first snow in the magnificent Sierra Nevada is special. Since we both come from flat countries, a drive in the Sierra Nevada -or any other Sierra for that matter – is always a delight.
These are the pictures we took:
This time we chose History.
We started in our hometown and ended in Piñar.
The adventure
There are lots of historic places in our hometown, but the app had its own ideas. It took us to the outskirts of the town, but at a certain moment the road became so bad that we had to change our location. Moreover, it was unclear whether we were still on a public road or a private one! That’s how we ended up in Piñar! And there we were lucky; the app guided us opposite the ruins of the medieval castle.
One month later, we returned to Piñar to take more pictures!
The castle dates from the 10th century.
I kept wondering, however, where the app wanted to bring us originally. After some research I discovered it: the small hamlet of Brancinas! And it is known for the ruins of a medieval castle! So, one evening, we decided to do some research there as well.
Afterward, we contacted the tourism office of the province of Granada, who indeed confirmed that the road to Brancinas is private property and so is the castle! They found this website:
https://www.xn--castillosdeespaa-lWb.es/es/content/barcinas-castillo-de
Maybe things didn’t go as planned, but Brancinas was an interesting discovery.
And here is the video:
Travel Memories 