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Visit Andalucia

Andalucia, which is Spainís southernmost autonomous community, is a place of unrivalled natural beauty. The state, which consists of eight provinces, each unique in its own offerings is rising up meteorically on everyone’s chart of the best tourist destinations in the world due to its varied and till now, untouched and undiscovered beauty.

Andalucia’s natural beauty is unique in itself because it is one of those rare places on earth that offer mankind all the treasures of nature at one place. So while the region boasts of sandy beaches and untouched countryside villages on one hand, it is complemented by snow covered peaks and lush jungles on the other.

Excellent weather, more than 3000 sunny hours an year, beautiful natural ports, awe inspiring historical monuments and inhabitants who are full of life and hospitality have made Andalusia one place where everybody wants to go.

No wonder then, that the eight provinces of Andalucia; Cadiz, Cordoba, Almeria, Jaen, Granada, Huelva, Malaga and Seville boast not just of a large number of tourists at any time of the year, but also of a varied cosmopolitan environment created by thousands of expatriates who have made this beautiful state their home. However, the people of this community, instead of taking away from the natural beauty of this place, have added to Andalucia’s charm because of their extremely tolerant, exuberant and fun loving nature.

Andalucia’s untouched beauty has something to offer to everyone. While the coastlines of Cadiz and Huelva boast of Atlantic beaches and seas that are perfect for water sports, the coastline from Almeria to the Strait of Gibraltar offers a smooth sailing climate that perfect for nature and animal lovers. If you want more action then you can head towards the tourist centers of Costa del Sol, Costa Tropical, the Costa de la Luz and Costa Almeria along the region’s 900 kilometer coast line.

There are a large number of places on the coast where whale Andalucian tourist spots are famous not just for their natural beauty, but also for their hip and happening social scene, discos, nightclubs and a large amount of celebrity population that keeps frequenting them. Sports lovers can have fun skiing on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain range on indulging in a wide variety of water sports on the coast.

On the other hand, if you want to experience the peace and quiet of the countryside, you can turn towards the famous ‘white villages’ in the provinces of Seville, Cadiz, Granada and Cordoba, which transport modern day travelers to almost medieval villages where life seems to have stopped at a perfect point in time. The villages old world charm is peppered by scenes of natural beauty; lush green mountains, meadows and fields that reassure you that yes indeed, Andalucia is paradise on earth.

If you are an adventure or nature lover, then a trip to at least one of the famous national parks is a must for you. Not only will you be able to see a large number of endangered species and other wild animals, the trek itself is an unforgettable adventure.

An Artists Market in Spain

Today we went to an artists market here in Spain, it was small, and filled with English artists amongst the couple of Spanish artists, but it was still a great day out.

Here in Andalusia, the small village markets are often dominated by retirees and stay at home parents who have a small craft business that brings in a few hundred Euros a month, more than enough to pay for their materials and let them take the family out for dinner once a month.

We noticed something quite amusing though, the Spanish artists had plenty of pictures of bullfighting and imposing buildings on display, whereas the English artists tended to have more flowers and pueblo blanco paintings on display.

I didn’t see anyone actually buy anything but it was still really nice to see the displays.

King Juan Carlos in Ronda

The King of Spain, Juan Carlos was in Ronda today, and knowing the crowds and traffic would be terrible we decided to stay away, I mean the chance of actually getting a photo of the king would be next to nil with all the crowds.

So having made the decision to stay out of town we immediately forgot all about his visit, then realized this morning that we had to go into town to do some shopping and catch up with friends for a coffee.

Silly us, imagine making a conscious decision to avoid town today, and then forgetting all about it and ending up in town after all. Worst of all we didn’t see the king, but we did get caught up in the traffic.

When we finally left town to come home we got to the bottom end of town and came across several cops keeping an eye on traffic and no doubt the surrounding area, so we asked them if we’d be able to see the king on his way out of town.

Sure they said, just wait over there, ie not where they were, so we did, and were rewarded with the king’s car speeding past with a police escort, unfortunately the windows of the car were all dark, so after all of that we still didn’t see his highness. How disappointing.

Winter has arrived, brrr

Snow near Ronda

Winter has definitely arrived in Southern Spain. The temperature has suddenly plunged, just above zero where we live, but a few kilometers up the road there is snow.

The snow is on the mountains around Ronda as you can see from this photo, which was taken at one of the supermarkets looking upto the Sierra de las Nieves, an appropriate name,the snow mountains.

The funny thing is that the mountains on the other side of Ronda are snow free, but still bitterly cold. Everyone we speak to says this is very unusual in these parts, snow in November hasn’t happened for a very long time.

So of course we’re expecting a cold winter, and I think we might have to go and buy more blankets to wrap around ourselves and also to put on the bed. Last winter we put a blanket on the mattress, and then the sheet over that, and it helped to stop cold air from under the bed coming up.

That’s actually a serious problem with modern mattresses that have springs inside them, they have no insulation to stop cold air, I think the next bed we buy will be a solid foam mattress with a thick mattress protector on it.