Andalusia

Summer 2007, our first holidays together ! At this time we didn’t wrote any travelogue. Only a photo album a lot of great memories. So we’ll try to to resume it as good as we can.

Quentin started from Tours, to pick up Mariette at Landaul in Brittany with my old little car, then cap to Ronda in Andalusia. 3 days spent on the road driving slowly to enjoy the landscapes and to stop in some places on the road. First of it was in Bayonne at my good friend Jean-Hubert place.
For the second day of driving, we decided to not drive by Madrid, but by the west road : San Sébastian, Burgos, Valladolid, Salamanca. We stayed overnight in the car on the side of a dam near Caceres, then we joined Ronda via Sevilla.
At the camping in Ronda, we had the great surprise to discover a 50m long swimming pool, and a wonderfull place under an olive tree for our tent !
The days are spent half relaxing at the swimming pool, and half visiting around.

We started by Ronda, the old city, the arena, and walking around like the walk that goes down the gorge that cut the city in two parts with a wonderfull old bridge. Then we moved to San Pedro de Alcantra, a town down the andalusia mountains, on the shore of the ocean with black sand beaches borded by palm trees.
We also visited some little villages lost in the mountains. We particuly loved Casares, in the top of some huge cliffs. The all city is builted with old white houses, which allows you to walk in a fresh air when it’s very hot. From the top, the view goes very far, and you can even see Gilbraltar when it’s sunny ! On the top of the village, is a old arabic forteress and old church.

Gibraltar. We spent one day down there. You cross the custom and « Hop ! » you’re in UK ! The city is not very pretty. It’s only some avenues with some duty free shops. The rock ? Rubbery ! You can drive only one way, can’t U-turn, and then the road stops and people ask you 30€ to enter the rock. Once you’re on it, there is a few museums half empty, an old forteress, and a cave. The thing that worst it is a walk to the top of the rock with a amazing view over the sea, and Africa ! Other funny thing : the rock is full of monkeys !

Another great day was when we visited Grenada and the famous Alambra palace. Huge and superb arabic palace, surrounded by other little houses, and some wonderfull gardens. We spent half a day, breathtaken by frescoes, mosaics, carvings and beautiful gardens and small fountains… It’s better to reserved a ticket a few days before or to come very eary in the morning to be sure to have your ticket because the number of tickets is limited each days to preserved the site.
The city of Grenada is also very beautiful, but under a hot 45°C sun it’s hard to climb  the steep streets ! But we were rewarded by a very good restaurant (Botanico) in front of the botanical gardens. We even had a french waiter !

To come back in France we drove through Toledo, and Madrid, and stopped once more at our friend’s place in Bayonne.

Cheers,

Tintin & Riette