Day 10 - Gibraltar and home

Last day and we're headed back on the motorway for an early flight back from Gibraltar to Heathrow. Just time to stop, as we're dropping off the hire-car, for views of the Rock

and of Ceuta in Morocco in the distance (forget just how close north Africa is)

There's a viewing point of the Rock from departures too...

Day 9 - Starting to wend our way back south

Penultimate day - we quit pretty Utrera and got back on the winding roads, through sleepy white towns

and more lovely countryside (and we've got the hang of this selfie lark)

and cork oak trees, newly harvested of their bark (they're stripped to the waist once every nine years) 

and finally to Jimena de la Frontera

Without realising it, we treated ourselves to a hotel with a terrace and a pool on the roof...

xx

Day 8 - Sevillle and overnight in Utrera

Bidding farewell and thanks to Dawn and Paul, we set off north on country roads via the white village of Espera

(for a breakfast picnic)
 

and onward to Seville.  

We started at the beautiful Plaza de Espana, dating from the 1929 Ibero-American Exposition World's Fair

It showcases Spanish artistry and materials, 

and features tiled 'Alcoves of the Provinces' from each Spanish province.

From there, to the Alcazar, amalgamating influences starting from the Arabic period, late Middle Ages Mudéjar right through to the Renaissance, Baroque and 19thC.  Stunning.

From the courtyard, you can even glimpse Seville's 1401 cathedral with its famous weather-vane, La Giralda (regrettably closed or Duncan would have been up the 343ft/105m tall spire for the view)

Probably just as well, as it was on the hot side...

We stayed in a nice little town called Utrera, and had tapas in the square people-watching - all generations seemed to be out to enjoy the evening sunshine.

Day 7 - Sunday in Arcos

Sunday in a small Spanish town is quiet!  

So we revisited the narrow twisty streets of Arcos

up the white-washed streets

to the top of the hill

and then some more fat juicy cherries and Scrabble before our last night in Arcos 

Tomorrow Seville!

Day 6 - A further day in the pueblos blancos

You'll remember that we missed off a couple of the villages (Benamahoma, Setenil, Grazalema - apparently Spain's wettest place).  Saturday dawned with a bright sun so it was a day to enjoy the countryside again.  


Most of the sunflower fields were over, the flowers burnt brown and hanging their heads, heavy with seeds, like legions of little old men, 

though occasionally we'd round a corner to an unexpected sheet of bright yellow, stretching into the distance like something from The Wizard of Oz!
  

  

Our first "missed" pueblo blanco was Setenil - an interesting spot, built around a rock (sadly a fuzzy shot as the traffic was shocking and zero places to park) but you get the drift of a town literally structured around a huge mass of stone

and with a nice high-spot to overlook the sweep of the village; we especially admired the olive groves in the background : so ordered, running like strips of green corduroy.

After a fine tapas lunch in the sun, we stopped in Grazalema, to discover that the village fiesta had been the previous day

(including a bull-run if the festival lighting was to be believed...)

No blood on the pavements though!

Day 5 - Back on the road : Cadiz

Last time we were in Andalucia, we loved Cadiz, so I had high hopes.  Sure enough, despite being a cloudier (and a bit cooler) day, we loved the cathedral

stretched our legs walking the waterfront promontory.

caught some impromptu entertainment (I "ole"d like a local)

and ascended the Torre Tavira for bird's eye rooftop 360 views

Day 4 - A quiet day in Arcos

After a long day of driving for Duncan yesterday, we decided to stay closer to home and explore our own pueblo blanco a bit more.  Hilly is is the word that springs to mind

  
Though of course that does mean great views over the surrounding olive groves, acres of waving sunflowers, fields of golden mown straw...

...from the left-hnd of the two tall buildings below (the castle - "privately owned and occupied" apparently!);

the right-hand building being a fine parish church.

Day 3 - Ronda and the pueblos blancos

The guides give various winding, twisting circuits through the Andalucian countryside via the numerous white villages, nestled so close in the valleys and atop the rolling green hills that you can almost see them lined up like beacons...

Our ambitious day-trip took in Ronda, chief of the pueblos blancos, as well as many of the smaller ones : Ubrique, Gaucin, Jimena de la Sierra

 

along corkscrew roads through gorgeous countryside 

to Ronda

Regrettably (or maybe just as well, given it was already going dark by the time we got back) we missed part of the pueblos route and same of the villages so maybe we'll have to make another trip later in the week