After Seville we drove south to a hotel near Gibraltar (see map). We didn’t visit “The Rock” but we could see it from the hotel balcony. We took a day trip up into the mountains to visit Ronda. This is a very neat city that has a deep gorge running through the middle.
The drive up and back through the mountains was nice too.
Along the way were a few “pueblos blanco” or white villages. Here is a picture of Jimena de la Frontera. See the old Moorish castle ruins at the top of the hill?
These villages are built in a Moorish architecture. The influence of the Moors (north African Muslims) is still strong 1700 years after they were kicked out of Spain by the crusaders.
The next day we drove along the southern coast towards Tarifa. We stopped at an overlook with a view of the Straits of Gibraltar and Africa.
Some very strange flowers grew in this area. They say it is because this is the windiest place in Europe.
Next we drove around the coast to Baelo Claudia, an old Roman town and ruins. Unfortunately we arrived just as the siesta began so they were closed.
However there was an awesome beach there so we hung around for a while.
Then we drove on up the Atlantic coast (passing near Cape Trafalgar) to Conil de la Frontera. More on that later.
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