Cordoba and more…

 With our guests on their way back to the US, and spring breaking out here in southern Spain, our time here is dwindling, so Norma and I have been trying to check a few last boxes here along the Costa del Sol & Andalusia. Last weekend we drove down the coast to Mijas, which we’ve been meaning to visit for some time, but had never gotten it onto our schedule… Mijas is a small "Pueblo Blanco" (white town) directly Up into the mountains above Fuengirola, not too far from Malaga.  It’s best known for its narrow streets that are still served by burros carrying all manner of loads from luggage to acting as “burro taxis.” So, with Norma’s donkey connection, we had to visit!  

While a bit on the cute “touristy” side, Mijas proved to be remarkably nice, with both great walking and lots of interesting things to see and visit, including a great local museum (that cost a whole euro to enter!).  We had a great meal here too, and found that Spain's always reasonable prices were true even at a nice restaurant with spectacular views!

On the down side here, the weather has been quite cool and wet this month, and while the region is in drought and really needs to get the rain, it has proven to be a bit of a pain for us to plan our outings or even get some exercise.  Early this week week we got almost 2” of rain in just a couple of hours, and parts of the south coast of Spain got sand storms as well, as sand and dust from the Sahara were swept up and carried over the Mediterranean and dropped here! Some places reported that the rain appeared almost as “falling mud!” Fortunately, here in Estepona, it was pretty much just water ;-)

Most recently, we’ve just returned from two days in Cordoba, where we had a fantastic visit.  We made a very brief day trip here in 1999 with Niall as a toddler in his stroller, so this time we really got some additional time to poke around the old city and the fabulous Mezquita - Catedral de Cordoba. Cordoba was home to the early Arabic rulers of Spain from roughly 750AD to the middle of the 12th century, when  the Moors retreated to Granada in the last years before the Catholic reconquista in 1492. The former grand mosque in Cordoba was then converted into a Catholic cathedral during 16th century in one of the most unique and wonderfully creative architectural adaptations and stylistic juxtapositions I’ve ever visited— it’s simply extraordinary.  In all of the various cathedrals Norma and I have visited over the past 30 odd years (probably approaching 100), Cordoba’s is probably my favorite!  There will definitely be a sketch or two that gets generated from all the photos that I took during this visit :-)

On the way back to Estepona from Cordoba, we managed to take a bit of a “long cut” through the mountains to visit another spot that has been on my list of Pueblos Blancos for settings and just to see and wander around - Sentenil de las Bodegas.  Unlike most of the Pueblos Blancos, (which are almost universally located up on the sides or tops of steep hills or mountainous plateaus for defensive purposes during the Middle Ages and the wars along the “frontier” between Moorish and Catholic kingdoms of southern Spain during the  reconquista period), Sentenil is tucked deep into a gorge, with many of the homes extending into caves in the walls of the gorge.  Many of the dwellings have been inhabited in one form or another for thousands of years! Absolutely well worth the visit :-)

Next week we are planning one last outing to Jerez de la Frontera for several days to take in some wine tasting and see yet another place that has been “on our list,” but never really had the opportunity to get there yet. So, until then, that’s all from here until next weekend or so when we will be getting ready to head onward to the UK and I’ll be wrapping up the Spain portion of this blog…

Cheers!