The trip home

We got up at 6am British time today so we could have breakfast, say our goodbyes and get back to Malaga airport in time to return the hire car and drop out bags off at checkin.  We had an uneventful flight and once we'd got back to the car at Gatwick we were home around 4.30pm. 

It was a really nice holiday but coming back to work mid-week wit a day full of meetings to face is certainly not to be recommended!

Rain and a hangover

After a lovely week and a lovely evening with Bill and Anne on Sunday we awoke today to rain and we were also a bit hungover after a lot of drinking and putting the world to rights.  We did go into Algamitas in the evening to get a bit of shopping and visited a bar where I drank coke!  Not the most exciting day of our holiday but a nice rest ready for travel home tomorrow and a return to work on Wednesday.

A lovely walk to see the Bee-eater colonies, and meeting Bill & Anne

After lots of driving in recent days we decided to do a walk from the Cortijo today.  We followed walk five in Bill & Anne's guide to walks.  It was fairly straightforward and didn't involve any major or long climbs so it was good for me! We saw the nests of the Bee-eaters in some disused sand quarries but no bee-eaters as I suspect they have migrated for the winter by now.  The weather really is gorgeous for mid-November!

In the evening Bill and Anne arrived home so we went into Algamitas for a nice meal at Bar Galicia.  We sat up far too late and drank far too much once back at the Cortijo but it was great to catch up properly with Bill and Anne again.

Ubeda

Ubeda is only about 10km from Baeza which is partly why we made the long trip over two days.  After breakfast at the Hotel Campos de Baeza we did the short drive into Ubeda and parked in the old town.  Ubeda is a slightly larger town than Baeza, at about 35 thousand people.  We had a good wander around a lot of really interesting sights and even saw a covered market, that was looking like it was coming to the end of its day's trading.  We visited the Chapel of the Saviour, which had an amazing altarpiece and a fascinating organ.  A bonus visit that was not in the guide book was a free museum or archaeology which showed some important Iberian history.

We popped into a supermarket on the long journey back to Algámitas and picked up a few bits for dinner including some nice prawns and tuna.  I had a big struggle buying diesel as it appears the supermarket is quite happy to take my credit card for 41 Euros worth of food but when it comes to 20 Euros worth of fuel they insisted on seeing my passport which was of course buried in the boot!

Gordon is preparing dinner as I speak as I've driven him 500km in the last two days. We're having a nice prawn cocktail followed by Tuna Steaks and Spanish Asparagus.

Baeza

We drove about 250km today to get to Baeza, a town of about 18,000 people in the East of Andalucia.  We stopped for lunch at Andujar and had a really nice salad and some cold meats.

We had booked into an hotel, Campos de Baeza, as 500km in a day is too much!  It meant we had plenty of time to explore and could enjoy an evening meal free from worrying about not drinking or a long drive home.  It was a lovely four star hotel and was a bargain at only c. £60 for the night.

We visited most of the principal sites in Baeza and climbed the tower in the cathedral just before dusk.   The cathedral had some fascinating old items in it including music and clerical dress.  The audio guide was useful too.  Baeza is a really pretty old town and well worth a visit if you're in that part of Spain.

A trip to Setenil, Ronda la Vieja and Grazalema

We had a good lie-in this morning after lots of early starts and rather short nights.  We had breakfast at the house before leaving for a fairly short drive to go to Setenil, one of the villages called a Pueblo Blanco because of all the whitewashed houses.

We enjoyed a nice lunch in a little bar called "La Tasca" which was in a fascinating building set into a cave.  Setenil is famous for having lots of houses set into caves.  We saw quite a few of them and walked up to a couple of churches which unfortunately were not open.  I guess November is not peak tourist season!

After Setenil we drove to Ronda le Vieja where there are some interesting Roman ruins including a theatre from the 1st Century CE.

We followed that with a quick trip to Grazemala where we did a bit of shopping and had a quick drink in a bar before driving back to the Cortijo.  We had a nice dinner of soup, Lomo and Spanish hard cheese, washed down with some Cruzcampo beers.

As you can see in the pictures, the weather has been wonderful today, which is a real bonus for November.  The full moon this evening is also spectacular in this area where there is not much light pollution.

Travelling to Spain and settling in to the Cortijo

We had a very early start this morning to check in at Gatwick at 6am.  All went smoothly and we were on our flight on time after breakfast.  We arrived at Malaga around midday and went to collect the hire car after collecting our bags.  The car is a 1.6L diesel Hyundai i30.  It's very boring and wallowy but I guess it will do the job.  It seems very economical too with the gauge hardly having moved after a 110km drive.  The hire company did charge me 90 Euros for a full tank of Diesel though!

We got to Algámitas around 2.30pm to meet Nieves who runs Cortijo Rosario for Bill & Anne. Nieves made us very welcome and we got settled in easily.  We also had a bit of a snooze after such an early start.  Nieves very kindly made us a fire in the sitting room, which the dogs enjoyed too.  The temperature drops rather rapidly at this time of year after sunset (around 6pm).

Around 8pm we wandered into Algámitas and had a lovely tapas dinner and a few beers at Bar Galicia - one of our favourites.  It's nice to be back in Andalucía for the fourth time!

Bill and Anne are away at the moment and back at the weekend so we have a few days to ourselves before enjoying some time with them on Sunday - Tuesday.   It's very kind of them to give us the run of their lovely house.

The start of the trip to Andalucía

We've booked in 6 nights with Bill and Anne in Anadalucía because it's just after the announcements about civil service jobs so we wanted time out either way after the news.  The news was good so I'm pleased that we can spend the time relaxing rather than worrying.  I started the journey this evening by driving to the Best Western Hotel at Gatwick, arriving around 10pm.  Gordon came down on the train from work.  We had a quick beer and then went to bed ready for the 5am start tomorrow!

The sharp among you will realise I can't have taken the picture in this post as we didn't actually see the hotel in daylight!  It's a good deal though - £100 for one night's accommodation and 7 nights of parking onsite.  Given that two returns on the bus from Oxford would cost £56 I don't think it's a bad deal.  With a 7.40am flight it would have meant a 3am bus out of Oxford - hardly worth going to bed!