ANDALUCIA AREA OF SPAIN:)

We had a lovely week in May exploring southern Spain. The Andalucia region is comprised of the fantastic cities of Granada, Sevilla and Cordoba. It also includes the southern coast know as the Costa del Sol and the whitewashed hill towns. We really enjoyed driving through this region and the hill towns were a favorite:) We spent one night near Ronda (previous blog) and saw 3 other hill towns before returning to the coast at Nerja for our last night in Spain. The picture on the right was the unique town of Setenil. It is built into caves of the cliffs rather than on top of them like the other hill towns.... really liked it:) Zahara, middle picture, is overlooked by a Moorish castle that we climbed and situated on a lake/reservoir... very picturesque! Leaving Zahara we drove up the steep, narrow mountain road to Grazalema. Lovely area with lots of pine trees and on the way back to the coast we saw a grove of cork trees..... the bark had been harvested;) We so enjoyed the Andalucia area that seems so "Spanish"....streets lined with orange trees (they provide shade all year round), flamenco shows, bullrings, pitchers of sangria, tapas, whitewashed villages and the amazing Mosques and Moorish blend with the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque!!!