The Muchness of Spain

We’ve been driving through the small white villages of southern Spain and are struck by the muchness of Spain. It feels big, open and expansive – the landscape, the food, the culture – all of it.

In our drive from Cordoba to Arcos de la Frontera, there were rolling fields as far as you could see filled with groves of olive trees. I’ve never seen so many olive trees. Of course, all those groves mean there is a muchness of olives and they are wonderful. We’ve tried as many types as we can and particularly enjoy the large green ones.

We explored Arcos and had our first glimpse of a white village. The entire town is on the side of a hill. There isn’t a flat space to be seen and most of the streets are very steep and narrow. Motorcycles are the preferred way to travel due to the narrow spaces, but it’s difficult to negotiate stairs on a motorcycle. I discovered how they do it early one morning. There are narrow concrete wedges in the middle of each step so a motorcycle can be rolled down to the street level. Glad it’s not me.


After Arcos we traveled along A372 (it’s a route worth remembering for anyone traveling to Spain) to the other white villages of Grazalema, Ronda and Zahara de la Sierra. Of the three, we were most charmed by Grazemela. It is perched on a hillside with white cubes of buildings clinging to each other. We wound along the narrow streets, turning here and there and hoping we could find our way back. And it’s all so very white. I wouldn’t want to be the Sherwin Williams salesperson!




Ronda was impressive because of its site. The town rests on both sides of a deep gorge with a stone bridge connecting the two. The bridge is a feat. We ate at a restaurant along the edge and watched the birds swoop and dive to the rock cliffs below. We also visited their bullring – the oldest in Spain (or maybe the world). I admit that the ring and the museum were more interesting than I expected. We also had the chance to visit a once-in-a-lifetime museum: The Bandelero Museum (bandit museum).
I know….it’s exciting stuff. Apparently, Ronda had a severe bandit problem. The hills and caves were good hideouts and bandits became heros almost. Mike couldn't resist putting his head in the sign by the entrance. That's my guy!






Zahara was our last stop of the day and worthy of a peaceful cup of coffee and tea in their square next to the church. We weren’t the only ones. It appeared to be that time of the day when the local men lounged and visited in the shade of the church




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While all these villages are bright white, the whiteness is punctuated with exclamation points of color. Window sills are filled with red, pink and orange geraniums that cascade through the black iron grills. Bougainvillea with its fuscia blooms pop with color next to the white walls. There are also vining roses making their way up walls and around doorways. Bushes of lantana are blooming in fiesta colors. In addition to the flowers, colored tiles are on churches, public buildings and festive tile can be glimpsed through doorways of houses. Bright blues are the predominant color which contrasts nicely against the white.




The other muchness of Spain comes from the sun. Last week I did not think I’d hear myself say to Mike, “Can we sit in the shade?” But here, the sun is everywhere. The colors are golden in the morning light and rosy orange in the late afternoon. I love it! The sun is part of the reason that the world operates on a later schedule. For example, Mike’s parking karma continues to get us great parking places. We found a parking spot just outside our hotel door everyday but we have to pay a fee starting at 9AM. The nice woman at the hotel desk explained this but apologized that we’d have to “get up very early” to put money in the meter. By the same token, we stopped at a restaurant for dinner on our way home last night. All was quiet in the parking lot and there were no lights on inside the restaurant. The host assured us they were open, and he turned the light on for us. It was 8PM.


Today we went to Jerez de la Frontera. Mike says we were horsing around in Jerez. We went to a performance of the Spanish riding school, Fundacion Real Escuela Andaluza del Arte Ecuestre (equestrian school of Andulasia), in their park-like school in the middle of Jerez. But first – a bit of the saga of the morning. We bought tickets for the performance before we left France – thank goodness- but we didn’t have directions. I found a flyer for the “horses of Jerez” at the tourist office which thankfully had a map – and a particularly good map at that. Nonetheless, we decided to leave early – thank goodness. To make a long saga shorter, their map had the wrong exit number on it! If you are familiar with European freeways you know that their exits are very far apart. We drove an additional 20 km to the next exit just to turnaround. No worries – we still had time to spare. We got to their entrance gate which was closed, but there was a speaker phone. I trundled up and pressed the button and in a few minutes the gate opened. We parked and went it only to be informed that we were at the wrong Jerez horse performance! There are two places that give performances and we’d gotten them mixed up. She gave us initial directions and told us to stop in town and ask again – not very comforting. Off we went into downtown Jerez. We found our way to the “centro” and I picked a random hotel for an inquiry. The woman was extremely helpful – she gave us a map and drew directions to the riding school. We walked in 15 minutes late to our reserved seats. Whew!


I’m glad we made it because the performance was lovely. We can add equestrian art to our previous list of Spanish art. The horses were Andulusians and mostly white and dappled grey. They literally danced. We were amazed, first that horses can be trained to do moves that are not natural for them, amazed that they do those moves precisely when requested and, mostly, amazed at the beauty and elegance of the animals. Standing still they would have been a work of art. It was a beautiful performance in a lovely setting, and worth every minute of the drama to get there. Unfortunately, they don’t allow photos. Mike snapped one before the guard informed us!




One other little tidbit to add from our stay at Arcos. Yesterday I went for my early (VERY early by Spain standards) morning walk through town. Arcos is built on a hill with the oldest part at the top. The town spills over on two sides. We’re on one side and I walked up and over the top to the other side. From the top, I could see another church in a plaza so that became my destination. When I arrived in the plaza, I noticed that there was something amiss at the top of the church. There were the typical three bells and an iron cross but there was also a big, awkward lump next to the cross. It was a huge bird’s nest. And the bird family was all in the nest! What a treat. There were babies in the nest who would periodically raise a head to be fed. Of course, I didn’t have the camera so I went back this morning. One bird was there today. I love that no one minds that there’s a bird nest on top of their church.

Spain has overwhelmed us with the muchness that it has to offer. We’re thankful and we’re tired. We were used to exploring Cotignac and France at a leisurely pace with the knowledge that we had plenty of time. Here in Spain, with two weeks to see the sights, vacationing has become hard work! We took a break this afternoon before we leave for Sevilla tomorrow, and we’ll probably take another break from our vacation there, too.

By the way – thanks to all the commenters! It’s fun to pull up the blog and find a comment or two. Keep it up!