"It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to."
-J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings
With that said, Deb and I decided it was time for a short adventure to see more of Spain. A beautiful village in the mountain range known as Sierra de Grazalema. On Cadiz we are very flat. This sounded like a great opportunity to see the mountains.
And see the mountains we did.
The tricky part was how to get there. The train doesn't go there, and there are no direct bus. Even when we googled it online, it wasn't so clear. When talking with the train and bus ticket sellers.....well let's say that didn't work out either. I wish we knew more Spanish during these times.
Our saving grace came by way of the Tourist Information lady in Cadiz. There was indeed a bus, with a layover of about 5 hours in a village called Ubrique.
Perfect...we will do it.
On Friday morning we headed to the train station in Cadiz, at just before 8am our bus pulled in and we purchased two tickets to Ubrique. Cost was less than 21 euros.
We are off.
It was recommended by our host that we visit the 'Pueblos Blancos' or 'the White Villages of Andalucia' which are all within the Sierra de Grazalema National Park. From our location in Cadiz, these are found in the northern parts of the Provinces of Cadiz, into the Malaga, all in southern Spain.
Ubrique has an Arab history and it is evident in the mosaics, the food and the coffee. Served in a glass with no milk. Although you can ask for milk.
Heading up the trails to get a bird's eye view of Ubrique.
We can do it....if the huge buses can....and the wee 80 year old villagers... we can do it.
A long way up....but we are almost there.
Ubrique sits at the foot of the Sierra de Ubrique mountain range. It is spectacular. One of the many Pueblos Blancos. Defined by their white washed buildings. It is tucked between two very important ranges, the Natural Park Los Alcornocales and the Natural Park Sierra de Grazalema.
Known for it's leather. Every other store was a leather outlet. Beautiful, baby soft leather products to buy at quite affordable prices compared to Canadian prices for leather.
Worth the hike up here. The village of Ubrique. Breath taking......More that 18,000 people live in this gorgeous wee village.
Incredible flowers still blooming. We wore our sweaters because it was to be cooler than Cadiz but we are still quite comfortable. The sun is warm.
All these streets have signs that are made in mosaic tiles. Gorgeous.
Many pedestrian only streets in Spain and this one in Ubrique is quite long with cafes, shops and bars.
Quail eggs and ham on baget...even LD ate this. A cute cafe where our waiter was adamant that we can't order lunch until 1pm. Okie dokie...Quail eggs it is.
Our bus is coming at 3:30pm to pick us up and head to Grazelama. Little did we realize, we are heading high into the mountains by coach bus.
Above LD's head in this photo is the next bus stop.....but not Grazalema....it is higher yet. YIKES!
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