Hundreds of red arches in Cordoba

We arrived in Cordoba by way of another blablacar. Blablacar is extremely popular in Spain it appears. When driving in we saw lots of floats with flowers on and people parading around them dressed in traditional Flamenco dress. This was the start of the Cruz de Mayo celebrations we had wanted to see.

Cruz de Mayo is a festival that happens only in Cordoba at the beginning of May every year for 4 days. During this time churches have crosses made out of flowers and decorated and displayed outside the buildings for all to see. The crosses are then judged over the 4 days and the winners are announced on the night before the last day, followed by celebrations and parties. However during the 4 days lots of other parties and drinking happens, with traditional flamenco shows and music in all the squares, with locals joining in. It's a very family oriented festival.

We decided to camp in Cordoba as other accommodation was very expensive due to the celebrations and not much options being available. Luckily the campsite is not far from the old quarter where everything happens so was ideal really. After setting up our tent we made our way to the old quarter, along the way we encountered a free open-air concert where people were having drinks and food, it was all in aid of raising money for the local hospital. We stayed to listen for a while, hearing a selection of different Spanish singers.

Open-air concert

After a while we headed into the old quarter. The old quarter is filled with lots of little twisting streets, with flowers hung up everywhere outside the houses, giving it all lots of colour and vibrancy. We thought overall it was much prettier than Sevilla or Granada in that respect. On the way through the centre we also saw all the local churches with bars up outside of them where people could get drinks and traditional food. We thought that this was a strange sight, churches selling alcohol, but apparently it is a very common practice for many celebrations. The reason the churches had the bars up this time was to show off their flower crosses, which are proudly displayed outside of the buildings for all to see and admire.

Me with the winning cross

During our few days in Cordoba we also witnessed in the main square; Plaza Trellinos the local school children doing flamenco in their many different coloured dresses, it was a nice experience and all the parents and other spectators joined in as well at different points to give it a very festive feel. This was one of the many events going on during the festivities.

Local schools performing Flamenco

The main highlight of Cordoba for us though was its main attraction, the Mesquita, which is beautifully positioned overlooking the river. It is a huge former mosque built by the Moors and over the years expanded more and more by subsequent rulers, till the Moors were conquered and driven out of the country where the mosque then was converted to a cathedral, which it still is today. Although many Muslim organisations have petitioned unsuccessfully for it to be made back into a mosque.

It costs 8 Euros per adult to visit the Mesquita, but if you are willing to get up early and get to the mosque just before 8:30 in the morning you can get in to visit the Mesquita for free before you are told to leave at 9:30 so that they can carry out the morning service. Having seen mosques before we weren't sure quite what to expect, however we were not disappointed, it was beautiful. It was also huge, with hundreds of arches, extending in all directions, giving it a really grand feel; it was amazing. The fact that the cathedral section of the Mesquita is just stuck in the middle of all these arches makes it seem a little bit strange, but it also adds to the grandness of the place. We thought it was really impressive and definitely worth the visit!

The many arches inside the Mesquita

Some of the other things we saw in Cordoba, which also stood out as being really good was the Alcazar, which is right next door to the Mesquita with its outer walls all still intact, again of Moorish design. The Roman bridge with the Torre de la Calahorra at the end of it was also a nice addition, with views from the bridge, especially at night, looking towards the walls of the Mesquita a beautiful setting.

Mesquita overlooking the river

Cordoba is also the site of one of only 3 synagogues that survived the evacuation of Jews from Spain in 1492, and displayed some very interesting designs on the walls which were quite different to a lot of the things we had seem before. We also saw the Roman Temple, where a surprising amount of it had survived. The one other highlight for us and will be maybe more meaningful to anyone who has read Miguel de Cervantes' novel Don Quixote is a cute little plaza in the old quarter where there is an inn where Don Quixote stayed at in the book.

The Roman temple

On our last evening in Cordoba, we went to Plaza Trellinos to see the performances of the Flamenco dance schools (more professional this time), which was really amazing, seeing the dresses and the dancers. They were all really good, and it was a great atmosphere, with hundreds of people watching. After the flamenco performances they then announced the winners of the Cruz de Mayo celebration. After hearing the announcement we went to see the cross that had won, and there was a big bar and food being done by the cross, everyone celebrating by drinking, eating and dancing. This was all with the Mesquita lit up in the background, it made for a really nice last evening.

Malaga - Meeting more friends

Malaga was our next stop after Gibraltar. We were to meet up with a friend (Agostino, who was volunteering in Malaga, he is originally from Italy) we had met in Morocco whilst in a pension in Fes. He very kindly offered to put us up for a couple of nights at his place, which he shared with a couple of other people; a girl from Holland and a girl from Newcastle.

We arrived in Malaga in the afternoon through trusty blablacar again, and made our way to his apartment, which is very close to the train station and bus station. We were shown into his apartment by one of his housemates, the girl from Holland. We then relaxed for a bit until Agostino came home from work. We had a nice catch up with him before he showed us around the local area; where we could buy food and some of the things nearby.

A night out with friends

We then headed back to the apartment to meet with his last housemate from Newcastle, called Jen. She was very friendly and talked about what she had been doing in Spain and how she had learnt Spanish from scratch, it was very interesting. We then later went out with her and Agostino to explore Malaga by night. They told us all about the different tourist attractions that were nice to see and some nice lesser known spots as well, whilst showing us around Malaga city centre.

The cathedral located in the city centre

We went to a couple of bars to have some drinks and tapas too, by far our preferred of the two was the second one where you got some really cheap drinks and you could order some big tapas for just 1 Euro! There we also met up with another girl we had met in Morocco who was with Agostino at the time, Maria, who was with her brother and his wife. We had a nice evening with them before all heading back later on to bed.

Our second day in Malaga was fairly action packed as we tried to squeeze in as much as we could. We saw the famous one towered Cathedral, which has several myths as to why it only has one tower, some sounding very outlandish. One of my favourites was that the money for them was gambled away. We also visited Picassos birthplace and saw a small museum dedicated to him and some of his very early works, as he only lived in Malaga for a very short period of time.

Carmen sitting on Picasso's knee

We also visited the Alcazar and castle in Malaga, both of which are perched atop the same hill with some lovely views out over the city and onto the seafront. We were also able to see the bullring from atop the hill as well.

The view from atop the hill over the port

The final place that we visited in Malaga was the Roman theatre ruins, which I must say were a lot better than the ones we saw in Cadiz earlier in the week. They were well preserved and had a lot of really interesting information at the site to tell you about its history. As an added bonus the ruins are right in front of the Alcazar walls, which really give it a nice setting.

Roman Theatre with Alcazar walls in the background

After a long day of looking around we headed back to the apartment and had a quiet relaxing evening and an early night as we had to be up the next morning for another blablacar to our next destination; Cordoba and the Cruz de Mayo festival!

Gibraltar - Back on British Soil

Having left Canos de Meca we made a short trip to a little village called Vejer de la Frontera. We had a nice Spanish music teacher pick us up from the side of the road to save us walking about 10km. On arriving we had a little explore of the village, which apparently has been voted one of the most beautiful villages in Spain. The village incorporated with medieval walls and other buildings, with little winding streets, all set on top of a hill, it was easy to see why it had gained that accolade.

Fountaun in the main square in Vejer de la Frontera

Unfortunately, we were only making a short stop in the village as we had a bus to catch to take us to a place in the very south of Spain called La Linea de la Concepcion. The reason we were heading there was not actually to see the town of La Linea but to in fact visit an entirely different country that is located right on its doorstep. The country in question; Gibraltar!

Visiting Gibraltar was an interesting experience for us both. Firstly because of some very "tight" border control, secondly because of the language difference, and thirdly because, we were technically back on British soil! So how did it feel to be back on British soil? Well let me first tell you a little bit about Gibraltar before I give you my opinion.

Gibraltar is a British overseas territory. What this means is that all natives of Gibraltar will have a UK passport and will attend schools that are structured the same as in the UK and the official language is English, and the currency used is pounds (although they are Gibraltan pounds, which although they have the same value as the UK pounds, they cannot be used in the UK). Apart from this, Gibraltar is self governed.

Getting into Gibraltar is a tough task indeed (I will highlight here that I am using sarcasm), at least by foot anyway. Firstly you have the onerous task of finding where the border is (huge signs and a rather gigantic rock sticking up 400+ metres into the air. Secondly you then have to get past the strict Spanish border guards, who briefly glance up at you if you are lucky, as you walk past with passport in hand, in a continuous stream of people. Finally you then have to go past the Gibraltan border control, where they don't even bother to look at you as you walk past!

We have entered Gibraltar!

Once in Gibraltar you see things that remind you of being in the UK, like the policeman and the red telephone boxes and things written in English, and English shops and restaurants advertising fish and chips everywhere! But apart from this you would not feel like you were in the UK at all. In a way, it feels like being in a subtropical UK with hot temperatures, not a cloud in the sky, clear blue waters and lots of barbary apes. Even the language isn't really English, (although they all speak it perfectly) at least when locals speak to each other. It is in fact a language based on Andalusian Spanish with a strong influence of British English and elements of many other languages. They call this language Llanito. I found it very disconcerting to hear it spoken as one minute you are following the conversation whilst the next you are utterly confused!

Aside from all my sarcastic remarks about Gibraltar, we really did enjoy ourselves very much there (we only visited for one day). It is a very small place, where I think if you were to try and see everything comfortably, without any rushing you would probably need a maximum of two days. The highlight of Gibraltar certainly being the Rock (the very original name given to the big rock that sticks up 400+ metres into the air, right in the middle of Gibraltar). From on top of The Rock you have fantastic views south across the Gibraltar Strait to the North African coast, stunning views to the north of mainland Spain, and great views to the west of Algeciras and the southern tip of Spain; Tarifa.

View towards Spain from the top of the Rock

The views however are not the only attraction of The Rock. You can easily spend the whole day up on the rock just walking around and exploring the different paths and trails through the protected reserve. We infact walked on a beautiful trail that circled around the south side of the rock and met several people coming the opposite way to us, who looked exhausted from the hike up the cliff face.

Walking on the Rock face trail

My favourite highlight of the Rock was the cave of St. Michael, which is the most famous of the 150 caves in the upper nature reserve of the Rock. The first man (prehistoric) to have set foot in the cave was dated back to 40,000 BC! There are also several legends associated with the caves, one being that the ancient greeks thought they were the Gates of Hades, an entrance to the Underworld. This was due to the fact that the Rock of Gibraltar was believed to be one of the Pillars of Hercules. The cave now is not only used as a tourist attraction, but also an auditorium where live events are performed due to the caves natural acostic properties.

Auditorium inside the cave of St. Michael

We also visited the war tunnels from the 1700s that were constructed because of the war between Spain and Britain to recapture Gibraltar after it had been given away to Britain in a treaty in 1713. Here cannons were installed to fire upon the Spanish invading forces, but additionally they were constructed for protection as well.

Inside the war tunnels

The last highlight that we saw on the Rock were the famous Barbary apes (Barbary Macaque). Found only in North Africa and Gibraltar. The apes (although they are actually monkeys) are quite the mischevious creatures, who will quite often steal tourists hats off of their heads and food off theirs plates, or even out of their hands. There are even signs up to warn people of this danger! Luckily for us we did not encounter either of these problems.

Barbary Macaque sitting on the wall

It was a long day in Gibraltar, but a very enjoyable one, and as an added bonus we finally found some peanut butter!!!  (PS: I apologise for the long post)

One last view from the Rock

Canos de Meca - A reunion with Team Gustav

Our next stop on our exploration of Spain was a little place called Canos de Meca. Leading up to our arrival in Canos de Meca we had been looking forward to it quite a bit. The main reason for this being that we would be meeting up with some old friends of ours that we had met whilst travelling around Morocco. We wanted to surprise them, so we did not let them know that we were coming to visit them.

El Alquimista Loco from the outside

We arrived in Canos de Meca in the late afternoon/early evening, and we went straight to their bar, which they named, El Alquimista Loco (The Crazy Alchemist). When we entered the bar we found a seat and sat down. Bianca then came from the bar to take our orders thinking we were another couple of customers and was very surprised to see us. After saying hello and hugs all round, we had a couple of beers and some food and had a brief chat as she was very busy. This was all before Matteo arrived, as he had been in Sevilla for the day with his family who had come to visit them for a few days. When he arrived back from Sevilla and came into the bar, he was even more shocked to see us than Bianca and there were more hugs and kisses all around. We stayed at the bar some more to chat with them whenever they had a spare moment before retiring for an early night in the pension behind the bar, as we were very tired.

Bianca and Matteo working behind the bar

The next day we left our bags at the bar and went for a trek south of Canos de Meca along the top of the cliffs towards a place called Barbate. There were some truly stunning views along the way and we saw some lovely sandy beaches with clear blue waters which were deserted. (We were later told that during high season though these beaches are packed) . We kept trekking until we reached a tower on top of the cliff that overlooked the ocean, with again some lovely views. We then headed back and spent the evening at the bar until Matteo gave us a lift to their place to sleep for the night.

Stunning views over the cliffs

For our last day in Canos de Meca we went to a market that Bianca had told us about just out of town that had a lady who sold Moroccan bread. This we thought was too good an opportunity to pass up as we had loved the Moroccan bread a lot. At the market we bought some of the Moroccan bread, although we had to pay an outrageous price for it. Admittedly it was worth it after we had half of it for lunch!

Faro de Trafalgar

Our afternoon then consisted of a trip to the beach where we relaxed for a bit, and tried to go in water. Unfortunately the water was a tad on the cold side so we decided to just sit on the beach instead.  We also made a trip to the bar in the late afternoon as well to have a nice crepe and Moroccan mint tea to relive Morocco again. Once evening came around we went to visit the Faro de Trafalgar (lighthouse) to see the sunset. (An interesting fact here that not many people may know is that this is in fact the location where the battle of Trafalgar took place). After seeing the sunset we went back to the bar as they had a DJ that night and it was our last night so wanted to spend more time with Bianca and Matteo. It ended up being a nice night, but unfortunately we had to head to bed to get up early in the morning to leave.

Sunset on the beach

We hope that we will be able to see the pair of them again sometime, but until then we wish them all the best with their bar and hope business stays good. If anyone ever goes to Canos de Meca be sure to look their bar up!

Cadiz - The Oldest city in Spain

Cadiz was a short visit as we were passing through. Luckily it is a small city, which allowed us to look around most of it in within a day. Cadiz was one of the cities in Spain that I was looking forward to the most when first planning to visit Spain. However, since coming to Spain other places have really surpassed my expectations, and unfortunately Cadiz did not turn out to be one of them.

We arrived in Cadiz about 11am after getting the train from Jerez (only just catching the train 2 minutes before it left!). Carmen was very impressed with her first experience on a Spanish train and was very excited and happy (she is a big fan of trains if you hadn't realised by now). The trains were very modern, with lots of added extras for passenger comfort including: plug sockets for every passenger, coat hangers by the seats, and fold away tables. It felt very upper class!

Carmen looking very happy on the train to Cadiz

 The vast majority of attractions in Cadiz are within the old centre of the city which covers an area of only 1.45 square kilometres. We first saw Puerta de Tierra, followed by the Roman theatre, which we were a bit disappointed with as it was shut and in a bad state of repair. Considering the emphasise that Cadiz tourism does on the oldness of the city it didn't look like it had been well looked after. We also thought that some of the renovations, totally destroyed the original look of the place as well. There are much better places to see this kind of thing around Spain.

The rather disappointing Roman Theatre in Cadiz

The highlight of Cadiz was probably the cathedral though, which was done in a different style to the rest of the cathedrals we had seen in Andalucia so far. The main difference being the addition of a Cupola on top of the cathedral giving it a slightly more Islamic look. It was a nice location for photographs and seemed like the main meeting point within the old centre where locals and tourists gathered to have a meal and a drink in one of the many cafes and restaurants around it.

Cadiz Cathedral

Our next stop was lunch, and as Cadiz is well known for it's fish we decided to visit the market and see some firsthand and hopefully have a taste. The market had a great range of choice and we saw some huge fish! You would have to be there to believe the size of some of the Salmon, swordfish and others we saw. After looking around for a bit, we then found one of the stalls that sold cooked fish and we bought some hake and mackeral to try, both being very very nice!

A nice waterfall in one of the parks in Cadiz

After a nice lunch we were on our way again (you might realise as you read this that we stop quite often; this would be because of our big bags we are lugging around!), headed past the Torre Tavira (Tavira Tower), the highest point in the city, which wasn't actually that high at only 45 metres. Unfortunately, we were unable to get a good shot as it is surrounded by buildings on all sides and the streets are very narrow. Once past the tower we arrived at one of the two castles along the coast of Cadiz; Castillo de Santa Catalina where we went inside and had a look around, it offered some nice views along the coast of Cadiz, with some interesting bits of information about it's history. The castle also displayed a model boat exposition with lots of famous boats throughout history including Cutty Sark, Titanic, HMS Victory and Mary-Rose.

View of the bay from Castillo de Santa Catalina

After the visit of this castle we paid a visit to the other castle in Cadiz; Castillo de San Sebastian, which is located at the end of a natural pier that stretches out into the Atlantic Ocean. There was not a lot to see at this castle as only the outer walls were still partially intact, but it did have some really nice views of the Atlantic and the city.

Carmen overlooking the Atlantic by Castillo de San Sebastian

Our last stop in Cadiz was Plaza Espana, the square where the Monument of the Constitution of 1812 is located. After visiting this we made our way to the bus station to catch the bus to Canos de Meca to meet with a couple of friends and their faithful travel companion Gustav, who we met in Morocco.

Monument of the Constitution of 1812