Andalucia

Andalucia is the southern province of Spainand our little town of Antequera is known as 'the cross roads' of Andalucia, because it is very central and connects Malaga, Granada,Cordoba and Sevilla.
A rocky hill standing alone to the east of the motorway towards Malaga. The name comes from a local hero about an impossible love affair between a young Christian man from Antequera and a beautiful Moorish girl from nearby Archidona, who were driven to the top of the cliff by the Moorish soldiers. Rather than break up their love, they chose to hurl into the abyss.

To see more of the area around Antequera and the province of Andalucia we hired a car for a few days and planned to visit El Campo (the countryside), Granada and friends of ours who have a cottage in the mountains between Malaga and Granada.  We also wanted to see the famous El Torcal which is just outside of Antequera about 1/2 hour by car into the mountains.

We were fetched in Archez by their 4x4 

Hiding for the rain!

In the early morning going out the door looking outside...our plans were slowly sinking in the wet soil, because it was RAINING!! AAh! What a pity!!  We had to change our plans a little and skip our visit to Granada. We did go to our friends, Rob, Mariette, Pablo and Oscar who stayed beautifully hidden in the mountains. Their cottage was very cozy and around them grew many olive trees, almond trees, grapes and lemon trees. We had a South African braai in between the rain showers and had fun playing with their kids.

Andalucia and Spain is not only known for the traditional bullfight but also the Flamenco dance and songs are typical for here.
After we came back home from the mountains, we were lucky to visit a local Flamenco evening in Antequera. Knowing my passion for dancing (like the Tango in Argentina), I had to go and see this beautiful local Spanish dance with mom. We both loved it!!!
It comes from Arabic and Gypsy influence. The singing is done with only a guitar and a voice. They don't have music notes and lyrics, because they make it
 up as they go.
The guitarist  makes up his music and in between the singer sings what comes in his happy or sad mind. For example " My dog....... is alone........at.......home! or ....I... love ..............my ......wife...... It makes it so much fun to hear what they love and hate and what their dogs name is and what they do this weekend, that part is the easiest, but coming to the vocals......... they sing a song in one breath going from high to low. It is very difficult. In between there were Flamenco dancers dancing and the audience was participating by clapping and saying "OLEEY" when the singer held his breath for a long time while he was singing. It was a long and brilliant, amazing night.

The shadow in the background is Africa!

The following morning it was still raining and we went south to the sun! We drove to Tarifa from where you could see the African continent. "Hello Africa"!!!!!!

Tarifa is the southern most point in Europe. The strait of Gibraltar is dividing Europe from Africa. From Tarifa you can see Morocco on the other side. We wanted to take the ferry, 45 minutes to Morocco, but it was quit expensive and it was very windy. Instead of being sea-sick for 220 Euros you can better go to a theme park and get sick there.

Tarifa is famous for kite surfing

My Rip Curl watch! Fixed!!!!!

The real and most important reason why we went to Tarifa (again) was to pick up my..... my.... WATCH!!!! yaaay!!!!!!. Finally after a lot of troubles and visits to Rip Curl shops to have it fixed, they finally changed the batteries. Although the girl in the shop was nice and friendly I still think that "Rip Off"... sorry. ...ughh.. Rip Curl does not have their service organised. The office in London was far out of the city, in France they wouldn't help because we were too short in France. Barcelona was the place to change the battery, but after protesting 3 hours in the shop they refused to help and the manager didn't want to talk to us. So, the last solution was Tarifa!!!!!!!!! 2 hours drive from Malaga.  Anyway, we made it into a nice day. saw the many kite surfers and enjoyed the views over the beach.

We found also another reason why we feel at home here in Antequera. Only 1/2 hour drive into the mountains is a very well known mountain of rocks called "El Torcal". We drove to the information center and it was almost like the Table Mountain. A beautiful park of stone and plants and small animals was completely covered in the clouds. It was very cold up there and because of the clouds and the mist you could not see very far. So we will come back here when the sky is blue and the clouds are gone.

El Torcal de Antequera

THANX - MUCHO GRACIAS!


LOUISA (Happy Halloween!)