Spanish Adventures, Days 3-6. Seville

Sadly or time in Antequera had come to an end, but we were looking forward to moving onto Seville to spend the weekend with Beth and Alejandro, while Peter and Linda were continuing their holiday in Ayamonte, close to the Portuguese border.  As Peter and Linda were going past Seville they offered to drop us off at Beth's.  The journey on the quiet motorway was a pleasure and the weather excellent.  We all remarked on the vast areas covered with olives; Spain is still the world's largest producer of olives and olive oil.  We also were pleased to spot black kites and storks on the journey.

We had a very pleasant stay with Beth and Alejandro, enjoying pottering around the old city, revisiting the cathedral and climbing to the top of the Giralda again as well as a first visit to the 15th century palace of Las Dueñas.

Monday was finally our day for leaving Spain and so we caught an early train to Malaga where we had time to visit the excellent Picasso Museum and explore the market before catching our flight home.

Spanish Adentures. Day 2, El Torcal de Antequera.

Breakfast was early again, after which we took some local early morning photos.  Looking out from the hotel we had excellent views of the 880m high rock of La Peña de los Enamorados or 'Lovers' Rock or 'Lover's Leap'.  The name comes from a local legend.

Our second day was spent walking in the otherworldly karst limestone scenery of El Torcal de Antequra.  This area is known for its unusual rock formations and is only 30km from Malaga, just above Antequera and the village of Villanueve de la Conceptión.  Within the park's small 17 square km are some of the most beautiful and impressive limestone landscapes in Europe.  Although a sunny day as we drove higher into the mountains the reading on the car's thermometer dropped until at nearly 4000 feet it was only 1 degree C and there was a frost.  Undeterred we donned full winter gear and set off on the longest of the tree walks.

Wildlife highlights for the day included more orchids: giant and southern early purple, parakeets in the date palms in Antequera, stately asphodel in flower, wild peonies, cork oaks and best of all my first sighting of an ibex.

Another fabulous day.