The Drive to Gibraltar

Words alone can't describe the beauty of the countryside as we drove from Sevilla to Gibraltar..and pictures don't do the trip justice either. But, they'll have to do, as it's not possible to have everyone in our little car. The countryside starts out as rolling hills filled with beautiful wild flowers, lovely stands of trees and beautiful old farm steads. It's spring in this part of the world, and the wildflowers are in bloom. Some of the fields will just knock your eyes out.

About an hour outside of Sevilla, we came across this old Moorish castle called Castillo de las Aguzaderas. It was erected by the Moors along the frontier of the then kingdom of Granada, and protected a spring which was the most important source of water in the area. It appears to have been erected on a foundation dating back to Roman times, as the stone used for the foundation is much larger than the type the Moors used, which was typical of Romans (who built things to last forever, as opposed to the Muslims, who believed that only Allah will last forever).

Kat and Ellie (and Chris and me too!) had an absolute blast climbing the walls and imagining what it would be like to live there or to defend the fortress. The walls are really high. The keep is very secure, and has an internal stairway all the way to the top of battlement. Ellie climbed all the way, and you can see her in one of the pictures standing between two of the ramparts. Outside you can still find some of the cactus plants that protected parts of the walls..you wouldn't want to try to get through that! There are rooms along the walls where a sentry could shelter while standing guard, and the kitchen area was fairly large. Not sure what they did with their waste, but if you stored some food, and had an internal supply of water, you could hold this area for a long time. Hope you enjoy the slide show!

After we left the castle we drove on through some mountainous country that we weren't expecting. It was very beautiful. Reminded me a little of the drive along Highway One on the Pacific coast for turns and twists, but of course there was not ocean on one side, just beautiful mountains. We stopped for lunch in a town called Ronda. Ronda has some cave drawings that date back to the Neolithic Age. The most notable structure is the "new bridge" which was constructed in the 1700's and spans a gorge measuring over 100 meters deep. Ronda is also the birthplace of the modern bullfight and has an historic arena that has seen many famous matadors perform. It has been occupied by Celts, Visigoths, Muslims, Romans, and by Napoleon, among a host of others. The scenery around the city is breathtaking. I hope you enjoy the slide show!