We left Grazalema to begin descending towards the coast, planning to stay in Arcos de la Frontera and Jerez de la Frontera along the way before ending in Cadiz, where we will take a train to Huelva. There, we’ll begin the last part of this trip, ending in Lisbon where we’ll start our air journey back to Boulder!
Kind of unbelievable, but we’re now counting days, calculating daily cycling mileages, arranging flights and booking airport hotels to come home after 21 months living out of a suitcase. Our house sits empty waiting for us. I guess it’s time to go home for a while.
But, before that, we have 3 weeks of enjoying where we are and what we are doing. The calculations and plans are done.
The people of southern Spain seem “sunnier” and happier than what we experienced in northern Spain. There are a lot more smiles and warmth in our interactions with people, and we so appreciate it. People have been lovely to us in Andalusia.
We woke to a flawless blue sky in Grazalema and took to our bikes, biding farewell to the sight of the white village of Grazalema sprawled out under the shark tooth mountain above it.
The roads were small and mostly empty all the way to Ubrique. Along the way, we passed by the white villages of Villaluenga del Rosario and Benaocaz before Ubrique. It was a noticably downhill ride today, with over 2,000 feet more descent than ascent. We were sad to leave the mountains of Andalusia behind us. Yes, there were more climbs in the mountains but it was worth it for the views and the sense of adventure of what was over the next hill.
The descents were pretty thrilling, winding down steep hillsides and allowing us views of the valleys below.
We stopped along the way to say hello to some piggies who asked us what we brought to eat for them. Sadly, we had not brought anything!
We stopped in Ubrique, where we might have stayed if not in Grazalema, which ended being a really good decision. Ubrique is nestled down in a valley, unusual for a white village which we normally saw up on hilltops. It seemed to be a nice place, but didn’t have the sparkle of other places we’ve visited.
There are not that many roads in this part of Andalusia, and so we were on quite busy highways for most of the day after we left Ubrique. Seeing Arcos appear before us was amazing…it’s a dramatic hilltop town with 2 tall church spires poking into the sky above the town. The river Guadalete has cut steep cliffs around the town, and we had to push our bikes up super steep cobbled roads to get to our lodging at the very top, just between the churches.
Arriving sweaty and tired of pushing, our wise host offered us cold beer and then showed us to our room and the patio view.
And so, a shower (and a bottle of white wine from the village) later, we took a short walk through the village and then had a excellent dinner at the restaurant our hosts recommended.
Arcos gets an A+! It’s a town that we both fell in love with as we walked around. It’s just lovely, and the people seem quite proud of their town and happy that we are there to appreciate it. It’s dramatic and in some ways cozy at the same time, with the slightly worn golden stone buildings and narrow cobbled streets. Definitely a place to visit if you are here.
And there are a lot of Brits here! Our host is from Wiltshire and his lovely wife from Spain. We heard a lot of British English as we walked through town and at the restaurant.
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