Between the Atlantic coast to the west and the Ronda Mountains to
the east are a cluster of some of Andalucía's most beautiful
mountain villages.
These are known to the Spanish as, simply, "Los
Pueblos Blancos", the white villages. Every year, once the spring
rains have passed, their houses are meticulously whitewashed to a
state of pristine splendour and the white provides a dazzling contrast
to the brightly coloured flowers which fill the streets and the ochres
of their rocky mountain perches. This annual white-washing is almost
a pagan act, ushering in the season of growth and fertility and saying
‘hasta la vista' to the winter.
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Many of these villages were founded by Berber tribes who settled
the area during the eight centuries of Moorish presence. They were
hill farmers and the land that they settled in Andalucía
was similar to that which they had left behind in North Africa.
Because of the constant threat of attack - the Reconquest was bound
to come sooner or later - they chose sites which were high and easy
to defend. So, one thing that you are guaranteed in any of these
villages is a spectacular, lofty location with wonderful views.
As was the case in other parts of Andalucía, there was a
great rural exodus from these remote villages. But thanks to a vastly
improved economy and the advent of rural tourism there is now new
life and vibrancy in the Sierras. New hotels and restaurants have
opened, mountain paths have been waymarked and the area is being
touted as ‘the new Tuscany'.
There is masses to do if you are looking
for an active holiday: you can walk, ride, learn to paraglide, wind
or kite surf. You can visit Ronda, the sherry bodegas of Jerez,
beautiful Sevilla and the wonderful shimmering white beaches along
Cádiz's Atlantic coast, the "Costa de la Luz".
What
makes the area a double treat is that few concessions have been
made to ‘mainstream' tourism. These are villages that seem to demand
that you slow down a pace or two. After all, one of the most popular
sayings here is ‘how wonderful it is to do nothing and then to rest
afterwards'! Life tends to revolve around the local bar and the
local sell-everything shops. Don't expect people to be in a rush
to serve you but do expect to be treated with the grace and generosity
that so marks the Andalusian character.
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Grazalema
is one of the classic ‘white villages' with its spotless white houses,
cobbled streets and iron balconies. Famous for its little wool factories
which export their blankets around the globe, and also for its microclimate
which gives it the rather dubious distinction of being one of the
wettest villages in Spain (but don't worry, it gets more than 3,000
hours of sunshine each year too), it's as pretty as a postcard and
its setting, in the heart of the Grazalema National Park, is dramatic.
All around are calcareous sierras of jagged peaks, gorges, chasms,
faults and caves, underground rivers and deep canyons. The flora is
enormously diverse, with thick forests of cork oak and Spanish fir
(pinsapo) which is only found in the wild here and in the Ronda Mountains.
In the skies, griffon vultures and golden, booted and short-toed eagles
soar. The forests are the habitat of mountain goat, red deer and wild
boar.
From
Grazalema, a dramatic little mountain road winds and twists its way
up through this terrain, finally descending to Zahara de la Sierra,
another of the white villages of particular charm, crowned by a Moorish
castle on the rocky crest above it, an impregnable fortress in days
gone by. Below the village are the wide, blue waters of the Embalse
de Zahara (it's a reservoir but you would never know), where there
you can swim or just enjoy the beautiful views all around from one
of the little bars which open up in summer on the lake shore.
To
the south and west of the Grazalema National Park the landscape softens
and the low, rolling hillsides form the backdrop for another area
of outstanding beauty, the National Park of Los Alcornocales, one
of the world's largest forests of cork oak, handsome trees indeed,
and home to many rare species of the natural paradise of primeval
Andalucía.
And
so, onwards and westwards, the plains becoming ever more burnished
under the Andaulsian sun, to the impressive site of Arcos de la Frontera,
one of the prettiest towns in Spain, perched high above a precipitous
gorge beside the River Guadalete, looking over mile upon mile of vegetable
gardens, olive fields, vineyards and bull and horse farms. An important
stronghold of the Moors, it is full of history as well as old-world
charm.
The people
of the Province of Cádiz are justly proud of their villages and will
move heaven and earth in order not to miss out on their annual ‘feria',
a week of song, dance and of the two activities the Spanish love more
than any other: eating and drinking. Nobody knows how to party like
the people of Cádiz and should you be lucky enough to coincide with
one of these village festivities - almost a dead cert if you come
in summer - you'll begin to see that, yes, its not just a cliche:
this part of Spain really is ‘different'. |
