Tour de Andalucia II: Comares & Herradura

Kasper had (as usual) no problem with getting to sleep whereas I had a few hours in our rather unusual accommodation before I fell asleep. The backdrop of singing zikades and view to multiple shooting stars on the Andalucian sky above was wonderful though, and we woke up the next morning around 9 o’clock ready for a new day. With rumbling tummies, we set direction for the little village of

The landscapes in the areas are stunning. Mountains and valleys covered in millions of olive trees. The landscape is very dry and colours are restricted to various shades of brown and dark green . It is breathtaking in its own special way and you can’t help wondering how such a dry climate can produce as rich a product as the olives and their oil. Occasionally the dry hills are supplemented with a dried-up riverbed, but it still delivers enough water for big plantations of dark-green citrus trees and avocado-trees. So very different from any other landscape I have travelled through…

Saturday, the plan was to head north and find a B&B, which we had a phone number for. The winding roads of southern Spain and maybe the rather insufficient map lead us on another direction, though, and were far closer to the coast than the inland when we finally found a main road. It became apparent that plans are only there to be changed and we decided to head for the coast and a few hours on a soothing beach. We drove all the way from Malaga to Herradura though very touristy sites on the coast. Took a short break at a local market with knick-knacks and bought a few souvenirs. Kasper also managed to buy a whole kilo of apples for one euro. A bargain even though most of the apples were pretty scrappy. After a good walk around town, we found a little pension in Herradura and checked in late afternoon just in time for a much-needed siesta. We decided for an early dinner by Spanish standards and were lucky to get a table in the first row on a restaurant on the beach. Here we enjoyed our traditional Spanish dishes of garlic prawns in oil, gazpacho and a great paella, while the sun set behind the mountains and the beach around us got dark. Oh well – must admit I became a rather big fan of the Tinto de Verano (red wine with ice and lemon soda) and cerveza con limón (beer with lemonade) so maybe we had just a few of those too…