A trip to 'El Torcal'

Last September, I was attending to a photography exposition when I saw for first time pictures of 'El Torcal'. I asked the presenter about such beautiful and original landscape depicted in his snapshots. He replied me that he could not believe that I did not know anything about it. He explained that it was a natural park very close to Antequera (Málaga).

Hence, I found a perfect excuse to travel again. I delayed my trip a few months. Finally, last February I found time to arrange it with my girlfriend. We booked a hotel in Antequera that can be reached from El Torcal in 20 minutes by car.

I drove directly to the park from Sevilla. The trip was pleasant. When we were reaching Antequera, I noticed how the altitude was increasing. The temperature was only 4 degrees on top that day. We were a bit scared because we were not taking gloves and proper equipment with us. Finally, we reached our destination. A bus took us to the El Torcal visitor center on the top of a mountain. The views were amazing.

After getting a map with the possible paths that we could follow in the park, we started trekking. The landscape is very peculiar there. It is the result of a marine region that emerged above the many years ago. During this time, it has been modeled by the erosion of the rain, and the wind, resulting in a very peculiar rocky landscape.  There are two main routes that you can follow within the park. One takes only 30 minutes. And the other one, it takes about two hours. We took the second one.

Although that at the beginning the weather conditions were not good, and we thought about coming back, the temperature increased at noon. We started then feeling better and optimistic to complete our route. We took multiple pictures on our way. We also made a picnic. Finally, we arrived again to the visitor centre three hours later.

We had coffee there and we headed to Antequera. The city itself it is really beautiful and it deserves to be visit. There is a castle, a few dolmens, and nice places to eat out. I have to say that it was a nice surprise. We spent one night there.

The next day in our way back to Seville, we visited Osuna. I can recommend going to this city too. It has nice monasteries and a beautiful castle. From the top of the castle, we could enjoy the stunning views of the countryside. Finally, we reached Seville in the afternoon. Definitely it is a trip that I can recommend and it is easy to organize is your depart from Seville.

Trip to Yosemite and San Francisco

After a long period overwhelmed by a new research project and a course to improve my teaching skills, I have found time to update my blog again. This time, if my followers (there are four so far) let me do it, I would like to report a trip far away from Andalusia; a trip to California.

A few months ago I was invited to attend to a conference in San Francisco. I had a busy agenda and it was difficult to find time the do sightseeing. However, I was particulary lucky because my fligth from Madrid was arraving in SF on Saturday evening and the event was starting on Monday morning. I had a whole free day to enjoy the city.

After sufirng the net to find things to do in San Francisco, I found out that Yosemite National park was not too far away from the city. You know that I have a natural fascination for nature, water, and wild environments. I search for day-trips to the park from SF and I booked one without thinking too much about the arrangements.

I started my trip on Sunday morning. The flights last too long. I arrived in San Francisco at 23pm (local time). I took a taxi and I went to my hotel. After that, I checked my ticket to Yosemite Park. I had to take a bus from the wharf at 6am. At that point, I regret of my decision because I was too exhausted to start another trip. I set my alarm clock at 5am and went to bed. A few hours later, I got up and I took a taxi to the place where my bus was departing.

I found a lot of young people waiting for the bus in the spot. Almost all of them were Europeans and Asians. This does not surprise me because Americans are not very fond of public transportation. They love driving. The bus arrived a bit late, and I have the opportunity of taking some pictures along the wharf. I could even see Alcatraz island and some seals from the pier.

I started my trip to Yosemite. The bus driver told us that he would drive four hours before reaching our destination. Definitely the concept of distances in USA is different than in Europe. I was a bit scared because I was really tired and I cannot sleep when I travel by bus. During my way to the park, we crossed the state from West to East. I was surprised because California is pretty similar to Andalusia. Hence, I am allow to report this trip in my blog :P. In the central region, I could see plenty of fruit trees; mainly almond trees. I also crossed some vineyards fields.

Finally, at 1pm we reached Yosemite Park. I had to come back at 4pm. It was impossible to see all the park in three hours, so I selected the spots that were closer to the bus stop. I have to say that I really liked it. I could see an impressive waterfall and giant sequoias. It was winter, and I could find some snow there. Maybe, the main difference between this park and the ones that I have visited in Europe was that a bus line was taking the visitors to the different places inside the park. Again, I think that Americans do not like walking.

After enjoying the visit, I started my ride back to San Francisco. I was totally wasted and I got asleep. I waked up when we were reaching our destination. It was dark, and I guess that I did not miss anything interesting during my trip back. Honestly, I think that it was an experince that I will never forget. However, I have to admit that I was expecting more. Maybe, I had an idealised view of California and the States. I have to say that I have visited more beautiful parks here in Andalusia. 

A refreshing trip through the mountains

I am just back from a two-day trip in Madrid. After this experience, I have realized that I really prefer traveling around the countryside, being in touch with the environment, to visiting overcrowded places. Specially now, when the Christmas time is approaching, and everybody decides to go shopping simultaneously.

The second blog entry corresponds to a trip that I took last summer. We spent a few days in Sierra Grazalema in Cadiz. We arrived in Grazalema in early August. This year the weather was specially hot by that time. Although we were in the mountains above 1,000 meters over the sea level, the temperature was quite warm to do outdoors activities. Our initial idea was to go trekking through the mountains. After talking to the hotel receptionist, she recommended us changing our plans. She suggested taking a trip from El Bosque to Benamahoma following the course of a river. The river was in a valley between two mountains. The path that we had to follow along the riverside was almost fully covered by vegetation and trees during all the course. Thus, it was a good plan for that torrid day.

We started our trip about 6pm. The path was fully covered by trees and vegetation as promised. It was pleasant to walk following the river. Although that it was difficult for us to reach the starting point, we found there plenty of tourists. Some of them were French. I do always wonder how foreigners manage to get to such places or who recommended them to go trekking there. 

Once we started our trip, we found plenty of small waterfalls in the river. It was still hot, so I did not want to miss the opportunity of taking a bath. The bottom of the river was covered by stones with mug. We decided to not remove our shoes to avoid having problems with the stones and our feet. After selecting a nice waterfall to swim around, I jumped in the water. It was really cold, but refreshing. I managed to swim against the current flow and reach the exact point where the waterfall water was falling into the river. I have never gone to a spa before. However, I think that our experience should be something similar or even better. The waterfall has two meters high. Although It does not sound spectacular, the water pressure on my body was high. After a few minutes being there, it started to hurt my skin.

During our trip, we found a lot of people along the river. We swam in different places and we came back about 10pm. It was a very nice experience that I can really recommend. During our way back, we crossed a town that was celebrating its local fair. Despite not wearing suitable clothes for the event, we stopped there to see what was going on. We had the opportunity of trying their local dishes that were delicious and original. I ate wild boar and deer meat.

Finally, we reached our hotel late in the late evening. It was undoubtedly a good starting point for our holidays. Maybe, that unexpected plan was the best activity that we did during the last summer.

Trekking from Matalascañas to Cádiz

The aim of this blog is to tell you fruitful experiences traveling around Andalusia. I hope you can enjoy reading it and, at some point, follow my steps and exchange experiences with me and the blog followers.

The first trip that I am going to report was a long walk though the beaches of the Doñana National Park. As you may know, the Doñana National Park is one of the largest of Europe. It is located between the provinces of Huelva, Sevilla, and Cadiz. It has a huge variety of different landscapes, flora and fauna. Part of the park, is the unexploited beach between Matalascañas and Sanlucar de Barrameda (in Cadiz). It is one of the most beatiful beaches that I have ever seen. It is only accessible on foot or by bike, starting from any of these towns. In the middle, it is surrounded by the Doñana Park that is restricted to visitors.

We started our trip from Matalascañas a bit late; about 4pm in the afternoon. It was summertime and we overlooked the real distance between Matalacañas and Sanlucar (60km, both ways). The tide was low that day. I was perfect for walking. The weather was windy and chilly for that season of the year.
During the few first kilometers we found a lot of fishermen shelters on the beach. They use them to live there during some periods of the year. We also spotted some people swimming and sunbathing far away of the civilitation.

After walking eight kilometers, we decided to stop to see a big tower next to the see. It was used centuries ago to suvey our coast and detect invasors coming from the sea. We took a few photos, we had a snack, and before continuing our trip, we walked a bit up to the North to see the heart of the National Park. At the beginning the landscape was made up of dunes. It was fan to roll down from the their to. Afterwards, the landscape started to change slowly. We found a small forest in between two dunes. We visited it and we found a fox. I did have time to take a picture of it, but we will never forget it. After 30 minutes exploring the park, we came back to the beach and we headed to Sanlucar again.

The views were stunning and we were really enjoying our trip. We took a bath and a lot of pictures. Unfortunately, after 15 kilometers walking one way, the sun started to set, and we decided to come back. I was puzzled about a such decision. I really wanted to complete our trip. However, I have to admit that it was a right decision. In the way back, we started to feel very tired, the weather was colder, and it was difficult to see and enjoy the trip in the dark. Finally, we arrived home at 1:30am in the night. It was a bit crazy adventure, but we do want to repeat it. Next time, we would like to start in the morning, and spend the night in Sanlucar. We will wait for the next Summer.