Andalucia's White Hill Towns

Today we booked a small group tour that was to pick us up at 08:00 and drop us off at 19:00.  So it was going to be a long day.  Miguel, our guide, was waiting for us in front of our building at 08:00 but he was alone.  The driver was sick on his way over to our place and was sent home.  Miguel told us to go and have a coffee for 15 minutes as he had ordered a car and he was going to do the guiding and driving.  Miguel also mentioned we were the only two on the tour.  Fantastic, we are now getting a private tour with our own driver and guide.  The weather was still cold and overcast but no rain was forecast.  It was an amazing day as Miguel was an excellent guide and because we were by ourselves, we were able to look around at our own pace.

Andalucia's Pueblos Blancos (White Villages) are perched along the Sierra Nevadas mountain range and are distinguished by their simple whitewashed houses influenced by the Berber architecture of North Africa, the Moor's native land.

 View of our first village Zahara de la Sierra sitting between a turquoise lake and a Moorish Castle.

 Start of the steep 15 minute climb up to the Moorish castle from the village center

  The spectacular view from the top of the castle  

Grazalema is also a very pretty hill town located in a high valley, over 800 m (2,625 ft), in the Sierra de Grazalema National Park which is famous for being the rainiest place in Spain

Looking across the valley at the whitewashed town of Grazalema 

The town looks spotless with its white buildings and cobble stoned lanes.  As mentioned previously, the narrow streets and whitewash reflects heat and a chemical in the lime paint repels bugs

The central square has a bronze statue of the "running of the bull", which takes place in mid July during the annual fiesta of Carmen.  The Toro de Cuerda (Bull on a Rope) basically means a bull is let loose to run the street with a man holding a rope tied to the horns of the bull to keep it from goring people running in front of it.  It is one of the oldest events in the town.


Our last stop was Ronda and it was the most spectacular of the White Hill Towns that we visited. The town straddles a massive gorge spanned by an amazing bridge. Ronda has a long history but what we see in old town mostly dates from the Moors (11th to 15th centuries) and new town was built after the 1485 Christian conquest.

 Looking across El Tojo, the 360 ft (110 m) deep  and 200 ft (61 m) wide gorge, at 15th century new town and what seem like buildings just barely clinging to the edge of the cliffs 

The Puente Nuevo (new bridge) was built from 1751 to 1793 after the original bridge, which was built in 1735, fell into the gorge after six years

Ronda is also the birthplace of modern bullfighting.  Rules and the introduction of the red cape were introduced here in the early 1700's.  This was the first great Spanish Bullring built in 1785

This was an amazing day.  If you are ever in this part of Spain you have to at least spend a day touring these incredible White Hill Towns.  Better still, take a couple of days to really explore and appreciate the beauty, culture and history of these wonderful places.