Baelo Claudia, Andalucía, Spain and Canary IslandsThe Southern Tip of Spain
On the road again
Today we left on time and built
in some “buffer zone” as we learned in the movie last night: that you should
have it, so you don’t have a problem if you are behind schedule. The weather
forecast brought clouds: so we were pleasantly surprised when we drove in
beautiful sunshine down the road..
Sun at Los Canos de Meca
Our first stop: it is considered
a Hippie Haven and has some gorgeous beaches: first it was a bit difficult as
we needed to find a parking spot which is not that simple: so we did a big loop
with a lot of speed bumps – which Paul considered not needed, as there were no
houses around. Ok so back we decided if others can park at a yellow sidewalk,
then we can do it: we are entering the Oarque nature park along the ocean and
walk over sand towards some steps: which you think should go to the beach
correct??? But after going them down they ended in the middle of the cliff –
back up we continued and see there a new boardwalk and new steps go to the
beautiful sandy beach Playa del Castiello: With all the sunshine out, it was so
gorgeous walking along the sandy beach: finding some little coves, seeing the
cool cliffs, listening and watching the deep blue waves, walking on the wet
soft sand… this is what vacation should be (Gine discovered afterwards that it
is actually a nudist beach – but I think it was too cold to take all the
clothes off)
Interesting roads and views
at Vejer de la Frontera
As we continue on, we first
drive through the nature park, lots of super cool trees, it was like a
sightseeing tour. Once out of the park: google map said to turn right: first
missed – we turned and then Paul said that is not correct: as it was a gravel
road – so we turned again and see there the sign said “Vejer” – Paul said there
must be another road – but there was none – so we continued on for 3 km on the
gravel road - I mean it definitely was
not a boring road: we saw windmills – some funny structure looking like a metal
ufo. Then we had to stop because we were super high up at a kind of a
viewpoint: it was amazing. And then we came to a city with you guesses right:
white houses!! And as we drove through the town we saw an amazing viewpoint –
ok so it was not really parking – but it didn’t say you can’t stop: so we
stopped and enjoyed the view over the Valley – the sunshine and the windmills.
Down more narrow streets – really be careful you don’t push over the ladder.
Then more curvy roads downhill:
until Paul had to stop once more, so we could look up to admire the gorgeous
white city of Vejer. As we headed further south we saw lots and lots of
windmills alongside the road. And looking forward we also saw some grey clouds
(hopefully that is not where we are going).
Ruins at Baello de Claudia
First up the hill and then down
towards the ocean: today we are only doing scenic roads – the view is so
awesome and then we come to Bolonia: here we came to check out the ruins of the
roman town of Baelo Claudia:
- The Romans landed here in an attempt to halt the Carthaganians with whom they battled over the control of the western mediteranean: in 206 BC they won the war against them and became as part of the treaty Ganir (today Cadiz). From then on the Romans were unstoppable and in 19 BC whole Hispania was under Roman control
- It got established in the 2nd century BC and grew with its trade of North Africa – especially Tangier, it was a religious and administrative center of the interior region.
- Baelo had several fish-salting factories
- it was destroyed in a earthquake, when a tsunami devastated most of the city, then the pirates mainly mauritanians and Germans came in – so they abandoned it
What is beautiful about this
spot: is the amazing scenic location: ocean, sand dunes, mountains and ruins –
and let’s not forget as we came the sun came out. Even better it is free!!!
As we walked in: there was a
sign tour – it didn’t make sense to us, as it looked like boring – so we
actually did the tour only we did it in reverse: but then we had the best at
last.
- Aqueduct: that is where we started out, originally it was 5.2 km long (at one time there were three, we saw only a little bit)
- Temple of the Isis: we started out with a cool viewpoint over the temple and the whole ruin area
- Theatre: as they put in seats – you can imagine how it once was, and we said, sometimes it would be nice to time travel and if we could see it how it once was. Once it had space for 2000 people
- The Baths: sometimes I wonder how they know what is what, as it is mainly ruins, but then once you know what it is you may even can see the pool. By the way they only found them in 2013
- All roads lead to Rome – decumanus maximus: we even walked on some of the original roads built by the romans
- Lots of stones: as we walked along, we read markers saying stores – ok there are definetly a lot of stones…
- Fish salting factory: they did a lot of fish processing here, they fished tuna from May to September, and we could see the pools where they salted the fish: its kind of cool to see all those basins
- Forum: which is the plaza and center of the town,. Here was also the “basilica” or the courthouse: here they found the statue of Trajan: who was a roman emperor from 98-117, he was known for the greatest military expansion in Roman history making the roman empire to its maximum. He was actually born close to Sevilla. The original statue is in the museum in Cadiz – but we can see a fake one from him here
- Temple of Isis: its dedicated to the Egyptian goddess Isis, there were originally three more temples here, what we can see today is only the staircase – and how do they know it was dedicated to Isis: they did found two inscriptions on the steps of the temple
It was super interesting and a lot of fun to
be here. Back via the windy road and towards the southern tip of Spain:
Wind in Tarifa
We saw some dark clouds – and
then we drove into Tarifa, and we found a parking spot:
- Tarifa is at the southern tip of Spain where the Mediterranean and the Atlantic meet
- It is the last stop before Marocco: yes we saw the sign for the ferry
- It got its name from Rarif ibn Malik who led a Muslim raid in 710 AD the year before the Islamic invasion of the peninsula
Ok, the original plan was to
walk to the little island and the southernmost point of Europe: reality was as
soon as we hit the walk way the wind nearly blew us away – I mean that was the
most wind we encountered. We did heard the splashing of the Mediterranean waves
on the one side and the waves from the Atlantic on the other side – halfway
over we decided to turn around. But we did could see the African coast in the
far distance.
WWII bunkers in Tarifa
As we are in a one-way loop, we
drove on and then saw some parking partly on sand and decided to stop and watch
the kite surfers jumping those waves. This was quite a bit of fun and we found
a wind-free spot!!! As we decided to head back we realized that we parked right
underneath some bunkers from WWII – and then Paul found another one, so we
headed over to the first one and checked it out and then we walked up to get a
nice view and closer look at the other onces. Now this was super cool.
How many stores do we need to
visit???
We saw the El jambon supermarket
sign, so we decided to go and get some buns, since we yesterday had the world
best buns from that store – and they also had some fresh cold cuts – mmhh
supper is set!
Paul wanted more of his
favourite cookies from Lidl: Lidl #1 didn’t had them, so we went into Lidl #2
which didn’t had it either – as Aldi was right next door so we went in there
and couldn’t believe it: the shelves were literally empty: no fruits and
veggies at all, the whole refrigerated section was empty (guess no yoghurt for
Gine tonight) – but they did had some chocolate.
Our last stretch towards La
Alcaidesa we went up fairly high and literally drove into the clouds before
heading in grey clouds towards the ocean. As well we discovered that in Europe
they like lots and lots of signs along the roads – sometimes so many, that it
is difficult to see them all.
Rain in La Alcaidesa
Now this is really a special
town – as most of the time we visit historic old cities this is certainly not
one of them:
- It is known as urbanization in Spain and it is a gated community – yes that is correct, there was a gate when we drove in
- The access is via a palm lined avenue – really classy
- The construction started in the 1990s, mostly today is owned by Banco Santandor a Spanish financial service company
We are in the hotel Apartamentos
Vista Real – a cute yellow building with a pool, we are also not that far from
the beach: but as it is very windy and raining: we decided the look out of our
balcony is all we do for the rest of the day: but then it was 5 pm when we
arrived for our late afternoon coffee.
2025-05-22