This month we made our first trip to this southern part of Spain, staying for a week at the ‘Coso Viejo’ hotel, in the small inland town of Antequera. It was a great choice and became our base for our ‘sight-seeing’ tours by coach to the surrounding area. Antequera itself is a most attractive and picturesque little town and we were very happy spending a couple of days exploring its many attractions.
Our guide told us that the first three months of this year had been unusually wet, so we gained from that, by the profusion of wild flowers, and lush green fields that could be seen everywhere we travelled.
Visits to the magnificent La Alhambra in Granada, the huge mosque turned cathedral in Cordoba, and the Royal Alcazar in Seville demonstrated something of the artistic and architectural beauty and skills of past generations, but they were busy places! In contrast, we also enjoyed the quietness of the National Park, the castle grounds, and winding back streets and viewing the never-ending olive tree plantations in and around Antequera.
There were a huge number of churches in the town of Antequera, mostly Catholic churches, but also a good number of Evangelical Churches as well. During our visit the Catholic Church was celebrating a special ‘pilgrimage’ weekend, and it was interesting to see the large crowds of people of all ages that this attracted, both in Granada and in Antequera.
A few other things we noticed as we travelled: there was almost no litter to be seen; the roads were in superb condition; the pavements were a work of art; and public toilets well maintained. Well-done Andalusia!
If you are past the beach type holiday, we would certainly recommend a visit to Andalusia.
If you are interested you can see a video of our trip here:
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