Ronda & Setenil de las Bodegas, Spain

Carry me, caravan, take me away, Take me to Portugal, take me to Spain, Andalucia with fields full of grain I have to see you again and again, Take me, Spanish caravan.. Yes, I know you can.... One of my favourite songs to play on guitar.... Andalucia hills... though are more like mountains .... 

These two special places, among many others in Andalucia is what keeps tourists flocking to this Spanish southern coast area.  Both inland, in the mountains provide spectacular breathtaking excursions when you want a break from the beach.  3000 years old, first inhabited by Phonecians, then Romans, then the Muslim Moors for 800 years and then the Spanish 🇪🇸 conquered. The ancient glorious history and bridges take you back in time, but keep you grounded in the stunning natural cliffs and gorges way way below.  

Believe it or not, this is the New Bridge

And the drive back… two hours of this

Setenil de la Bodegas

So this is a tiny little town with only 3000 inhabitants higher up in the mountains and really unique. Instead of building on the mountain they decided to build into the mountain in the caves and so basically you walk under these massive rocks which have little cafés and shops.

It’s so small that there are two main streets that run on either side of the river with a few bridges. The first is called Cave Road in the Sun and the other side of the bridge is Cave Road in the shade. You can walk 96 steps to get a panoramic view but the nicest places are to just sit underneath the rock at a little café with some churros and chocolate to enjoy this absolutely unique place.

An interesting fact about the name is that when the Muslims held Spain for 800 years after the Romans, the Christians tried to conquer it seven times but failed. It was only on the eighth time that the Spanish reconquered this little place. Setenil in Latin basically means seven times no good or seven times a failure and the remaining part of the name de La bodegas is a attributable to the area, where they farm wine and olives and which is what makes the drive there and back so beautiful through kilometres and kilometres of Olive Farms and citric fruit.  The village is inhabited mostly by retired people because obviously high up in the mountain there are not many jobs for young people.