Visit to Bobastro

THURSDAY 1st July.


Today we decided to explore an archaeological site about two hours drive from Alhama. The drive was pleasant and Sofia did a good job in getting us there without too much hassle.

First stop was Ardales (pronounced Arr-da-les). We were impressed by the green lawn and gardens at the entrance to the village as well as the tourist information/cultural complex close to where we parked. The museum looked interesting but we were more interested in finding something to eat and learning how to get to Bobastro which according to the Lonely Planet Guide to Andalucia has the remains of a 9th century fortress set up by a kind of Andalucian Robin Hood.
We were advised by an enthusiastic guide at the information centre that if we walked up into the square we would find lots of restaurants. He also gave us a brochure about the site and said that it would be open and easy to get to.


We found a nice looking place where we thought we could have lunch, but what we thought was the restaurant turned out to be the town hall! The restaurant was off to one side – we could not see any signage as to its name, but followed the waitress through a bar, down a long corridor into a very large air conditioned restaurant. She subsequently told us that it is called the Juan Vera Restaurant. All round the walls were photos of the various sites and they all looked interesting. The town is obviously trying to build up its economy using tourism. From the little we saw it has a lot of potential and the town looked very prosperous.

We decided on the menu del dia and at her recommendation chose the soup of pumpkin, potatoes and meat. It was truly delicious and came in its own tureen. (Brian thought that very economical because it meant that they did not have to throw it away if we hadn’t eaten it all). We followed that with salted cod and coffee and then headed off to find Bobastro.

We did find it but when we got to the entrance, the guide waved us through, so we continued to drive up the mountain where we came to a dead end but with a fantastic view of Garganta del Chorro (the El Chorro Gorge). As it is only about 50 kms from Malaga, it is a popular drive into the hinterland but it is also more famous for its rock climbing. According to the guide book, the gorge is “about 4km long, as much as 400 metres deep and sometimes just 10 km wide”. Its sheer walls and rock faces are what attract climbers in Andalucia. (Not for the Smiths though!)

When we got to the dead end, we had a fantastic view and realised that we had come further than we needed to. We stopped to talk to some people who were also at the lookout. They were from Robe in South Australia – didn’t know Mike Gibson, but asked if we knew Peter and Leslie from Pomona! Took me a while to realise that we do know them, but by then the Robe ites had moved on. We asked them if they had been to Arr-da-les, but realised afterwards that we should have asked them if they had been to Ardales!


We turned around and went back to the stall where we had been waved through and discovered that the entrance to the site we wanted was on the opposite side of the road and was not visible from the road.


Paid the 3 Euro entrance fee and the Gatekeeper unlocked the gate and let us into the site. It is a very interesting one. According to the labels, Omar Ibn Hafsun got into trouble as a young man when he was in the army in Cordoba and in order to avoid being sent to jail fled to his uncle’s home in Morocco. He came back to Spain and converted to Christianity (thus becoming a Mozarab) and built the Iglesia Mozarabe around the large boulders on the site. The Church became the focus of a small town and at times it became the centre for the protection of Christian refugees fleeing the control of the Moslem controlled Cordoba, which ruled most of the settlements in Western Andalucia. Hafsun was recaptured at one stage and taken back into the Army in Cordoba where he was promoted, but he rebelled again and returned to Bobastro which is where he died. (This really appealed to Brian!)

Omar Hafsun was buried in the crypt of the Church at Bobastro but when Bobastro was finally conquered by Cordoba in 927, his remains were taken away for posthumous crucifixion outside Cordoba’s mesquite (mosque).

The site is on sloping ground and would have been a fantastic fortress because the views from it are spectacular. The labels are very clear and give a very good interpretation of the site, so we were really pleased that we went to see it. Brian thinks that it is probably even more significant than the Alhambra! I’m not sure that I agree, but I did find it very interesting.

Andrea's Visit

23rd June to 27th June

Andrea has been holidaying in Italy since April. She lives in Brisbane and we hardly ever see each other, but she was delighted when she heard that we would be close to Granada at the same time as she was in Italy and had enough room to put her up for a few nights. Ever since she saw a program about the Alhambra she has wanted to visit it so she arranged her timetable to suit us and booked the highlight for us all to go to see the Alhambra on her way back to Italy.

Having deposited Ian and Diane at the airport on Wednesday 23rd June, we picked Andrea up from there later the same day.

While Ian and Diane were here we began to wonder what was going on with the arrival of large trucks which began unloading strange looking shapes etc into the main square. Posters started appearing around town and a program entitled Fiestas de Alhama de Granada 24th to 27th June arrived at the front door. Having seen all the preparation it was unfortunate that Ian and Diane missed the start of the fair, but Andrea was here for most of it.

It was a bit like King of the Mountain meets the Noosa show with all the usual attractions. Motor cycle exhibitions, jumping castles and slippery dips, side show alley rides, stalls selling the usual sunglasses, leather goods, toys and the trilby hats which are all the rage here.









On the first day there were bike races for the school kids and a concert for the senior citizens.

There was a disco every night in what was called the Caseta Juventud which was held in the patio of the town hall. We called it the ‘blue light disco’ not only for the Aussie connection but because it was lit with blue lights and the local police were nearby.

The Sports Union took over one of the few car parks in town, so everyone had to find different parking spots – including us – and on Saturday night it was packed with football fans watching the Spain versus Chile match. Needless to say there was much excitement when Spain won.

There were lots of fast food outlets, and on the first night there was a band playing dance music which attracted a number of couples that looked as though their ages ranged from 50 to 80. Andrea was concerned that there were tables at that end that hardly had any takers by the time we were heading home, but we told her that we were leaving just as most of the locals were heading out. Hardly anything started before 10.00 pm and nearly everything ran late. On Sunday night (after Andrea was no longer in Alhama) the grand finale took place and there was not a spare seat anywhere near the stage.

We think that the performers were the 2009 winners of Spanish Idol who were appearing with an obviously well known Spanish professional called Marisol Delgado. We waited until the show started, but the sound system was not the best, and as we could not understand what she was saying or singing, we headed off to Bar El Tigre for a nightcap around 11.00pm. Antonio the owner of Bar El Tigre invited Andrea and me in for a sherry and it was on his TV that we saw Kevin and Julia.  The first bit of Aussie news in Espana!  Therese had sent a text telling us about it, so of course we began to follow it on the internet. 


As well as all the Fiesta activities we took Andrea through the Gorge to El Ventorro for lunch one day and while we ate out most of the time, she and I went shopping on Saturday morning and bought the shoulder quarter of a lamb which we cooked and ate at home before going to a concert in the Church. It was advertised as a choir of 13 tenors and baritones and it was being held on the smaller of the two main churches in town. It was advertised to start at 8.30 pm so we showed up then, but found that we had to sit through Mass before the concert began. The choir did sing throughout the Mass and Andrea and Brian were very patient. They sat through it and Brian says that because he spoke Spanish so clearly, he would like to have the Priest as his Spanish teacher!

On Sunday morning we headed off again for Granada and the Alhambra. Andrea had booked us into the Nasrid Palace between 9.30 and 10.00 am, and having learned that the optimal route was too windy and sunny when we took Ian and Diane there, we had a very good trip via the Autovia. It was slightly longer but far less stressful.

After about six hours we were Alhambrad out, so took Andrea to her hotel which was very nice. It is in the same chain of hotels that we stayed at in Madrid, but the sink in Andrea’s room was an opaque perspex whereas the one in Madrid was clear perspex – I really liked the clear one, but don’t know if I would buy one. Maybe just a bit too radical for conservative me.

After some very nice ice-cream in one of the main squares in Granada we left Andrea and headed back up to the car park and then back to Alhama.


Andrea had been to Barcelona before coming here and her enthusiasm about it reignited our interest as well. We had talked about going there but once we got settled in Alhama shelved the idea because it seemed such a long way to drive especially there and back. So Brian started looking at the internet. He has booked us to fly on Vueling the equivalent of Jetstar on Friday afternoon and return on Tuesday afternoon. He has also booked us into an apartment in the old town of Barcelona so we are both looking forward to a ‘short break’ as they say in England.


It is hard to believe that we are now more than half way through the trip. The time is going so quickly we’ve hardly had time to relax!

We have decided to visit Cordoba on our way back to Madrid and to spend one night in Aranjuez where the King has his summer palace – before we hit the big smoke for one more night before getting on the plane back to Seoul and then Brisbane where we arrive on 22nd July.