Spain...Still Great!

Cehegin
Hello, Vanessa here...After a proper late night in Valencia, we traveled on to Cehegin. The was the first of the small villages we visited. In order to reach the town, we had to travel through what seemed like West Texas-flat then hilly, but dry and hot. Situated on a hilltop, the town's steeple is its dominate feature.

Cehegin was easy enough to get to, but the roads in the town! Very narrow, very windy, but perhaps it being a Sunday, somewhat deserted. After finally reaching the BnB, I settled in for almost entire day. What I didn't mention was how sick I was and how I seemed to feel worse by the minute.

For those that don't know me, I hate being sick. If I can, I will go about my business (in some cases I'll continue exercising). Being sick is the worse thing that can happen to me, but I can be somewhat of a baby, but a nice, sweet, sick baby. I felt horrible for Kevin so I begged him to get out into the town and at least have lunch. Before and after he returned, Kevin took care of me and after about two or so hours, I had an appetite back.

I'm so glad I was able to eat at least a little something. We had, at least up until that point, the best polpo de Gallega. Literally, it means octopus Gallegan style. If you've ever tried octopus before, you know that the texture can be firm, but this is not the case with polpo de Gallega. By far, this was the most tender octopus either of us had ever had. After being steamed, it's drizzled with olive oil followed with a sprinkle of paprika. In addition, we also had the pan con tomate (toasted bread with tomatoes and olive oil) and it was amazing. The ingredients were extremely fresh. Finally, not wanting to overdo it, we shared a fruit platter for dessert. Boring you think? Not when the fruits are fresh!

Benamocarra - Torre del Mar - Malaga


Our drive to Benamocarra was deceptively long. Looking at the map, we didn't think it was too far away from Cehegin, but we didn't count on having to drive through the mountains. Not too treacherous, but we were of course relieved to make it to our destination.
We arrived close to three in the afternoon and it was extremely hot. After finding the Good BnB, the wonderful hosts briefed us about the layout of the area as well as one place that was probably still serving lunch (most of Spain, especially small towns, close between two and three). First of all, this was the best BnB we've ever stayed at (sorry for the pun). Adrian and Janet were nothing short of incredible. In case we've never told you before, our goal is to make Spain our home after the Navy. They shared their story with us as well as offered valuable information. They really seemed happy and that they really loved what they were doing. They, along with their two cats Stevie and Tobey made us feel more than welcome. Oh, and in addition to being fabulous hosts, their home was fabulous as well.

I would have to say that the best gazpacho (at least in my opinion) so far was at the small restaurant nearby. After a late lunch (my appetite was still not 100%), we took the obligatory siesta. Not sure what to do for the evening, Janet and Adrian recommended the nearby beach town of Torre del Mar. It was close by and we were very lucky to find parking as quickly as we did.

Torre del Mar is a great little beach community that was just bit away from the B&B. It has a nice little boardwalk and loads of beach bars (called 'chiringuitos') and other places to eat. The name of the game in this part of Spain is, naturally, seafood. We didn't let up on the seafood the whole time.

The next day we got into Malaga, which was just a 30 minute drive or so to the west. Malaga has a great old part of the city which has lots of cathderals and old architecture. We ended up at a tapas bar (Bar Pimpi) which has remnants of famous folks having eaten there. It was HOT, though, with temps topping the 100's that day.

We had a good little walk around Benamocarra that night after our obligatory nap and really got to liking the place. Dare I say it has shot to the top of the list of places we may want to end up living in the future.

Vejer del la Frontera and Jerez de la Frontera


What an amazing stop this was! First of all, the town we stayed in (and the hotel itself) was incredibly charming and unique. It is a classic hilltop 'white town' (all the buildings are painted white) with some heavy Moorish accents to the architecture and food. If you ever get the chance to stay in La Casa de la Califa, do it. We stayed in a little cave-like room with a great view of the city and the valley below. The restuarant and bar were great, with obvious North African influences to Spanish cuisine. The town was a great little walk around - lots of windy narrow streets, local restaurants and the like. The town was preparing for their annual fiesta on the 15th of August and was in a festive mood. Our hotel was right on the main square (shown above) which was the sight of the festivities which went well on until the morning with music and dancing. At one point, an impromtu band formed of fabulously dressed musicians, who played music through the streets of the town, much to the chagrin of some of the local dogs.

The next day we spent the day in nearby Jerez, which is the capital of worldwide sherry production. We went to the Sandeman bodega and took the tour and tasted some sherries and ultiamtely ended up buying some and sending it home. After that a bit more walking around and we spent another great evening back in Vejer.

That's it for now... next post will have the rest of our trip and after we get home, we'l post all of the photos (there are SO MANY more) to our Flickr site. Hope you are all well!