Reset search
Satellite
Search this area

Spain Río Ardales

Discover travel destinations of travelers writing a travel journal on FindPenguins.
Travelers at this place
  • TravelerSpain 2025 - Malaga province
    11
    Day 61

    Jardín Botánico de Cactus

    May 1 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 70 °F

    Although Casarabonela doesn’t seem like a likely place to have a cactus garden, it actually has the largest collection of cacti and succulents in all of Spain with 11,000 plants. The collection was started by two botanists who lived on the island of Mallorca. In search of a more suitable climate, in 1 995 they moved to Andalucía where it turned out that the slopes of the Sierra Prieta offered the necessary microclimate. We were the only visitors today, so with the attentive resident cat as our guide, we were undisturbed as we pored over the beautiful blooms on many of the cacti.

    On our return, we stumbled across an Arrabal neighborhood we hadn’t seen before, and ended up spending almost an hour poking around the barrio which preserves the layout of the Islamic portion of the town after the Reconquest. We saw 5 of the town’s 35 hornacinas (niches with Christian symbolism) - which we’ve just learned to recognize as the markers between the Christian neighborhoods and the Muslim neighborhoods after the Reconquest. Now, of course, there’s no religious requirement as to the neighborhood where one can reside, but it does appear that a significant number of Muslim families live in this area. We also saw several adarves (lanes with no outlet that give access to the middle of a block) and a tinao (roof over a street that connects buildings), the first time we’ve seen one outside of the Alpujarra region. It was just fascinating to discover these all on our own without a guidebook or signage pointing them out. Casarabonela definitely has had the best preserved historical landscape of any of the villages we’ve stayed in on this trip.

    www.wikiloc.com/walking-trails/casarabonela-jar…    Read more

  • TravelerSpain 2025 - Malaga province
    Day 58

    Power out in all of Spain

    April 28 in Spain ⋅ 🌬 68 °F

    When I started writing this entry 18 hours ago, the original title was “Power out in our village,” but when I walked out to the main plaza to try to get some cell coverage, I overheard snippets of conversation in Spanish saying that the commuter train lines down on the coast by Malaga were out of service. We are used to power outages at home, so this didn’t bother us too much, but we did discuss whether we should head out and stock up on more groceries in case the power outage lasted through tomorrow or even longer. Ned stopped by a hardware store on the way to the grocery store, and the man there told him the power was out in all of Spain, Portugal, parts of southern France, and Andorra!!! That was almost unbelievable news. We spent an hour speculating about what could have caused this; we couldn’t check any news sources because our phones were almost out of power and we felt we needed to save what little we had left for emergencies. When Ned started out again, he barely got up the street before he saw lights on. I quickly wrote up Find Penguins only to have the internet go out before I could hit upload. It will be interesting to find out in the coming days what actually caused the outage.

    Our walk today was along a Roman road that connected to the road we saw in El Burgo last week. We enjoyed every minute of it, oblivious to the power outage back in the village. It was quite windy with gusts up to 44 mph. Maybe the wind was part of the electrical problem…

    www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/casarabonela-roma…    Read more

  • TravelerSpain 2025 - Malaga province
    3211
    Day 57

    Llano Cristóbal

    April 27 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 61 °F

    Given the name of today’s trail, Llano Cristóbal, I’ve been scanning the countryside to the west of town for the last two days, looking for flat areas. Yesterday, from the fiesta plaza, I saw a good candidate: a big flat area down below the village surrounded by dirt tracks that looked like they would be very pleasant to walk on. To my surprise, when we got to the trailhead this morning, it was way up at the top of the village, and it clearly was anything but flat! It climbed steeply up the side of a rocky arroyo. Clearly a lot of trail maintenance had been done as there were stone walls to direct rainwater off to the sides and large boulders placed in patterns that allowed clambering over them.

    The reward at the top was immense - just like the wonderful day from Yunquera when we climbed up to the tree line on La Blanquilla. Here we were almost at the tree line of the Sierra Prieta. We’ve always been seeing it from the other side and rather far away. Today it was right there in front of us, awesome and majestic.

    This was totally unexpected, so I’m hoping in the next four days that we will be able to explore more of this beautiful territory.

    www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/casarabonela-llan…    Read more

  • TravelerSpain 2025 - Malaga province
    312
    Day 56

    Día del Pipeo (without the pipeo)

    April 26 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 63 °F

    We had a fine time at the fiesta in the main plaza today. There was music and dancing. There were booths selling jewelry and empanadas. There was sunshine and crowds. What there wasn’t was pipeo. We could see a long line of large pottery bowls and women in aprons looking like they were ready to serve, but the bowls were empty.

    We walked around and looked at the Arab quarter, saw two churches that were originally mosques, soaked up the flavor of this very Spanish village (we were the only non-Spaniards in sight), and came back to the plaza an hour later, definitely within the time allotted for the afternoon meal in Spain, but still no pipeo. So we came home and had salad and chicken and decided we’ll taste pipeo some other day!    Read more

  • TravelerSpain 2025 - Malaga province
    1111
    Day 55

    Casarabonela

    April 25 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 77 °F

    We are now in Casarabonela, the last of the villages located in the central and north east corner of the Sierra de Las Nieves National Park, When we arrived, we spotted a poster saying they are having their annual pipeo festival tomorrow. According to the village website, pipeo is a local dish made from beans, peas, artichokes, bay leaves, olive oil, potatoes, cumin, garlic, almonds, breadcrumbs, and paprika. We saw them setting up tables, so we’re anticipating tomorrow will be a tasty day.

    Our casa rural here is very compact, but newly renovated and sparkling clean. The walls are quite thick, giving us a cool retreat from the hot temperatures outside. The high today is 80° and tomorrow 82°!    Read more

  • TravelerSpain 2025 - Malaga province
    2
    12
    Day 54

    Ruta los Meguellines

    April 24 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 75 °F

    Today was our last day for walking in El Burgo. We picked out a route that went up Cerro Espartoso toward the Sierra Cabrilla that lies between here and the villages of Ardales and Casarabonela. Sixteen years ago, we headed off on our mountain bikes on this same route, passing the same fields filled to bursting with yellow “desert gold” flowers and red poppies. They are so abundant that you just can’t help but wade into them, thinking it’s impossible to have such an exuberant display growing in the wild, just sitting out there for everyone to enjoy. (In fact, I enjoyed them so much from my bike in 2009 that I forgot to watch where I was going and ended up crashing and breaking my shoulder, so today I was extra careful to watch my step as I enjoyed the show. I’m glad to report I didn’t have a single slip or even a close call.)

    This new national park route was particularly well sign-posted and the information panels were excellent. At a fuente just outside town, a sign pointed out that the stones around the fountain had been worn into the shape of the jugs the women used to bring to fill for household water. Another panel listed the many uses of the esparto grass that grows on Cerro Espartoso: making everything from baskets to mule harnesses. We also saw things we’ve learned to recognize from before such as tiny twigs from other olive trees grafted onto the stump of a newly-cut olive branch. We even spotted a red-striped oil beetle scurrying away into the grass, the first we’ve seen on this trip.

    We knew the temperature for today was predicted to be in the high 70s, so we should have gotten our usual early start, but various tasks took longer than expected, and it was already hot by the time we started out. Ned made good use of his shorts again today! Luckily a stiff breeze came up and kept us comfortable on the return. I can see, though, for the two weeks we have left, we should get started as soon as it is light.

    www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/el-burgo-ruta-los…    Read more

  • TravelerSpain 2025 - Malaga province
    2112
    Day 53

    Puerto de los Lobos

    April 23 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 63 °F

    Everything was beautiful today: the views of Torrecilla from the pass; the weather warm enough for Ned to wear shorts; the fields of flowers we literally waded through; and most of all, the truly magnificent feathers on the turkey we met on the way up to the pass.

    Our route took us into the national park as far as the mountain refuge, La Rejertilla, that we had hoped to stay in on our walk between Yunquera and El Burgo during Semana Santa. That stay never happened because they didn’t answer our phone calls, emails, or WhatsApp messages, but now at least we know what it looks like and what it would take to access it on future trips (easy from El Burgo and difficult from Yunquera).

    We ate our snack of no-salt-added, oven-roasted almonds at the recreation area called La Fuensanta. It is named for the cortijo that used to be there, complete with its own chapel and oil mill. Now you can wander the grounds and imagine what it must have been like to live in this isolated spot.

    Just as we were almost back to El Burgo, we spotted a large ring of keys lying in the middle of the dirt track. There were at least 20 keys on it and clearly someone would be really missing them! A long back-and-forth conversation ensued where we debated what would be the best thing to do. Should we leave them there? Whoever lost them might be back soon, looking for them. But maybe someone unscrupulous would pick them up. Should we take them to the police station? That’s where we would look if we lost our keys, hoping that someone would have turned them in, but is that where someone in Spain would look? Finally, we decided to take them with us and turn them in at the police station. But when we got into El Burgo, there was no police station listed on Google maps. Ned had the good idea of going to the Ayuntamiento and asking there. A very competent-looking woman listened to our story, smiled, and said she would immediately put a notice on the announcement portion of their website, which everyone in the village reads. She assured us that the owner would be reunited with his keys soon. We hope so!

    www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/el-burgo-circular…    Read more

  • TravelerSpain 2025 - Malaga province
    2112
    Day 51

    El Burgo

    April 21 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 68 °F

    El Burgo, where we are now, was actually our inspiration for planning an extended exploration of this area. We’ve been here twice before: the first time coming over the mountain pass at Lifa, riding our mountain bikes on the Ruta TransAndalus from Ronda to El Burgo in 2009; and the second time arriving via the Roman bridge from Carratraca on our 2013 Coast-to-Coast walk from Nerja to Tarifa. Both times, we loved the remoteness of the surrounding mountains, so we were delighted when a few years later, the area was declared a national park, the Sierra de Las Nieves.

    We had plenty of time to explore the town today. There is a beautiful new walk that has been established along the Río Turón using the path of an old acequia that powered a mill at the bottom of the village. When I say old, I mean really old. In fact, it is referenced in paperwork of 1491 as being part of the spoils when the Muslims of El Burgo were defeated by the Christian forces of the Reconquest. Unfortunately, we could see only part of the walkway today because the part that overhangs the river was closed off for repairs.

    That gave us more time to focus on the Roman bridge at the far end of town. Two men were working on repairs there, and we had a nice conversation about what the upkeep on an old bridge like that entails.

    Interestingly, when first building the bridge, the Romans made use of cofferdams (cylinders inside which workers were protected from the river water). Inside the cofferdams, the workers built the pillars that would support the arch of the bridge. (This same technique was still being used more than a thousand years later to build the Brooklyn Bridge.)

    This bridge connected the area with the Vía Augusta and can still be used to cross the Turón River to reach Malaga. In fact, we will cross it just as the Roman Army, patricians, plebeians, and slaves did thousands of years ago to reach the rest of Baetica (Andalusia).

    As I write this, I can hear the church bells ringing 8 pm in the tower at the end of our block. This church was built to accommodate the elderly who found it hard to climb to the church at the top of town. We are wondering if the bells will be ringing every hour through the night.

    www.wikiloc.com/walking-trails/el-burgo-pueblo-…    Read more

  • TravelerSpain 2025 - Malaga province
    2
    Day 48

    Marching down the mountain

    April 18 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 72 °F

    First, of course we had to go up (and up, and up) aiming for the top of the red band of rock that cuts across the grey limestone of the Sierra Prieta. We were delighted to find that early on, the town and outlying houses disappeared and the feeling of being in a remote mountain park prevailed.

    When we reached the red sandstone, I sat down for a much needed rest. Out of the corner of my eye, I glimpsed a tan shape racing down the ravine at my back, and realized it was a loose dog intent on dislodging me. In an instant seven more joined him and the pack was on all sides of us. I screamed, and a man came down the path, shouting to the dogs. Luckily, they obeyed him. We’ve met a lot of fiercely growling dogs behind fences and a few loose ones that backed off without attacking, but this was the most menacing encounter we’ve had.

    It was too beautiful for that incident to mar the day, though. We walked a red dirt trail between flowers and grey limestone slabs and green pines, had a reviving snack, and marveled at our good luck with the weather.

    Working our way down the mountain on the PR-A 272, we were still far above town when we realized we could hear the drumbeat of the Viernes Santo (Good Friday) procession. We got in step with the music and marched down the mountain and into town to find the procession still going on with a big enthusiastic crowd in the main square.

    www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/alozaina-circular…    Read more

  • TravelerSpain 2025 - Malaga province
    Day 39

    Best day yet in the mountains!

    April 9 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 64 °F

    We were amazed at how well today’s route turned out. The track began practically in our backyard and led up to near the treeline on Cerro de la Blanquilla. We didn’t know much about the track beforehand and were keeping our fingers crossed that it would be doable by me. Not only did it turn out to be possible, it was glorious! It was wild and remote, and we had 360° views with all the mountains we are familiar with in sight and new ones coming visible around every corner. We even had our first view of El Burgo, the village we will be staying in two weeks from now.

    A highlight of the walk was coming upon an old era. These stone-paved threshing floors were laid out in a circular pattern that was slightly different in each location. They were situated in windy spots to make separating the wheat from the chaff easier. As the bundles of threshed grain were tossed into the air with a wooden fork, the wind carried off the lighter chaff, and the seeds fell to the ground. On a previous trip a miller’s son told us that when he was a child, he and his dad would come around to these remote eras with mules, load up the threshed wheat, take it down to their mill to wash and grind, and deliver the flour back to the mountain location when it was done.

    We can confirm that this era was in a windy location; the wind was so strong that you can’t hear a single word in the video!

    www.wikiloc.com/hiking-trails/yunquera-track-to…    Read more

Join us:

FindPenguins for iOSFindPenguins for Android

  • 2025© FindPenguins
  • Home
  • About us
  • Group Tracking
  • Press
  • Terms
  • Privacy Policy & Cookies
  • Help Center
  • Legal notice