March 29, 2017: A drive through the Sierra de Grazalema

Today we took an extended loop through the Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park and environs.

 

Most of the drive was on very narrow, windy, and incredibly scenic roads through the mountains.

 

These are new mountains, geologically speaking, with rough craggy peaks and outcroppings - reminds me of the terrain on Mckenzie Pass.  We also went through forests of cork trees -

 

The narrow road was scenic, but hazardous.  There wasn't a lot of traffic, but the cars, vans and trucks we did pass were driving like maniacs, and there was no shoulder at all to pull off onto.  The driver of the one full-sized truck we passed tried to motion for John to pull off the road to let him by.  Pulling off the road meant driving off the edge - at least a 12-inch drop.  John declined - the truck driver glowered, then backed up to a slightly wider spot and we edged around him.

John was relieved to finally turn onto a regular road with a genuine center stripe.  Not quite as scenic, but definitely safer.  We had been bemoaning the fact that there had been no place to pull off to enjoy the most spectacular views on the narrow road, but the main road had a several nice viewpoints with maps and information.

 

We circled back around Ronda and decided to go back to the ancient Roman ruins of Acinipo, or Ronda la Vieja ("old Ronda") as it's known locally.  This was a town founded by retired Roman soldiers about 2000 year ago.  We went there Sunday on our way to Grazalema, but it was just closing for the day (at 2:30 pm).  So we figured we could get there in plenty of time to look around today.  But, alas, it was closed all day today.  According to the sign, sometimes it's open on Wednesdays, sometimes not.  We guessed that it's operated by volunteers, hence the irregular schedule.  As we were consulting the map to plan where to go next, two more cars arrived.  Oh, well...

We took another scenic roundabout route to Grazalema to check out the village and have a late lunch.  We did both.  We looked for a sign that John had taken a picture of years ago stating that Grazalema is the rainiest place in Spain.  We couldn't find it, and the young woman at the tourist office didn't know about it - but she assured us that this is the #1 wettest place in the country.

As you can see from the pictures, today was another warm, sunny day.  In fact, it's the first day that clouds haven't rolled in over the mountains in the evening - we enjoyed a beautiful sunset as we ate dinner.