Cádiz We moved on from Córdoba for the most part because it was a Monday and just about everything is closed there on a Monday. No sense in hanging around! We travelled through the usual mix of flat or undulating plains of farmland (only this time cotton crops were a new addition to the view) or of the much more interesting mountain regions. Russ gets to see less of the latter as the concentration level required to stay on the narrow winding roads and...

Córdoba. From Ronda to Córdoba, it seems that every square centimetre of farming land is devoted to olive production. As far as the eye can see, over hills and across plains, rows and rows of every age tree from hundred year old gnarled oldies to newly planted saplings give the landscape a dotted look. The ground beneath is usually starkly white and contrasts with the deep grey green foliage above. In this area, there aren't even many villages. We have...

Costa del Sol And so a look at probably the most famous coastal region in Spain. Who has not heard of Malaga and Marbella and Torremolinas , haunts of the package deal devotees of northern Europe? Our drive back to the coast took us through mountainous regions ...yet again - there are a lot of mountains in Spain! We drove over the dam wall of a large reservoir. The lower side had one of the oldest and smallest hydro power stations around, while the out...

Granada. Granada has its big attraction, the Alhambra, and we had just assumed that we could rock up and buy a ticket to get in. Not so, we discovered... Tickets are in limited supply and often all are sold two weeks in advance. With not much hope we asked the office in the campsite to see if we could get two tickets. Happily, while there were none for the first day, there were a grand total of twelve available for the next day. We didn't even ask how...

Valencia to Granada Heading down the coast is the pathway to all the beach areas so famous especially in northern Europe where sun lovers flock to be burnt to a crisp.And they are all there - deeply tanned Germans, Dutch, French and Scandinavians along with the paler/redder Brits.The coastal areas are a string of high rise buildings fronting the beaches, now mostly deserted with the off season, and with the cafes and shops also shut, there is a general air...