As the big finale after a couple of months in Portugal, I decided to spend a week road-tripping across Andalusia along the Southern coast of Spain. Being Portuguese, I am very bias, but I always have a lot of fun in Spain as there's good weather, delicious food, and friendly locals.
The Algarve
The road trip started in Olhão, as I had spent the weekend there with some friends, however since we very rarely visit the south of Portugal, we decided to make the most of our time there and drive along the whole south coast of Portugal before continuing through to Spain. This meant driving in the complete opposite direction towards Sagres which, aside from being the extreme Western tip of the Algarve, didn't have much to offer.
We continued towards Benagil in the hopes of exploring the famous Benagil caves, however on arrival we were told that the caves could only be accessed by boat as they had blocked it off to swimmers. Given that I was the only person in the group who wanted to see the caves, I didn't want to make everyone wait for me to see them so after a quick break, we continued the drive along the coast.
We eventually reached Tavira, which I had heard many good things about and it definitely lived up to my expectations. Tavira is a small coastal city with Tavira Island just a few hundred metres off of the coast. We had a coffee break in a very picturesque area along the river, with a plethora of small boats and miles of sandy beaches, but didn't stay long enough to explore the city.
Sevilla
Although I'd been to Seville before, I was very excited to revisit as I couldn't remember it clearly but knew that I liked it. Despite the high temperatures, Seville is a stunning city and has so many beautiful buildings, including the cathedral, Plaza de España, and the Royal Alcázar of Seville. We spent most of our time here walking around the city and constantly found new things to admire, from the street signs made with mosaic tiles to the huge bullring. It was here that we first are at '100 Montaditos', which is a restaurant chain that serves beer and sandwiches, and despite my low expectations I genuinely enjoyed the meal a lot (though, be warned that the sandwiches are small).
As mentioned in my Lisbon Bucket List, I had been wanting to ride a moped abroad for several years now, and despite coming close a handful of times, I had never fully managed to - that is, until Seville. Throughout the city there are some pay-as-you-ride mopeds which can be rented by anyone using the app 'Yego' (although you need to create a profile beforehand with your driving licence details which has to be reviewed and accepted before you can rent the mopeds). I'd first seen these in Barcelona last year but didn't get the chance to ride them, so I was over-the-moon when I could finally have my Mamma Mia moment in Seville.
Cadiz
Cadiz was completely different to what I expected, and although I liked the narrow streets and sea view, the one thing that put me off was our lunch; the food was nice (that is one thing I've never had an issue with in Spain), however the waitress forgot half of the items and overcharged us so I wasn't too impressed.
Gibraltar
Another bucket list item that I hoped to cross off was visiting Gibraltar. As a Londoner who has travelled avidly, it was odd that I'd never visited the British overseas territory, but many people had told me that it was simply a rock and wasn't worth the hassle so it was never a priority of mine to visit. That said, this road trip presented the perfect opportunity to finally see what Gibraltar had to offer and let's just say, one visit was enough.
Despite it being very sunny in Spain, as we approached Gibraltar, in true British fashion, there was a massive cloud hovering over the territory. On arriving, we had to wait with a multitude of pedestrians for a plane to land as the road crossing to get across the border is part of the runway. This gives you an idea of how little space there is on the territory; there's no space to park unless you are a resident and the region is a very confusing mixture of British and European cultures and infrastructures. On a positive, the petrol here was very cheap compared to in the UK and I managed to get my hands on some Freddos (though they tasted different to the ones I grew up with).
I was left unimpressed with Gibraltar, but one thing that made me chuckle was that after almost of hour of waiting in a queue to re-enter Spain, the Spanish border officer kept making a fuss about my British passport, saying that due to Brexit everything had changed and that I needed to show an ID card instead, whereas as soon as I got out my Portuguese passport and showed it to him, he let me straight through. Obviously, I am very fortunate to have two passports but it goes to show how differently the treatment can be for different nationals.
Ronda
None of us had ever heard of Ronda, however we needed somewhere to spend the night and there was availability in Ronda so we stayed there overnight. That said, Ronda was one of my favourite places on this trip; we had the most amazing dinner and breakfast, the town was bustling, the locals were all lovely, and the views were incredible. On top of that, the road en route to Ronda was very fun and offered some insane views, so I'd strongly recommend visiting Ronda if you haven't already.
Marbella & Málaga
I had only ever passed through Marbella and Málaga, assuming that they were both just party destinations for 'guiris'. I was actually pleasantly surprised by the cities, especially when we'd pass through areas with obvious moorish influence as opposed to the resorts. We spent an afternoon relaxing on the beach, which was enjoyable, but didn't properly explore either of these cities.
Motril-Granada
As we continued to drive along the coast, instead of small towns and cities we instead saw an abundance of greenhouses. This continued for a few hours, and so we decided to take a detour up towards Granada. The drive past Vélez de Benaudalla was very fun and the views were stunning, however we struggled greatly to find our hotel. The maps on our phones weren't recognising the coordinates, however eventually one map recognised them and sent us off of the motorway and above the clouds into the mountains, despite the hotel supposedly also being a winery. After being sent onto a dirt track in the middle of nowhere and driving in the wilderness for an hour, we passed a shepherd who laughed in our faces when we asked if there was a hotel nearby. As the 'road' became more and more unsuitable, we eventually turned back towards the motorway and eventually found the hotel (with the help of the receptionist). The hotel was incredible and as expected, the wine at dinner was faultless. In the morning, we continued towards Granada which was also unlike I'd remembered it but was a nice city.
Initially, we'd intended to drive across the whole south coast towards Cartagena and then head north through Murcia and Valencia, however we decided to change plan at the last minute and head to Madrid instead, before returning to the UK.
Madrid
Funnily enough, the first club I ever went to after turning 18 was in Madrid as I went there with some friends to celebrate my 18th birthday. We visited all of the main landmarks once more, including Plaza Mayor, the Royal Palace and Gran Via, and had our final meal here before heading off to the airport bound for London.
Unfortunately, on returning to London I caught covid so my 5 days of isolation became 14 days of isolation, but the 2 months that I spent in Iberia were definitely worth the 2 weeks of confinement.
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