Unusual and Interesting Places to Visit in Spain.

[BENIDORM]

As suggested by our eminent member Olive I have started a new thread regarding finding unusual and interesting places to visit.

Antequera was suggested as a good hunting ground by Lavanda, so now can anyone highlight places in this area worth visiting.?

And of course all other areas Please.!!

Regards,
Gordon

[chrissiehope]

Antequera is certainly full of history, from neolithic burial mounds (dolmens), of which there are 3 (one's abit boring, but the other two are worth a visit (and they're free ! )

There are at least a dozen churches, many decorated internally (painted plaster, wood carving etc) and some roman sites.

Not far away is El Torcal, which is a mountain range (of limestone ?) which has eroded into amazing shapes, and has some fabulous views (on a clear day )

Then there's the Refugio del Burro (Donkey Santuary, and not far from that is Fuente de Piedra with its famous lake where (at the right time of year) you can see huge numbers of flamingoes who come here to bred.

If you like your trout, Rio Frio (in the diretion of Granada) is worth a visit. Many of the trout are farmed her, and virtually every restaurant proudly proclaims their virtue. A bit touristy, but out of season it's very pretty !

That lot should do for starters !

[WomBatt]

Almost next door to Antequera - Archidona.
http://www.andalucia.com/province/malag ... a/home.htm

[olive]

There is a religious spot high up above Archidona (accessed from the main road through the town) that is worth a trip up (drive or walk) to for the views. It was also the site of a fort.

I quite like the hermitages in general. Not just the dedication to the task of building them but for their views and solitude. A favourite is the one near Cabra/Lucena in the National Park which is tremendous. Haven't got a map to hand. There is also another one near and south of Lucena that I have yet to find the road to!

[Lavanda]

Beni, your post title is "... in Spain" rather than "... in Andalucia". Would you welcome places outside Andalucia but in Spain?

[Chunky Monky]

Beni, your post title is "... in Spain" rather than "... in Andalucia". Would you welcome places outside Andalucia but in Spain?

I hope so.

[BENIDORM]

Thanks everyone for the 'Rapid Response' in adding some great locations, I'm sure that many members and visitors will be pleased to read about even the smallest places, probably even the tiny villages could have a monument or commemorative plaque, or even just interesting stories, even if it is just folklore.

Lavanda, well I did think that all of Spain should be included, after all many members do travel frequently through Spain and it could be a great opportunity to have a 'stop-over' where they could visit places of interest.
Certainly my wife and I do try to find the time to see the sights on our travels.

And as many probably most know Lavanda does live in Extremadura, which has some fantastic history, and of course isn't actually that far from Andalucia, so certainly worthy of a few days visit, and there are some great very reasonable places to stop, so it doesn't have to 'break the bank'.
So Lavanda I for one would be very interested to hear about some of the places near you.

Regards,
Gordon

[Free at Last]

A few "attractions" we've really enjoyed visiting in Spain, but found surprisingly few other tourists there, have been:-
the Palacio del Marques de Viana in Cordoba - garden enthusiasts will enjoy this. It's on the other side of the city from the main historic areas and sights like the Mezquita but well worth seeing.

http://www.palaciodeviana.com/es/home.asp

The Museu Fallero in Valencia - each year one of the "ninots" or wax tableaux produced for the famous Fallas in Valencia is chosen to be spared the usual fate of being burnt and displayed in this small museum - some of them are satirical, some almost spookily lifelike, and they have a good film (can be shown with commentary in English if you ask) about the Fallas itself. I don't think I could take the stupendous noise and crowds of the real thing but I found the museum fascinating and there was hardly anybody there! And the entrance fee is only €2.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_R ... untry.html

The Sorolla Museum in Madrid - Joaquin Sorolla is a favourite Spanish artist of mine, and his former home and studio which was donated to the nation as a museum, is a lovely place to visit if you are in the capital.

http://www.spottedbylocals.com/madrid/sorolla-museum/

[oliveview01]

If any of the folk are driving up or down through Spain and want a stop close to France, it is a little off the route, but Hondarribia is a lovely village, with a nice view across the river into France, especially at night with the lights in the hills. We stayed in a very nice small hotel, Hotel Palacete, it was very clean and very reasonably priced (3 years ago!)

Galicia is a lovely area, Baiona, Pontevedra, Combarro, all nice towns- with the Oreo (?) crop drying houses, that look like coffins on legs!

Burgos has a fantastic cathederal, it was free to get in after 5pm, not that we knew that, we would have paid willingly as the cathederal was so good.

Closer to home (for us living in Andalucia) Setinel is very pretty, with the cave houses/Bars/shops, we were on our way to Ronda, took the wrong road and discovered Setinel, we never did make it to Ronda that day!

WIldside lives in a great village, Grazelema, it is well worth a visit.

Cadiz province has fantastic beaches, proper golden sands (as long as the wind is not in the wrong direction, otherwise you get sand blasted)

Cadiz city is a great place to just walk about and look at the architecture and then when you get bored with the city there are the great beaches right on the city doorstep.

Carmona is another pretty town, where you can spend an hour or so wandering.

Of course there are the Via Verde walking paths, one from Pruna to Puerto Serrano, with fantastic sceanery along the way. We have walked the middle part at Coripe a few times and seen wild goats high up in the hills. The Puerto Serrano end is more rolling landscape with beautiful wild iris everywhere (January) The Pruna end is hilly (ish) but the middle bit has hillls all about.

Last month my sister and I cycled the Via Verde in the Sierra Norte , well, 15km of it- we would have gone on further, but we discovered a lovely bar to have lunch (after we had eaten out picnic ) We did not see any wild goats on this Via Verde (I am sure they are there) but we counted so many different wild flowers. Another reason we did not cycle so far, we kept stopping to look at the flowers

Aracena, Huelva Province, north west of Sevilla. is a nice village with caves to visit. Ayamonte in Huelva province is worth a visit too, the indoor market has the best raw prawns I have ever bought- fresh and not frozen/defrosted. The local produce for sale there is so tasty. From Ayamonte it is possible to get a small ferry across to Portugal to Vila Real de San Antonio- where all the shops sell towels and table cloths We did not find much, apart from the shops in V R se San Antonio, but the river trip was good as the weather was perfect.

Italica the Roman Ruins north of Sevilla are another place worth visiting, the mosaics are lovely. It was free to get in to people who live in the EU

Of course Sevilla is without doubt a city you can never get bored of. We go walking the streets and looking at the architecture and taking in the atmosphere, especially on a summers evening. Triana (Calle Betis, with it´s bars), the Santa Cruz area, every time we go we find somewhere we have missed on previous visits. The only problem with Sevilla in the evenings is parking, you need to get there early to get parked easily. We normally park just past the bullring in the underground carpark, then it is a short walk to the center, and easy to get back out of the city.

I think this will do for now!!

[BENIDORM]

By 'Eck O. V .1.
I bet that you used to work on the production team for 'Whickers World'...

But that was a great 'Travelogue', and if you could select one of the places you've visited and try to expand and give a detailed description of say perhaps 'Sentinel', I think that it would be most helpful.
Useful descriptions of perhaps cafes and restaurants, interesting shops and monuments and ancient buildings etc.

Each village or town no matter how small will have something to offer, however not always easy to detect, for instance if you visit a village during the afternoon it will probably look like a 'Ghost Town', with tumbleweed rolling along the middle of the road and an ancient creaking door emitting a spine chilling sound.....

So look around carefully wherever you walk and ponder on whose feet trod on the very same cobblestones that you are now walking on, and breath in the atmospheric thoughts of times gone by.

Regards,
Gordon

[Wicksey]

We had a lovely trip away to Extremadura in April. It is something I have wanted to do for some time and I can highly recommend a visit in Spring when the wild flowers are all out.

We went to Cáseres, Merida and Trujillo and they are all very interesting towns to see. It was a fair drive (475 kms from Torrox) but easy-going and we found a little village (Los Pajanosas) to stop off at just north of Seville where we had an excellent menú del dia for 7€ that included home made salmorejo, an excellent boar stew and some of the best bread we've had at a Spanish restaurant. The local wine also must be sampled .... it is so good we brought home a few cases (1.80€ a bottle from a recommended bodega near to Merida).

[Lavanda]

Nice one, Wicksey. Extremadura is stuffed full of casual and scattered historical interests that are free to see and I'm busy compiling a quick selection ...

[alisonb]

A trip to Ubeda (and Baeza) is well worth it. In Jaen province so within andalucia. It's absolutely beautiful, there is lot of renaissance architecture, and lovely views all round. Unfortunately, when I took my husband (I had been previously) it poured down with rain for two days, so he wasn't over impressed. In Baeza, there is a hotel (Hospederia Fuentenueva) which used to be a prison, and I really liked. The two towns are very close together. When I went with my husband we stayed in Ubeda at Palacio de la Rambla, which again was nice. We were the only ones staying there and were offered our choice of (huge) rooms.

[Lavanda]

I’m not going to state the obvious places ... Some of these you can look up on the net but mostly the information is scant ...

For little-known signs of the tribes who lived in Extremadura before the Roman invasion go to see the Dolmen del Prado de Lácara west of Mérida. There's a well-preserved burial ground with good information boards but it's hardly ever visited. Most people go to the dolmens in Valencia de Alcántara, near the border with Portugal, but the one of Lácara is much more atmospheric, deep in the countryside, unchanged over millennia.

In Segura de Toro in the Ambroz Valley there is a very old, pre-Roman, granite bull in the square near the fountain.

For Roman ruins visit just about anywhere but especially Mérida. In the countryside there are still tiny Roman bridges and many ruins along the Via de la Plata like the phenomenal Triumphal Arch of Cáparra.

Go to Alcuéscar for Santa Lucia del Trampal, one of only two Visigoth churches remaining in Spain (the other is the Church of San Juan Bautista at Baños de Cerrato in Palencia). Santa Lucia has been partly excavated and restored with EU money. There’s an Interpretation Centre with a good video, exhibition and artifacts. It’s all in Spanish which is ridiculous as it is EU funded. It’s open regular hours but not Mondays. It’s free.

Tucked away in Mérida just around the corner from the Plaza de España is Calle Santa Julia and the Church of Santa Clara. It houses the Visigoth Museum and most people miss this gem in their hurry to see the Trajan Arch around the corner. Shame. It’s free but shut Monday.

In Cáceres, within the Monumental City itself go in to the free museum in the Palacio de las Veletas (shut Monday). Skip everything, unless it’s raining, and go to see the Arabic Cistern complete with horseshoe arches built on pillars with Roman foundations. Only the cistern in Cordoba is larger.

In the tiny village of Salvatierra de Santiago in the Sierra de Montánchez is an abandoned house with the imposing crests of the Military Order of Alcántara below the upstairs windows. This building was constructed by the Knights of the order to treat pilgrims from the nearby Camino de Santiago (Via de la Plata) who had fallen ill. Carlos V stayed in the building in 1526.

In even smaller Trevejo in the Sierra de Gata — not to be confused with San Martín de Trevejo — there’s a bandit castle left over from the lawless times when contrabandists criss-crossed the border between Portugal and Spain.

In Jaraciejo there is a magnificent church build by the grandfather of Luisa de Carvajal y Mendoza who was born in the town in 1566. Although wealthy and noble she became a religious person — but not a nun. She went to the England of Protestant King James I to evangelise, save Christians from persecution and seek martyrdom. (Read “The She Apostle” by Glyn Redworth).

Garganta de Olla, in the Sierra de Gredos, is a very old, well-preserved village. Especially intriguing is a bright blue building with a doll carved into the left side of the granite doorway. This place was a licensed brothel during the times of Carlos V. Prostitution was a respectable, necessary profession in those days, approved of by local women as it kept them safe from unwelcome attentions (from husbands???)

For Military History enthusiasts Arroyomolinos in the Sierra de Montánchez was the scene of a rout of the French by Wellington’s troops and there is a reenactment every October. Another reenactment takes place every May in Romangordo at Fort Napoleon overlooking the River Tajo. Extremadura has many Peninsular War sites.

If you’re not fed-up, more when I get time ...

[markwilding]

Elciego in Alava very close to La Rioja region in northern Spain. They produce Rioja wine here and even call the area La Rioja Alavesa.

Marqués de Riscal winery's City of Wine, which was designed by Frank O. Gehry, is here

A good place to stop off if you're travelling through Spain from the north or France. The whole area is full of Bodegas and vineyards.
http://www.spain.info/en/reportajes/bod ... spana.html

[katy]

Playa de los catedrales, truly amazing.

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=playa ... 66&bih=614

[BENIDORM]

Some really great places and ideas detailed in quite a short space of time, well done everyone.

I know that it does take time and effort to write up about this type of subject, but I'm sure that many people will benefit from the advice given, we have already selected some of the listed places and we plan to visit them in the near future.
For anyone who hasn't joined in on this forum before, can I say that this is an excellent opportunity to start and even a brief description of somewhere that you know would be of interest, I'm sure.

And don't forget that it doesn't just have to be about buildings etc., anywhere that can be interesting and entertaining,... zoos, parks, theme type park attractions etc, I know that many members have family and friends visiting them and are always on the look out for somewhere to take small children etc.
Many Thanks for supporting this thread.

Regards,
Gordon

[markwilding]

And don't forget that it doesn't just have to be about buildings etc., anywhere that can be interesting and entertaining,... zoos, parks, theme type park attractions etc, I know that many members have family and friends visiting them and are always on the look out for somewhere to take small children etc.

PortAventura

[anis]

The mining town of Rio Tinto and museum, old school house, once run by a British company over one hundred years ago. There is a little narrow gauge train that will take you down past the red river. Fascinating day out - lunar landscape, weird.
Nearby, also worth a visit is the strange little village of the pilgrimage El Rocio, where the streets are made of sand and horses rule - looks like a ghost cowboy town. Both are in Donana Park.
Further on and up...
The Aracena ham route, - everywhere - big, loyal fluffy mastiffs guarding their pigs and gourmet food and seps. Best in fall, when the acorns drop and the leaves on the mighty oaks change colour.
Iberico Black foot Pigs rule here...life of Riley.

[Campo Steve]

The ruins at Medina Azahara near Cordoba are well worth a visit. I'm not yhe greatest archaeology fan but I would revisit here.

The Roman ruins near Tarifa are interesting, but not as much as Medina Azahara. Some of the Roman ruins have been rebuilt in recent years, unless the Romans invented yeso! Some of the bricks are modern and, although it shows how things would have been, it does detract from the historical feel.