Arcos de la Frontier — a pueblo blanco –is our next region of Spain to explore. These white hilltop towns were originally built for fortification of the Front.Lots of climbing steep hills to experience these beautiful vistas in Arcos.Arcos Lake (reservoir) was pleasant to walk along, join other walkers / joggers and enjoy coffee morning with the locals.We are staying in a townhouse a few miles outside of Arcos on a golf course — we were able to walk miles of the paved hilly cart trails with views!Early morning sun backlights town of Zahara — a spectacularly located Pueblo Blanco — with a castle on the top.A great view of the agriculture countryside from Zahara.The rock outcroppings — in Sierra de Grazalema National Park — have been uplifted and eroded in all sorts unique angles and formations.The region’s karst geologic formations house a spectacularly large cave system which we toured to view the 30,000 year old Pileta Paleolithic Cave Paintings (at Benaojan, near Rhonda).Sierra de Grazalema National Park. WOW! Follow that road from the mountains to the sea…3 Caravels — replicas of the 1492 vessels built to celebrate the 500th anniversary of these ships leaving this harbor to find the spice route to India by sailing west….This is the Santa Maria — its crew was from this region of Spain, near Huelva and the Rio Tinto estuary — flanked by the Nina and the Pinta…Captain Christopher Columbus plotting the course with his map. His route found land –not the spice route to India — and changed the history of the Americas.Ayamonte Parador — on the east bank of the beautiful Guadiana River — is our last night in Spain. That’s Portugal across the river.Enjoying the sunset from our balcony in Spain as it sinks over Portugal — our destination for the remainder of our Iberian travels.
