the last stop on our andalusian roadtrip wasn’t really in spain, but in the uk… sort of. on our way back home, we detoured through gibraltar, to celebrate my birthday and the 30th country/territory we’ve ever been in.
we crossed the airport’s runway, got a sunday roast on a local pub and even had time to write a postcard home, before heading back. 30 countries down, 180 or so to go! :)
ok, so one thing we noticed on our incursions into andalusia (and córdoba specifically) is the deliciousness that is fried aubergine (or eggplant)! what a way to turn an otherwise boring vegetable into something amazing. we loved it so much, we practically spent our short time in córdoba trying it in different restaurants. proof:
it’s usually served with honey for dipping, or with bits of salt. it’s crunchy and smooth at the same time… like mozarella sticks but less cheesy and more… auberginey.
this last one was my favourite though. turns out, deep fried aubergine with honey and goat cheese is the bomb. if you pass by córdoba, give it a go!
we’ve wanted to do the caminito del rey ever since we heard they had restored it after being closed for years… and so last summer we finally hiked it, as part of the andalusian roadtrip we were doing with our friends. though we arrived horribly late and almost missed our turn, the nice people there still let us through for the last trip of the day, and it was well worth it!
the views of the gorges are truly spectacular, and the photos our little phone cameras captured don’t do them justice. the walkways are all sound and sturdy, though in some places you can still see the old paths, rusting away.
the original path was built to connect 2 hydropower dams, so that workers could transport the materials between them. it was finished in 1905, and a few years later, king alfonso xiii walked it to inaugurate the dam and voilà — the name stuck.
it’s not recommended for people who are afraid of heights though…
… but if you can stomach it, it’s truly stunning! :)
the bright sunflower fields of andalusia, as seen by the holga!
besides really old trees, you know what else doesn’t usually get associated with history — but actually has a lot to tell? rocks, that’s what! they’re in most places, and can definitely tells lots of stories, even when they’re not particularly interesting at first glance.
on our andalusian roadtrip last summer we made a detour through the torcal de antequera, a famous karst landscape. the slovenes gave the name to these special limestone topographies (with their caves and intermittent lakes), but they can be found a bit all around the world.
in antequera, they rise above the hills in impressive stratified forms… like piles of pancakes!
wikipedia explains where they came from:
The Jurassic age limestone is about 150 million years old and was laid down in a marine corridor that extended from the Gulf of Cádiz to Alicante between the present Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. These seabeds were uplifted to an elevation of over 1300 meters during the Tertiary era, resulting in a modest mountain range of flat-lying limestone, which is rare in Andalucia.
so they used to be in the sea, which was much more inland than what it is now. neat!
do you know how rocks split? they can dissolve or exfoliate for instance, but my favourite is called freeze-thaw. in this weathering process, water seeps into the cracks of the rocks. when it freezes, its volume increases about 10%, but it has no place to go… thus cracking the rocks in its expansion. when it melts, the water then travels further into the rock, repeating the process. voilà!
i still think i could have been a geologist, in a different life. :)