# Your Top Ten (Five?) Must-See-In-Andalucia List Wanted



## donqzen (Jan 24, 2010)

Arriving Malaga AGP a week from today, Wednesday, 10 February, D can't wait - it's 28 degrees F and snowing here in Michigan, US)staying near Comares for six weeks b4 returning to US. Really enjoy meeting new friends. Will have rental car. Plan to visit a different village, city, park each day. No itinerary. This first visit will help me decide if I want to buy a home in Andalucia. I do a lot of hiking, so the general idea is to strike out each day in the car to some place I haven't yet been, park the car, and just poke around all day on foot....be in a bar/cafe for dinner, and head back to the B&B (probably) late each night. Want to meet as many people, get as many different perspectives, drink as many different beers, sample as many local dishes/meals/cuisine, see as many sites, learn as much Spanish as I can in six weeks, soooo.... I'd like to meet up with anyone/everyone, expat or otherwise..... name the place and the time. Or, if you haven't the time (or the inclination :confused2, Reply w/ your Top Ten (Five? Three?) List of places I Must See / Must Do while in southern Spain. Cheers! PS I'd like to spend a week driving to Italy to visit Tuscany and would really appreciate having a navigator along - interested?


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## SteveHall (Oct 17, 2008)

Granada 
Málaga 
Córdoba 
Ronda
Marbella
Jérez/Cádiz
Sierra Nevada
.......to start!

Berths? Cabopino, Fuengirola 

More thoughts later


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## donqzen (Jan 24, 2010)

*Thanks, Steve*

Have Pasted your list into my laptop Word doc - right next to the Top Ten List from the lonely planet guide to Andalucia, so I'll be taking it with me. I actually only today decided that I'd spend my last (2) days @ a hotel on the beach right in Malaga so that 1.) I can return my rental car the night b4 I leave - sparing me the rush to get from car place to airport boarding place, and 2.) I can just enjoy / get to know the first place on your list a little. Muchas gracias!


SteveHall said:


> Granada
> Málaga
> Córdoba
> Ronda
> ...


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

The Alhambra, Granada,
Ronda,
Sierra Nevada,
Tarifa (windsurfing)

And personally I'd give Marbella city a wide berth. Yachts, golf courses and medallion man 
There must be loads of little villages off the beaten track that are worth wandering around, but I haven't been in that area a lot.


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## donqzen (Jan 24, 2010)

Noted, Pesk... have added your 'asterisk' to The List. I want to start out with paint-by-numbers simplicity, so I'll start by exploring the little villages closest to Comares, and then head out in larger and larger concentric circles, making sure to head first to the places on The List. Baby steps.....then, LOOK OUT Andalucia!!


donqzen said:


> Have Pasted your list into my laptop Word doc - right next to the Top Ten List from the lonely planet guide to Andalucia, so I'll be taking it with me. I actually only today decided that I'd spend my last (2) days @ a hotel on the beach right in Malaga so that 1.) I can return my rental car the night b4 I leave - sparing me the rush to get from car place to airport boarding place, and 2.) I can just enjoy / get to know the first place on your list a little. Muchas gracias!


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## donqzen (Jan 24, 2010)

love sailing, never was a golfer, and Bling ain't my Thing!!!


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## bakeja (May 26, 2009)

The Picasso Museum in Malaga
El Chorro gorge - a wonderful drive, breathtaking. Hiking potential.
If you go to Granada for the Alhambra (do) then also go to the Science Museum there which might sound a bit dry but it isn't
Sierra Nevada even if you don't ski (lovely drive up apart from anything)
El Torcal 
Archidona
Castellar de la Frontera (+ nearby zoo)
Gibraltar is a funny old place but worth a day I think

Enjoy your trip.


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## donqzen (Jan 24, 2010)

*Thanks bakeja*

Interesting list. - see? I've seen enough lists that I know what's interesting now! I'm actually considering putting The List (culled from all the lists I've received) on a wall and then, when I get each morning, just throw a dart. What do you think? I could write a book based on my methodology - 'The Dart Thrower's Guide to Seeing Spain' - huh? huh?


donqzen said:


> Arriving Malaga AGP a week from today, Wednesday, 10 February, D can't wait - it's 28 degrees F and snowing here in Michigan, US)staying near Comares for six weeks b4 returning to US. Really enjoy meeting new friends. Will have rental car. Plan to visit a different village, city, park each day. No itinerary. This first visit will help me decide if I want to buy a home in Andalucia. I do a lot of hiking, so the general idea is to strike out each day in the car to some place I haven't yet been, park the car, and just poke around all day on foot....be in a bar/cafe for dinner, and head back to the B&B (probably) late each night. Want to meet as many people, get as many different perspectives, drink as many different beers, sample as many local dishes/meals/cuisine, see as many sites, learn as much Spanish as I can in six weeks, soooo.... I'd like to meet up with anyone/everyone, expat or otherwise..... name the place and the time. Or, if you haven't the time (or the inclination :confused2, Reply w/ your Top Ten (Five? Three?) List of places I Must See / Must Do while in southern Spain. Cheers! PS I'd like to spend a week driving to Italy to visit Tuscany and would really appreciate having a navigator along - interested?


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## mrypg9 (Apr 26, 2008)

Yesterday evening around 7p.m. I took my dog for a walk on the beach, a five minute drive from our house. It was dusk, the sky was a mixture of reddish clouds and azure with a few stars. There was an occasional gentle warm breeze and the air was full of the scent of the sea, which had a silvery-blue watery silk sheen. In the distance I could see the outline of the Rock of Gibraltar and lights of ships on the horizon.
We were completely alone on this beach. Not a soul in sight. At many points on the walk there were no signs of habitation as the dunes lay between the nearest houses and the strand. No road leads directly to this beach so no traffic.
All those placers lifted above are truly worth a visit but for me walks like this on deserted beaches put the magic into everyday life in Spain...


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## SteveHall (Oct 17, 2008)

Yes, I'll agree with that. Many of my greatest memories of Spain are on deserted beaches/hills/mountains/roads or in tiny villages with scruffy bars where the highlight is not the Moncloa or the Alhambra but an 80 year old guy with two teeth telling me about life in the 50s. Priceless.


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## donqzen (Jan 24, 2010)

Steve and Mr. y, This is why I walk as much as possible - - it slows everything down. The car gets me to and from a place; in between, I abandon it. The slower the pace, the more I see. The greater the chances that I'll strike up a conversation and meet someone new. When I think of Italy Steve, I think of the man who owned the Pace Hotel in Pisa; we spent some hours sitting in the lobby....it took all of our time together for him to describe how just the one block that the hotel sat on was affected by bombings during the war, and I had to pull myself away to catch my flight. In Korea, I sat one afternoon in a pawn shop, playing a guitar that I eventually bought and listening to the owner who sat with me between customers and talked of growing up during the war there. Travel for me, and apparently you as well, is about the little things and connection with the land. I believe people are pretty much the same everywhere; differences are illusory. I seem to be able to strike up conversations wherever I go with ease...how could this be if we all didn't hold a few, basic values in common? I respect their preferences, but those who appraise their travel by how many destinations are checked off a list miss, imho, the point you make here - this is the other side of the List 'coin'...one get some places in mind so that you are not a complete dunce about a new place - but then you follow your nose. Leelanau County here in Michigan is just one big forested sand dune that rises in many places over 300' up from the beach. sleeping bear dunes national lakeshore - Google Search But not from three times that height could you see across the clear blue water of Lake Michigan. Other than during peak tourism months, I can find an isolated stretch of beach any time I choose - which is pretty much all the time. If I find myself in Spain on a stretch of beach such as you have described here, and if I meet an old guy with some good stories, I will consider my visit a success


donqzen said:


> Arriving Malaga AGP a week from today, Wednesday, 10 February, D can't wait - it's 28 degrees F and snowing here in Michigan, US)staying near Comares for six weeks b4 returning to US. Really enjoy meeting new friends. Will have rental car. Plan to visit a different village, city, park each day. No itinerary. This first visit will help me decide if I want to buy a home in Andalucia. I do a lot of hiking, so the general idea is to strike out each day in the car to some place I haven't yet been, park the car, and just poke around all day on foot....be in a bar/cafe for dinner, and head back to the B&B (probably) late each night. Want to meet as many people, get as many different perspectives, drink as many different beers, sample as many local dishes/meals/cuisine, see as many sites, learn as much Spanish as I can in six weeks, soooo.... I'd like to meet up with anyone/everyone, expat or otherwise..... name the place and the time. Or, if you haven't the time (or the inclination :confused2, Reply w/ your Top Ten (Five? Three?) List of places I Must See / Must Do while in southern Spain. Cheers! PS I'd like to spend a week driving to Italy to visit Tuscany and would really appreciate having a navigator along - interested?


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

mrypg9 said:


> Yesterday evening around 7p.m. I took my dog for a walk on the beach, a five minute drive from our house. It was dusk, the sky was a mixture of reddish clouds and azure with a few stars. There was an occasional gentle warm breeze and the air was full of the scent of the sea, which had a silvery-blue watery silk sheen. In the distance I could see the outline of the Rock of Gibraltar and lights of ships on the horizon.
> We were completely alone on this beach. Not a soul in sight. At many points on the walk there were no signs of habitation as the dunes lay between the nearest houses and the strand. No road leads directly to this beach so no traffic.
> All those placers lifted above are truly worth a visit but for me walks like this on deserted beaches put the magic into everyday life in Spain...


How lucky you are, and what a lovely description!

Those dunes look pretty amazing as well donqzen!


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## donqzen (Jan 24, 2010)

*I'm here*

Arrived @ my B & B, Casa Granadina, between Comares and Riogordo Wednesday night, having not slept for 30 hours and experienced all that being-herded-through-many-airports-like-a-goat-in-a-mob thing... slept until 7 PM yesterday (1:00 in the afternoon, "my" time); had a great dinner and a chat w/ with my amazingly terrific host, Rosie b4 I crashed. Then, last night, dinner w/ Rosie @ Bar Ortega. Back to Casa G. early, but couldn't sleep. Until eary this morning. Ah, jet lag! Drove this afternoon up to the bar/restaurante that Rosie and I visited last night. Sat near some tables where men played cards, soaking up their Spanish as I took notes out of my S. phrase book. The time was a singular moment of bliss; enjoying cafe con leche that I was able to order/pay for/etc myself. A humble beginning. But a beginning! In South Korea my similar moment was me ging from shop to shop asking for matches (so I could start the burner in my apt and make tea).Off to Riogordo tomorrow for petrol and hopefully a good road map. Baby steps.


donqzen said:


> Arriving Malaga AGP a week from today, Wednesday, 10 February, D can't wait - it's 28 degrees F and snowing here in Michigan, US)staying near Comares for six weeks b4 returning to US. Really enjoy meeting new friends. Will have rental car. Plan to visit a different village, city, park each day. No itinerary. This first visit will help me decide if I want to buy a home in Andalucia. I do a lot of hiking, so the general idea is to strike out each day in the car to some place I haven't yet been, park the car, and just poke around all day on foot....be in a bar/cafe for dinner, and head back to the B&B (probably) late each night. Want to meet as many people, get as many different perspectives, drink as many different beers, sample as many local dishes/meals/cuisine, see as many sites, learn as much Spanish as I can in six weeks, soooo.... I'd like to meet up with anyone/everyone, expat or otherwise..... name the place and the time. Or, if you haven't the time (or the inclination :confused2, Reply w/ your Top Ten (Five? Three?) List of places I Must See / Must Do while in southern Spain. Cheers! PS I'd like to spend a week driving to Italy to visit Tuscany and would really appreciate having a navigator along - interested?


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## dgjamison (Jul 6, 2009)

donqzen said:


> Arrived @ my B & B, Casa Granadina, between Comares and Riogordo Wednesday night, having not slept for 30 hours and experienced all that being-herded-through-many-airports-like-a-goat-in-a-mob thing... slept until 7 PM yesterday (1:00 in the afternoon, "my" time); had a great dinner and a chat w/ with my amazingly terrific host, Rosie b4 I crashed. Then, last night, dinner w/ Rosie @ Bar Ortega. Back to Casa G. early, but couldn't sleep. Until eary this morning. Ah, jet lag! Drove this afternoon up to the bar/restaurante that Rosie and I visited last night. Sat near some tables where men played cards, soaking up their Spanish as I took notes out of my S. phrase book. The time was a singular moment of bliss; enjoying cafe con leche that I was able to order/pay for/etc myself. A humble beginning. But a beginning! In South Korea my similar moment was me ging from shop to shop asking for matches (so I could start the burner in my apt and make tea).Off to Riogordo tomorrow for petrol and hopefully a good road map. Baby steps.


Really enjoying your thread, sitting here in cold Ontario bored, wishing I was in the warmth of spain, enjoying a Cafe con leche, please keep letting us know how you are getting on in your journey, have a lovely holiday, how long are you there for?:ranger:


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## donqzen (Jan 24, 2010)

*thanks dj good hearing from you*

Perhaps we can sit in a Spanish cafe sometime, you with yours and me with mine, and all enjoy some cafe together. Sadly, I only have six weeks left here. Unless I decide just to stay permanently. One can always be Open to all the possibilities. Please note that I am as shackled to the dollar as the next guy. No trust-fund child, this one! I'm still adjusting - or not - to the new time zone; my mind frequently says 'go to sleep now', but my body just won't cooperate... but it'll happen soon. Also, not so much sunshine here. Yet. Not that that's a complaint. Coming from Michigan, temps between the 50s and 60s are just fine, thank you very much. And the sound of the rain on the roof is very nice. 

Here are my initial - thus, probaly wrong - impressions: back home, in, say, 20 years, driving, for me, barring some dramatic shift in my health, will not be an issue; The roads are flat (-ish), straight, broad, and (though my compadres would scoff to see me say it here) decently-maintained. The roads here are more severe than I thought. As I looked at all those terrific vistas drooled over on HGTV shows collectively, and in, say, Google Images on my own, I guess I thought the roads would be a little more accommodating, a little more Jim-friendly. And mind you, I really enjoy driving winding roads. But the roads here are only borderline so; I was shocked to see a lorre negotiating one today. One gets the impression that an old burro trail was dolted on a smidge and then paved over and some guard rails planted here and there. They are narrow! And the penalty for the least inattention would be severe at best. So, in twenty years, I dunno... could be an issue. So in spending my winters here, would I be drastically reducing the years of complete mobility that I enjoy now? On the upside, I am a hiker. Walk many miles every day at home. Up in Leelanau, I hike the dune trails - lots of up-and-down there - a lot. 10 miles in a long afternoon is not unusual. Here, I don't have to walk nearly those distances to get the same effect. The ground here is really sheer. More dramatic than in Tuscany certainly. There, one encountered only the occasional hairpin turn; Tuscany is Andalucia stretched out a bit.
Then there's water. As a global trend, drinking water is on the decline, and I want to address that issue b4 ever deciding on a place to settle for awhile. First impression here? ....not going to be a problem. Lots of rain in the winter. Lots of streams, rivers. But I'm keeping me ears open lest I run into a limnologist or someone who is an expert on Spanish aquaphers. Obviously, I think Boomers, for example, moving to Arizona to live out their days - well, that's just idiotic...they haven't enough water as it is. And they've already come up to My Great Lakes, knocking at the door, 'can we borrow a cup of water?'....


dgjamison said:


> Really enjoying your thread, sitting here in cold Ontario bored, wishing I was in the warmth of spain, enjoying a Cafe con leche, please keep letting us know how you are getting on in your journey, have a lovely holiday, how long are you there for?:ranger:


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## dgjamison (Jul 6, 2009)

donqzen said:


> Perhaps we can sit in a Spanish cafe sometime, you with yours and me with mine, and all enjoy some cafe together. Sadly, I only have six weeks left here. Unless I decide just to stay permanently. One can always be Open to all the possibilities. Please note that I am as shackled to the dollar as the next guy. No trust-fund child, this one! I'm still adjusting - or not - to the new time zone; my mind frequently says 'go to sleep now', but my body just won't cooperate... but it'll happen soon. Also, not so much sunshine here. Yet. Not that that's a complaint. Coming from Michigan, temps between the 50s and 60s are just fine, thank you very much. And the sound of the rain on the roof is very nice.
> 
> Here are my initial - thus, probaly wrong - impressions: back home, in, say, 20 years, driving, for me, barring some dramatic shift in my health, will not be an issue; The roads are flat (-ish), straight, broad, and (though my compadres would scoff to see me say it here) decently-maintained. The roads here are more severe than I thought. As I looked at all those terrific vistas drooled over on HGTV shows collectively, and in, say, Google Images on my own, I guess I thought the roads would be a little more accommodating, a little more Jim-friendly. And mind you, I really enjoy driving winding roads. But the roads here are only borderline so; I was shocked to see a lorre negotiating one today. One gets the impression that an old burro trail was dolted on a smidge and then paved over and some guard rails planted here and there. They are narrow! And the penalty for the least inattention would be severe at best. So, in twenty years, I dunno... could be an issue. So in spending my winters here, would I be drastically reducing the years of complete mobility that I enjoy now? On the upside, I am a hiker. Walk many miles every day at home. Up in Leelanau, I hike the dune trails - lots of up-and-down there - a lot. 10 miles in a long afternoon is not unusual. Here, I don't have to walk nearly those distances to get the same effect. The ground here is really sheer. More dramatic than in Tuscany certainly. There, one encountered only the occasional hairpin turn; Tuscany is Andalucia stretched out a bit.
> Then there's water. As a global trend, drinking water is on the decline, and I want to address that issue b4 ever deciding on a place to settle for awhile. First impression here? ....not going to be a problem. Lots of rain in the winter. Lots of streams, rivers. But I'm keeping me ears open lest I run into a limnologist or someone who is an expert on Spanish aquaphers. Obviously, I think Boomers, for example, moving to Arizona to live out their days - well, that's just idiotic...they haven't enough water as it is. And they've already come up to My Great Lakes, knocking at the door, 'can we borrow a cup of water?'....


You know you are so right, I never thought of the narrow roads!!!!, I have been to spain many times and my sister owns an apartment near the portugese border, on the Costa de la Luz, so we have driven over there and yes I had forgotten how narrow they were, and how terrible the spanish drivers can be!!! The roads over here are wide and flat- ish even I can drive with confidence. I have heard parts of spain have problems with water, although I think costa del sol is ok because of the sierra nevada, but am not 100% on that.... I am not sure they always get a lot of rain in the winter, maybe Jan and a bit of Feb, but have been there in Feb, and although gets cold after sun goes down has been mostly dry. Having said that, the world is changing, Texas is getting 2ft of snow Today???? All the southern states are getting a hard time this year, and yet here in Ontario it has been one of their mildest winters, and very little snow, so god knows what next year will bring. Enjoy your time there and yes maybe one day a cafe together would be nice, keep us informed of your journey, good Luck
djam:ranger:


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Ok so first impressions are of the roads and the water. Narrow mountain roads can be pretty scary, but you don't have to live at the end of one of those roads, and if you do, I'm sure you'd get used to it.
As far as the water situation goes, I'm sorry to tell you Spain has big water problems and Andalucia has desertification problems in some areas and has had for ages. The spaghetti westerns of the 70's were made in Almeria I think it was and there were lots of "desert" scenes in those. There has been talk of diverting rivers, tankers of water were taken to Catalonia last year (the year before??) desalination plants have been built with more planned. But golf courses are still built???????????


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## jojo (Sep 20, 2007)

Pesky Wesky said:


> ..... I'm sorry to tell you Spain has big water problems and Andalucia has desertification problems in some areas and has had for ages.....


Thats hard to believe at the mo LOL Its hardly stopped raining since christmas. Its tipping it down now and everywheres flooded!! 

Jo xxx


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

jojo said:


> Thats hard to believe at the mo LOL Its hardly stopped raining since christmas. Its tipping it down now and everywheres flooded!!
> 
> Jo xxx


 
Yes, I know, thanks to your posts about rivers appearing at the end of your road etc!!
I know it's hard to believe, but it's an ongoing situation, not smth that's solved by one rainy winter. Think about how hot it was in the summer!!Before this lot of bad weather it hadn't rained for more or less a year here. A YEAR!! And it really hasn't rained a lot or snowed that much to make a difference here.
Anyway, as Steve isn't around to find a depressing newspaper article, I've done it for him. It's a little out of date, but it doesn't matter, the same info applies
Spain's worst drought for a generation leaves water and comradeship in short supply - Times Online


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## donqzen (Jan 24, 2010)

*It's 10 PM here and*

B&B (amazingly wonderful) proprietress Rosie _just showed me video on her laptop that she took 2 months ago of rain water like a little river rushing down the steps outside, not 10 feet from where I'm sitting now. One actually has to cross over a ford - as in, tires under water as you cross this little nearby (say, 200' away) river - arroyo - up to the rims (it's so cool) - and in the video, that river is up, of course, and you see how no one would try fording the river then. She also showed me video from on the terrific (steel, 'swinging') foot bridge that shows the river in fast-mode, but still no where near challenging it's banks. It wasn't the river that had moved itself such that it could turn her little step-way into a mill slough... it was just rain water that over-abundant. Btw, if anyone 'out there' in Thread Land is contemplating visiting southern Spain, you MUST sign into this absolutely-amazing B & B, Casa Granadina Comfortable Accommodation,Good Food,Walking Activities ...... a hundred-yr old Andalucian home w/ thick, stone walls all painted white... Lemon and orange trees all about - I picked an orange off one for my breakfast/lunch 2day. We have really-terrific, world-class B&Bs in Leelanau County, Michigan, US too - if anyone is on a :B&B Quest', you'd have to include those. But this B&B is stellar. Accommodations for lots of people-at-a-time it has not...but I've only been here, like, what? ...50 hours, and I feel like I am in my home. Only better!  I already know that, when I leave, I 'm going to feel about Casa Granadina and Rosie the same way I've been feeling these past five years about Il Caminetto in Mura. I don't think I am able to post the photos I just took today...but if nothing else, I'll figure a way to get them to anyone interested via the e-address dedicated to this trip. It is, as near as I can tell being a Newbie and all, quintessentially southern Spain. I will amend that when I leave if need be, but I will be surprised to find myself doing it. This 'plan' worked out very well for me in Tuscany and South Korea as well: stay in one place and treat that place as a hub in a wheel, and strike out from there for various destinations - - you see a 'List-ful' of destinations, but gain the Familiarity that you would otherwise miss with one little place . To this day, I feel almost a familial attachment to a family restaurante in tiny Mura, Italy because, after having spent the day in Fiernza or Siena or along the Chianti Road...my daughter and I would be back at Il Caminetto for dinner; when we left, we gave the hostess a little Michigan souvenir, and she gave us a bottle of their house wine. _ 



Pesky Wesky said:


> Yes, I know, thanks to your posts about rivers appearing at the end of your road etc!!
> I know it's hard to believe, but it's an ongoing situation, not smth that's solved by one rainy winter. Think about how hot it was in the summer!!Before this lot of bad weather it hadn't rained for more or less a year here. A YEAR!! And it really hasn't rained a lot or snowed that much to make a difference here.
> Anyway, as Steve isn't around to find a depressing newspaper article, I've done it for him. It's a little out of date, but it doesn't matter, the same info applies
> Spain's worst drought for a generation leaves water and comradeship in short supply - Times Online


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## Pesky Wesky (May 10, 2009)

Sounds like you have to read this book. Among other things it mentions the river that grows out of nowhere each year and this guy has to build a bridge over it every year. A classic for anyone interested in South Spain

Driving Over Lemons by Chris Stewart


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