When you drive through the southern Spanish region of Andalusia you are bound to see some of the famous white villages of the area. We drive from Jerez – with a sufficient delay so the local product is no longer in the system – towards Gibraltar. On the way we go through one of the best of the white villages in the area, and we need a place to go for a quick lunch as well.

We get to the old town of Arcos de la Frontera and find a place to park just outside the old part of town. So we drop the car and prepare to walk a bit up hill to the old town which is located on a couple of small streets along a ridge. The old town of Arcos de la Frontera is quite small and only consists of couple of long winding streets going along the ridge. So it is very hard to get lost in this old town.

When we start walking along the street we pass a few different old buildings which are fairly impressive and then we make it to the main Cabildo square which is home to the basilica of the city and the Ducal castle – the castle is still lived in by a private family hence the access to the castle is very limited to a few days a year – and our visit doesn’t correspond with one of those special days. So we only see the castle from the outside and go to the end of the square from where there are a great view of the valley below the city with a river and a few bridges.





Down at the view point at the square is a man with a few birds of preys – he offer the visitors to get there photo taken with one of the birds – but I am not so found of having my photo taken with a wild bird so I just take a few photos of the birds hanging around at the view point.



The city continues along the ridge on the other side of the square and we continue along the winding streets. It is a pretty city and very enjoyable to go and see the many houses in the old town. We continue the wonder through the town until we reach a view point at the far end of the town which looks like it is the final part of the town.









Then we head back along the small streets and find a small restaurant inside a big courtyard – which is nice since there are no wind hence the winter sun is warm enough to sit inside the courtyard without a jacket enjoying a little selection of tapas and drinks.
You take nice pictures, white houses to cool off from the very hot weather. However, Andalucia is an autonomous region and has 8 provinces :Almeria;Cadiz, Cordoba, Granada, Huelva ,Jaén, Malagà, and Sevilla. Those towns were call Jerez de la Frontera, Arcos de la Frontera etc because as the Christian army was advancing against the moors:muslims the land conquered became the new frontier. Cheers
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I assumed that was the reason for the name frontera. and it just stuck when the border moved further south.
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You’ve brought lots of happy memories back to me of staying in the white villages over the years!
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I am glad. The White villages of the area are stunning.
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Lovely villages. Great photos. Shame the birds are all attached to ropes isn’t it. They should be free!!
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I feel the same way – that’s why I didn’t pay for a Photo with a bird and just took these instead with no pay.
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