ANDALUSIAN BACKROADS

The following day we said goodbye to Pepe and set out to find some country roads.  We checked the map for the scenic routes, and found them heading east along the base of the mountain range.  We took the twisty, windy roads along the scenic route, reading about each town in the Michelin.  After about 6 hours of this we checked in to the Hotel Berchules just in time for our siesta.

The houses in this area remind me of the Hopi Indian pueblos.  They are all simple square whitewashed buildings with flat roofs, facing south and stacked right up the mountainside, one on top of another. Each village is nestled into the hillside and just about vertical.  The streets between the houses are very narrow.  Many of them are too narrow for a car to pass.  But they are all paved with stone and have streetlights, thanks to the government investments to stimulate the economy, we think.  The towns are very clean and the people seem shy, but friendly, and we felt very safe strolling up and down the narrow alleys of the town after dinner that night.