Small Towns of Spain

I debated about putting up this post because I know we will be seeing more small towns but Bruce and Nick are golfing today so I have time.  Here they are golfing with the Rock of Gibraltar in the background.

We have been spending our time in Spain mostly in small towns because that's the area where Nick lives.  We did go to a main tourist destination of Seville but honestly, I love just living the way locals do and being in small towns. You really get a feel for a place and it's people that way.  

We have now  traveled south this weekend from where Nick lives in El Puerto de Santa Maria to the Bay of Gibraltar which is about 1-1/2 hours drive.  There is a festival going on plus they wanted to play golf. Nick also wanted to check out this town called Barbate where it's main export is yellow fin tuna to Japan. Who would have guessed that? Needless to say, we had an exquisite dinner last night full of tuna dishes. Are we in Spain or Japan? The Spanish do eat a lot of fish so it really wasn't that unusual. The main difference is the bread. OMG! I do love the bread here. 

 

I'm sure Nick will be taking Sachiyo to this restaurant. We continued south from there to a town called Algeciras that is the major port linking Spain to Africa.  You can take a 30 minute ferry over to Morocco which I hope to do someday on another visit.  I would love to visit Morocco. It is on my bucket list of places to visit while Nick is living here.  This trip is sort of our "orientation trip".

We've mainly been spending time in El Puerto where Nick lives and we were curious about why he and Sachiyo chose this town over the others.  Mainly because there are lots of nice family homes, spaced out very well with nice neighborhoods. It is a 7 mile bike ride for Nick to the Base Naval de Rota where he works (I wrote about here).  Most houses have pools which is very common and many of Nick's co-workers also live here.  We went over to dinner to one of his best friend's house the other night that was 5 minutes away.  Jerry and Antoinette live just steps away from the beach in a gorgeous Spanish house and made us a traditional Spanish meal of paella.

                      

They were actually featured on House Hunters International and their episode just aired last month (Season 178, Episode 8).  I couldn't find a link to it but here is the description to their episode. 

"Washington newlyweds are moving for a new job and a new life to temperate El Puerto de Santa Maria, Spain. They're searching for their first new house together, but sea views and standalone homes threaten to get in the way of their perfect reset."

Nick has been friends with Jerry since he began working after graduating from college in 2009.  Now, they are both working at the Rota base together and live 5 minutes apart.  

They have always been golf buddies and have a lot in common, both being nuclear engineers.  Jerry recently remarried and he and Antoinette are excellent hosts, love to cook and love to entertain - my kind of people. 

Antoinette kept the beverages flowing and I will say, they know how to have a good time. 

                          

                      

And, as usual, the bread was amazing dipped in a little olive oil.

We walked over to a lookout of the beach from their house that was just a couple of blocks.  They live in such a prime location. 

I understand why Nick and Sachiyo picked El Puerto to live.  We had dinner one night in downtown El Puerto and then walked around town afterwards. 

All the towns have streets like these; small, narrow, pedestrian only streets that make it so easy to get around.  Also, all towns have an ancient church/catheral and a fort/castle.  Here is El Puerto's castle called the Castle of San Marcos.

The town next to El Puerto is Rota, where the navy base is located.  It is also very cute with lots of bars, restaurants, entertainment but the difference is that it is more compact and dense.  The houses are close together and tight.  It is perfect for a single person to live.  The beach is very easy access in Rota, as a lot of the houses, restaurants and bars are right on the beach and there is a boardwalk along the beach that is always bustling with people strolling. It’s  a very hopin' spot, for sure.  Rota is also a summer resort town along with many of the small towns along the beach around here, so for 2 months of the year, the population will quadruple.   The summer crowd is just starting to arrive now so next week they will start charging a fee for parking in the lots and it will get a lot more crowded and congested.  Here are the remains of an old lighthouse in Rota. I thought this looked so  quaint. 

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Here is the castle in Rota, called the Luna castle built in the 13th century.   It is actually still in use and this is where the mayor has his office. 

There is a beautiful courtyard inside with offices all around.  What a lovely place to work.

And across the street from the Luna castle is a 16th century church, of course. 

Jerez de la Frontera is another nearby town where the winery is located that I wrote about here. Jerez is the birthplace of sherry wine and is know for it’s abundance of bodegas or storehouses for wine or wineries, which may also do tours and have tasting bars. Jerez is part of the Sherry Triangle of Spain.  The cities of Jerez de la Frontera, Sanlúcar de Barrameda, and El Puerto de Santa María (Nick's town) are at the vertices of the triangle. So, of course, you see vineyards everywhere which makes for beautiful scenery.  This is the town where our grandchildren will take a 30 minute bus ride to their international school starting in September. 

I wrote about Sevilla here where we visited the very first hours of landing in Spain.  We'd love to go back but the 3-digit heat wave is curtailing our plans.  This weekend it is 104 degrees in Sevilla right now and where we are on the Bay of Gibraltar it is a lovely 76 degree.

We've been to another city called Cadiz that is very close to Nick's house, too.  This is where the cruise ships come in and is bustling port city.  It is believed to be the oldest continuously occupied city in Western Europe.  You can see the bridge going across to Cadiz here that was taken from the beach overlook with Jerry and Antoinette. 

Bruce and I went over there one day because there is a big shopping mall and I wanted to get a few things for Nick's house while he was at work. We had quite a successful shopping trip.  I think the stores are more stocked with merchandise here than in the U.S.  I saw all kinds of stuff I could have bought for home!  I haven't been out shopping like that in ages since before the pandemic.

I could get real use to this life, for sure.  Nick and Sachiyo made a wise decision and I hope they get a lot of visitors.  We were thinking we'd come a couple times a year but we might have to increase it to three.  Bruce and I didn't even have jet lag, either.  We had a lay-over in Paris and took a couple of naps while we waited for our plane because they had lounge-like couches to sleep on.  It was wonderful.  I also fell asleep on the plane from Paris to Seville.  So, by the time we landed, we were up and running and we've been going ever since. We have no complaints at all.  We fit right in with the Spanish life and the small town living.