White towns, grey rocks, blue skies

Around where we stayed in Spain there are lots of little white towns. One was signposted nearby, so we drove the very steep and winding road to Comares one day to have a walk around.

The town was so high up so as well as admiring the town, we were treated to magnificent views across the valley.

There was a path with  tile footprints to follow, although we diverted from this towards the end due to the large amount of stray dogs.

Another day we drove to El Torcal, a national park famed for strange rock formations. The limestone has been eroded by wind and water, leaving interesting shapes in the rocks.

It reminded us a bit of when we visited Bryce Canyon in the USA (only smaller, and grey).

At one point we saw a herd of mountain goats- one balanced right on top of a rock with a perfect silhouette, but my phone could not zoom in that far. The agility those creatures have is amazing though.

It was also freezing cold here! When sheltered by the rocks we were OK, but when you got to the edge of the mountain the wind whipping up the sides was chilling (and so strong that it was nearly blowing my phone out of my hands- I couldn’t hold it still enough for a proper photo!).

The clouds were covering the very top of the mountain at some points.

We had packed a picnic, and there were benches outside, but we wimped out and opted for a warmer lunch in the car!

Another day we opted for another beach trip. This time we headed to Nerja, which came recommended as having less concrete monstrosities and a pretty view.

We were very pleased with our choice. It was a really windy day, so the sea had huge swells and lines of waves crashing into the rocks and beach.

It was hard to capture, but the waves that were rolling in were enormous.

I love this photo, the water was almost silvery, and not a weird instagram filter in sight.

We walked down the beach for a bit, then up in the other direction, then back and into the town.

We spotted some beautiful tropical flowers (hibiscus are my favourite).

Then we walked around the town to find this beautiful cove on the other side. Again, it was teeming with people- I was still surprised to find so many people there (and so many shops and restaurants open) but I really shouldn’t be surprised.

For the last couple of days Andy had to work, so we stayed around the apartment. I spent most of the day sitting outside reading and it was bliss.

Or just looking at the birds in the trees.

A lovely end to our winter break.