Beautiful Grazalema
What an amazing weekend we just had. We paid a visit to what has been voted one of the most beautiful towns in Spain, Grazalema.
Grazalema is located just a few minutes away from Ronda in the gorgeous "Serania de Grazalema" natural park. The village is just stunning and immaculately kept with some breathtaking views. We knew Grazalema was going to be special but we just didn't realise how special it is. You just have to see this place. It's not huge by any means, in fact it's actually quite a small village, but there are many established walks that you can take around the mountains and breathe in the super clean fresh mountain air.
We were lucky to have met up in Grazalema, with Maria de Castro, who is the lawyer who often contributes to our newsletter, as her family is originally from the village. Maria just happened to be there this weekend too. She took us to an excellent restaurant just off the main "Plaza de Espana" square in an area known locally as "Puerto Banus" (as there's more than one restaurant in that area!!).
So we had a long look around this prettiest of villages before heading off to our hotel.
Susan had booked us into a hotel called El Horcajo. I don't think at the time she really realised where this hotel actually was. You see, after leaving the village we spent the next hour just trying to find the hotel. We had no idea that it was going to be in the middle of nowhere with few signs pointing to it. But what a hotel! It's smack bang in the middle of the mountains, totally rural. It's a 170 year old country house that's been converted into an hotel. We just couldn't have wished for a more perfect location.
The scenery around the hotel is just amazing, the air is just so fresh, it's a beautiful place. The kids loved it. The rooms are more like small townhouses all next to each other.
If you're in the area you really should consider this hotel. It's really something else. For the four of us, including a lovely dinner, the bill came to 160 Euros for the night's stay. More than worth it in my opinion. It's is quite awkward to find so make sure you really do try and get the best directions to it and take the phone number of the hotel in case you get lost. Also, it was interesting to note that there were no Brits at the hotel, they were mainly French and German.
The next morning we headed off taking a long journey back home. We took a very scenic route (read winding and long) through various towns. We first came to Zahara de la Sierra which is another stunning village overlooking a huge beautiful lake. Totally breathtaking.
We then went on to the town of Ubrique which is famous for it's leather. There are many factories manufacturing leather goods in Ubrique and no woman there is seen without her leather handbag! To be honest, after the delights of Grazalema and Zahara de la Sierra, we we're overly impressed with Ubrique. It looks much less un-cared for and generally just much more industrialised. So off we went again.
We stopped for lunch at a venta in Cortes de la Frontera. It was nice but did actually give us a bad tummy afterwards! Cortes is a nice village with more stunning views. We didn't stop there for long as we made our way back to Manilva via Gaucin.
So, what a great weekend it really was. We just saw so much, took in the fresh mountain air and enjoyed every minute of it. We're thinking of going back to the El Horcajo hotel in the summer as they have a pool there and the setting is just of total relaxation...and we can visit Grazalema again!
Grazalema is located just a few minutes away from Ronda in the gorgeous "Serania de Grazalema" natural park. The village is just stunning and immaculately kept with some breathtaking views. We knew Grazalema was going to be special but we just didn't realise how special it is. You just have to see this place. It's not huge by any means, in fact it's actually quite a small village, but there are many established walks that you can take around the mountains and breathe in the super clean fresh mountain air.
We were lucky to have met up in Grazalema, with Maria de Castro, who is the lawyer who often contributes to our newsletter, as her family is originally from the village. Maria just happened to be there this weekend too. She took us to an excellent restaurant just off the main "Plaza de Espana" square in an area known locally as "Puerto Banus" (as there's more than one restaurant in that area!!).
So we had a long look around this prettiest of villages before heading off to our hotel.
Susan had booked us into a hotel called El Horcajo. I don't think at the time she really realised where this hotel actually was. You see, after leaving the village we spent the next hour just trying to find the hotel. We had no idea that it was going to be in the middle of nowhere with few signs pointing to it. But what a hotel! It's smack bang in the middle of the mountains, totally rural. It's a 170 year old country house that's been converted into an hotel. We just couldn't have wished for a more perfect location.
The scenery around the hotel is just amazing, the air is just so fresh, it's a beautiful place. The kids loved it. The rooms are more like small townhouses all next to each other.
If you're in the area you really should consider this hotel. It's really something else. For the four of us, including a lovely dinner, the bill came to 160 Euros for the night's stay. More than worth it in my opinion. It's is quite awkward to find so make sure you really do try and get the best directions to it and take the phone number of the hotel in case you get lost. Also, it was interesting to note that there were no Brits at the hotel, they were mainly French and German.
The next morning we headed off taking a long journey back home. We took a very scenic route (read winding and long) through various towns. We first came to Zahara de la Sierra which is another stunning village overlooking a huge beautiful lake. Totally breathtaking.
We then went on to the town of Ubrique which is famous for it's leather. There are many factories manufacturing leather goods in Ubrique and no woman there is seen without her leather handbag! To be honest, after the delights of Grazalema and Zahara de la Sierra, we we're overly impressed with Ubrique. It looks much less un-cared for and generally just much more industrialised. So off we went again.
We stopped for lunch at a venta in Cortes de la Frontera. It was nice but did actually give us a bad tummy afterwards! Cortes is a nice village with more stunning views. We didn't stop there for long as we made our way back to Manilva via Gaucin.
So, what a great weekend it really was. We just saw so much, took in the fresh mountain air and enjoyed every minute of it. We're thinking of going back to the El Horcajo hotel in the summer as they have a pool there and the setting is just of total relaxation...and we can visit Grazalema again!
posted by Eye on Spain at 9:34 AM
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