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Sunday Mirror introduction

Learn Spanish Cooking

(near Algodonales, 85 miles from Malaga)

SET in an idyllic rural valley, Finca Alta Cocina hosts three-day residential cookery courses a world away from the roast beef, chips and lager culture on the coast. With its own olive groves and vines, this is a fabulous place to learn the secrets of traditional Spanish cuisine, based on local seasonal produce bought fresh from the market. Even if you don’t want lessons, a luxury guest block and large swimming pool make it a great base for visiting Ronda, Jerez and the spectacular Sierra de Grazalema National Park.

Where To Eat And Stay: Fine dining on site (cooked with your help if you have lessons). Three-day courses with meals and B&B cost from £310, or £250 without lessons. Extra days from £30pp. See website at www.finca-altacocina.com (there are sample recipes too) or call 0034 856 026 094.

Visit the Alhambra

(Granada, 85 miles from Malaga)

THIS vast Moorish fortress towers over the city and you need a full day to see it. With palaces and towers from the 13th Century and gorgeous gardens that go on for ever, it’s a rewarding place to visit, but confusing when you arrive. Don’t join the long ticket queue unless you need to pay cash – use a credit card in the machines then walk straight in. In peak months there’s a separate queue inside to see the best bits (the Nasrid palaces and Generalife gardens) and you have to turn up at the time printed on your ticket.

Inside Alhambra Palace

For a quick trip to the town centre, leave your car at the Alhambra and take a No 32 bus. It runs every 10 minutes, the fare is just 90p, and the circular route also takes you to a superb viewpoint at the Mirador de San Nicolas on the opposite hill.

Where To Eat: Take a garden table at the Jardines Alberto restaurant near the ticket office (three-course set menu with drink for £11pp). Or take a picnic – there are lots of lovely spots.

Where To Stay: Push the boat out to stay in total luxury at the Parador de Granada, a historic building blending Arabic and Christian styles right in the middle of the Alhambra. B&B at this time of year costs £142pp through paradors.historichotels.es

Details: Alhambara tickets are a bargain at £10pp (concessions £5, under-8s free). Car parking by the hour. More info at www.alhambradegranada.org

Tour a Bodega

(Jerez De La Frontera, 140 miles from Malaga)

ALL the sherry in the world comes from a small area around the city of Jerez (pronounced Heh-reth) where the larger bodegas (sherry houses) run organised tours. One of the best is at Gonzalez-Byass, who make Croft Original for the British market and ultra-dry Tio Pepe for everyone else. It’s an entertaining way to spend two hours in cool and elegant surroundings – go in the afternoon siesta when the rest of the town takes a nap. A little train takes you on the first part of the tour, and highlights include a room full of casks signed by celebrities, including a valuable scrawled drawing by Pablo Picasso. Right on cue at the end of your tour a mouse emerges from the shadows to steal a sip of sherry – but he’s too quick for most cameras. Visit the colourful food and fish market in the centre of Jerez too, but remember it’s closed on Sundays and Mondays.

Where To Eat: In Jerez town centre at El Gallo Azul, a beautiful round building which features on most of the town’s postcards. Their top-notch tapas costs £1.60 per item.

Where To Stay: Hotel Bellas Artes is a converted town house near the cathedral, B&B from £33pp per night. See www.hotelbellasartes.com

Details: The Gonzalez-Byass tour costs £8pp including samples of sherry. Give the tapas option a miss. It costs £4 more and didn’t look too inviting. See www.bodegastiopepe.com

Cycle in the hills

(Olvera, 80 miles from Malaga)

The Via Verde De La Sierra is a cycle and walkway which runs through some of the loveliest countryside in Spain. Using a stretch of former railway track that never saw a train (they ran out of money), it starts at the beautiful white hill town of Olvera and ends at Puerto Serrano 22 miles away. Hire bikes for about £10 each at Estación de Olvera (the never-used station, now a hotel) and enjoy a leisurely ride through breathtaking mountain scenery. There are no steep gradients so the route is gentle enough for children and older visitors. You’ll fly over a dozen viaducts and through 30 long, cool tunnels lit by solar power. There are hotels at either end, and restaurants along the way.

Where To Eat And Stay: Bar Pepe Reyas close to Olvera’s 12th Century Moorish castle has just been reopened by a British couple, Graham and Tricia Hill from Manchester. They serve tasty tapas for just £1.20 an item, and run a local B&B too (see www.bbolvera.com.es)

Details: Download an English-language Via Verde leaflet from www.fundacionviaverdedela sierra.com and for bike hire call Estación de Olvera on 00 34 956 120 656.

See the home of bullfighting

(Ronda, 70 miles from Malaga)

Ronda’s historic bullring is where the sport’s glittering costumes and formal traditions were first established in 1785. The blood-soaked arena went on to inspire stories by Ernest Hemingway, but except for exhibition matches is now a museum. Whatever your views on bullfighting, it’s an exquisite building with a fascinating history – and a few gory exhibits like the bloodstained cloaks of famous matadors.
Ronda Gorge pic
A few steps away is the bridge over Ronda’s famous gorge, a chasm so unexpectedly deep that even the spectacular picture on this page can’t convey the breathtaking effect when you look over the parapet to see waterfalls, treetops, even tufts of cloud in a miniature landscape far below you. And all this is right in the centre of the town.

Where To Eat: There are plenty of budget options (including the only McDonalds in the region), but this grand old hill town is a good place to dine in style. Restaurante Pedro Romero opposite the bullring is named after the very first flamboyant matador, and serves superb main courses from £12 (www.rpedroromero.com).

Where To Stay: El Horcago, a rural hotel near Ronda, has overnight stays from £27.50pp when two share – see www.elhorcajo.com

Details: Bullring tours from 10am-8pm cost £4pp (see www.rmcr.org). Ronda tourist info at www.turismoderonda.es

See the Royal Gardens

(Seville, 130 miles from Malaga)

IT’S a fair old hike from the coast, but it’s worth driving this far out to see the Royal Alcazar Gardens, the most beautiful corner of the most beautiful city in Spain. Designed in the 14th Century by a Moorish king called Pedro the Cruel, there are palaces, chapels and a series of glorious palm-shaded gardens and fountains.

Gaze up at the solid gold rosettes in the wooden ceiling of the Chapel of the Navigators – they were there when Queen Isabella of Castille agreed to fund Christopher Columbus’s 15th Century voyages to the New World (after refusing him three times) and later when, thanks to his success, she could plot the conquest of Spanish America.

You emerge from the Alcazar with a magnificent view of Seville’s cathedral. And off to the right is a rabbit-warren of narrow alleys filled with bars and shops called the Barrio de Santa Cruz. It’s definitely worth lingering to see more of Seville before you head home.

Where To Eat: To keep the historic theme going, head for Horno de San Buenaventura, a bakery-cum-cafe in the shade of the cathedral in Avenue de la Consititucion. The business was first established in 1385. Yes, 1385... so be careful not to sit in Pedro the Cruel’s seat.

Where To Stay: La Casa Del Maestro is the historic home of flamenco guitarist Nino Ricardo. It has 11 rooms and is along a quiet side street within walking distance of the centre – B&B is £55.72 this month when two share. See seville.hotel-la-casa-del-maestro.tobook.com

Details: Entry tickets to the gardens cost £5pp – see www.patronato-alcazarsevilla.es – for Seville info go to www.turismo.sevilla.org and click on the English button.

Tour the High Sierra

(Grazalema, 90 miles from Malaga)

THERE’S a viewpoint on a high mountain road north of Ronda where you simply have to get out of the car to gaze in wonder all around you. From the steep hairpin bends below to the lake in the distance, from the Moorish castle on a far crag to the ranks of blue-grey mountains on the horizon, it’s so beautiful you almost can’t believe it’s real.

This is the Sierra de Grazalema National Park, a landscape of high peaks circled by rare griffon vultures, of deep limestone gorges and mysterious caves. It’s also the country’s wettest area (sadly, the rain in Spain does not fall mainly in the plain). But if it looks a little cloudy just explore the park’s picturesque white hill towns like Grazalema and Zahara de la Sierra, where you can climb up to that same castle on the crag and marvel at another astonishing view.

Where To Eat: Sit at one of the tree-shaded tables next to a pretty little church at Bar Restaurant Los Naranjos in the main street of Zahara – main courses from £5.

Where To Stay: The tourist office on Grazalema’s Plaza de Espana has local B&B lists and can help with bookings. The cooking school B&B at Finca Alta Cocina (see above) is also handy.

Details: Go to www.andalucia.com and enter Sierra De Grazalema in the search box.
Grazalema town picture
 
Published in the Sunday Mirror on June 22, 2008. Prices in article based on exchange rate at that time.
For enquiries and bookings please send email to stay@finca-altacocina.com
Or telephone us in Spain. From the UK dial 0034 856 026 094 or 0034 636 402 895