Suddenly, my bike and I were sliding down a mountain pass in Spain, wondering if I was going to hit another car coming up the road. I had just turned 70 and maybe I was trying to prove that I was still 29 or something, hammering up the Puerto de las Palomas ahead of the rest of the group I was with. I crested the top, put on a wind jacket and started the descent. I was being careful— staying on my side of the narrow winding road and slowing for any curves I came to… then, as I came to a sharp, blind curve, I found myself face to face with a van coming up the mountain! I grabbed my brakes and that put me into a sideways skid towards the side of the van since by then he had veered back toward his side of the road. I slammed full force into the side of the van, after which I went down and slid another 15 feet on the road before coming to a stop. Miraculously, I didn’t seem to be hurt and although my jacket was shredded on the left side, I barely had a scratch. I picked up parts from the bike that had broken off and then made my way to the side of the road and sat on one of the barriers on the side of the road that would have been the only thing between me and oblivion if I had missed or glanced off the van. The driver got out, started yelling at me in Spanish, and pointed to the body sized dent in the side of the van and the left taillight that had been broken off by my impact. He didn’t seem to be concerned that he had just had a collision with a bicyclist or that he was a major cause of the wreck since he had been on my side of the road on a blind corner. Sonya by now had made it down on her e-bike and came to the scene of the car in the middle of the road and me sitting on the barrier. All she knew was that something had happened, that I was involved, and she was incredibly relieved to find out I seemed to be okay. The driver took off as soon as he saw that there were people starting to gather since he probably did not want to have anyone question him or take any pictures. Not once did he come over to ask if I was okay.
We had started our trip by flying into Madrid after which we took one of the impressively fast trains to Malaga on the south coast where we stayed for two nights before meeting our Trek guides at the hotel. Malaga is a beautiful port city that dates back 2,700 years to the Phoenicians, Carthaginians, and the Romans; followed by the Moors who built a hilltop palace and fortress, the Alcazaba, on top of the Roman and Phoenician ruins. The vibrant shops, restaurants, and beaches, with the attractive ruins towering above the city, ensured a steady stream of visitors including cruise ships that come to port to disgorge visitors for a couple hours each day to wander around the enchanting, prosperous looking streets. The city was the birthplace of Picasso and there is a great museum with works from his prolific life. There is also an impressive cathedral that displayed the wealth of the city built on the foundation and walls of a mosque that had been built by the Moors.
The riding was mostly on secondary roads through rolling hills filled with endless olive groves which is a significant export from this part of Spain. The group of 16 was split just about evenly between e-bikes and regular road bikes and there were three guides who catered to our needs— even putting the days routes into our Garmin cycle computer before each day’s ride. The bikes were good quality Trek bikes, Domane- SL7, carbon frames, electronic shifting, that fit very well since Trek asked for a detailed list of measurements before the trip. Three of the days had significant mileage and vertical and the roads were in good shape with incredibly smooth pavement (see 15-foot slide above, but no road rash!). It was amazing to ride through hill-top medieval towns with defensive walls and houses built into the surrounding bedrock, and on one of the days our route followed a portion of the Vuelta.
Andalucia is a beautiful part of Spain with rolling hills filled with olive groves, picturesque towns, and a history influenced by the Moors, who ruled this part of Spain for almost 800 years and lent some of the distinct architecture, music, and food that the region is known for. Andalucia has probably some of the best food I have ever eaten anywhere— paella, fresh fish, creative vegan dishes, tasty but not filling desserts— a real mix of dishes and fresh ingredients everywhere we went.
We spent the first three nights in a five-star hotel/ villa isolated from the main roads in a beautiful rural setting and a restaurant on the premises with amazing food, Finca la Bobadilla. The next three nights were at another great hotel in the heart of Ronda with sweeping views of the mountains from its elevated perch above the valley, Catalonia Reina Victoria. Ronda is a beautiful medieval town with an iconic bridge that connects the old and new parts of town across a gorge. In both places, the guides had selected bicycle routes that looped from the hotel out to the surrounding countryside and then back to where we were staying for the night. One night, we had a local guide, “Jesus,” take us around and talk about the history and sights of this beautiful town.
The history of Ronda stretches back millennia with evidence of neolithic settlements nearby. The Celts occupied this defensible rocky outcrop in the 6th century BCE, followed by the Phoenicians, who were in turn replaced by the Romans in the second century BCE. These settlements, including Ronda, thrived until the fall of Rome in the 5th century CE, after which the area declined until the arrival of the Moors in 711 CE. The Moors established Ronda as a regional center and many of the Roman era buildings were replaced or added to: Mosques, the Arab baths, the Mondragon Palace (now the Municpal Museum of Ronda), fortification of the walls, and a low bridge that spanned the gorge well below the city that was built on the foundations of an earlier Roman bridge. Ronda flourished under the Moors from 711 until May 20,1485, when the strategic town was captured by the catholic monarchs, Isabella and Ferdinand, as part of their campaign to retake Granada, the last stronghold of the Moors in Spain.
Probably the most well-known feature of Ronda today, though, is the Puente Nuevo bridge which was completed in 1793. It was the completion of this bridge that allowed the city to develop the way that it looks today with the old city on one side, and the new city on the other. Most of the churches are still in the old part of the city characterized by older Moorish style buildings, and narrow streets and alleys; whereas the bullring (Spain’s oldest), market, and plaza are in the new part of the town. Esthetically, it makes for a beautiful city connected by the soaring bridge 120 meters above the Guadalevín River in the El Tajo Gorge far below.
After six days of great cycling, we ended the Trek Travel part of our trip in Seville where we spent two nights on our own in the boutique Amadeus hotel in the old Jewish quarter of the old city. We wandered the streets of the old city that had been a Moorish capital of Andalusia, which had a lasting impact on the city’s architecture and heritage. The city was captured by Christian forces in 1248 and this led to Seville’s distinctive building styles that are a mix of Moorish and Christian including Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque. The Seville Cathedral is a good example of this cultural appropriation where the Christian cathedral (third largest in the world) was built by modifying the existing Mosque. Many of the Moorish features of that structure including the courtyard with ablution fountain, the Minaret, and the arched doorways were retained. After discovery of the Americas, Seville became one of Spain’s most powerful and wealthiest cities since it was granted a monopoly on trade with the New World by the crown. Starting in 1503, every ship traveling to or from the Americas had to sail through Seville to register its cargo and pay taxes. This continued until the Guadalquivir River silted up, which made it harder for large ships to navigate, and the trade monopoly was transferred to Cádiz in 1717 which led to Seville’s eventual decline.
We rented a car in Seville and drove to Granada but first stopped at the small town of Antequera with the impressive UNESCO World Heritage site of the perfectly preserved ancient Antequera Dolmen, which includes Dolmen of Viera, Dolmen of Menga, and the Tholos of El Romeral. There are literally thousands of these structures throughout Europe and the British Isles. But the Dolmen of Menga is significant due to its age (3,700 BC); its size (the inner chamber is 82 feet in length, 16 feet wide, and 11 feet high); the size of the capstones (the heaviest is estimated to be 150 tons); and the precision used to lay these enormous stones. The side support stones are angled at precisely 84-85 degrees which leads to a stable trapezoidal shape that has supported the enormous capstones through earthquakes, wars, and the weathering of time for 5,700 years. The center pillars are precisely aligned to both support the capstones as well as serve as astronomical guideposts where on the solstice they split the chamber between dark and light along this central axis. There was an article published just last year in Science that discusses the sophisticated masonry and engineering employed by these ancient neolithic builders. Early engineering of a neolithic Dolmen. Science, 2024.
We then continued to Granada where we spent two nights and toured Alhambra, the Moorish palace and fortress UNESCO world heritage site that is a masterpiece of Islamic architecture. The grounds, architecture, and gardens have inspired people for hundreds of years for the way they fit into the beautiful surroundings, overlooking the city of Granada and the nearby Sierra Nevada mountains. Granada was the last stronghold of the Moors in Spain, and the city fell to the Christians in 1492. The era of Moorish rule, known as Al-Andalus, was marked by significant cultural and scientific achievement, with advancements in fields such as mathematics, astronomy, and medicine. The Moors were also known for their general tolerance of other religions, and during their rule there were Christian, Jewish, and Muslim communities living side by side. After the Reconquista, however, both Muslims and Jews in Spain were given the choice to convert to Christianity or be expelled. Jews were given until July 1492 to leave Spain through the Alhambra Decree, while Muslims faced forced conversion after rebellions and were eventually expelled in the 17th century.
For the final leg of our trip to Spain, we drove down to the Costa del Sol where we spent some time wandering the streets of one of the White Villages, Frigiliana, and stayed a few nights in a hotel overlooking the ocean in the seaside town of Nerja.
All in all, a great trip, and as I said before, some of the best food we have ever had!
