Los Pueblos Blancos

Andalusia is famous for the White Villages (Los Pueblos Blancos)... the villages that try to keep cool in the long hot summer by whitewashing their houses every spring.

Many of these villages were founded by Berber tribes who settled the area during the eight centuries of Moorish presence. They were hill farmers and the land that they settled in Andalucia was similar to that which they had left behind in North Africa. Because of the constant threat of attack - the Reconquest was bound to come sooner or later - they chose sites which were high and easy to defend.

Algamitas

Setenil de la Bodegas

Possibly the most unique pueblo blanco is Setenil de las Bodegas, a town that grew out of a network of caves in the cliffs above the rio Trejo, north-west of Ronda. The blinding white houses seem to grow out of the rocks, some homes even have rock roofs and olive groves on top....

Setenil de la Bodegas

Setenil de la Bodegas

I loved exploring the steep, winding streets....

And peeking inside the beautiful, tiled hallways of the houses, with their doors left ajar...

Or sipping a drink in the traditional bars, like this one....

A world away from Sin City!

All drinks were one euro... cafe con leche (white coffee), cola or cervisia (beer)... it's a good system!

And in amongst all those white houses, the odd brightly coloured one...