When we docked in Malaga, Robert and I decided to branch out to see the Spanish countryside. (There will be many stops with cathedrals, forts and ruins in the days ahead.) Booking a 4X4 tour, our guide would drive us through fir and oak forests to head up the steep mountains of a nearby national park. For me, the day would also include a bit of a journey back in history.
A day earlier, when Robert and I traveled to the top of Gibraltar, we saw more than the giant rock and its famous Barbary Apes. We also gazed upon the shores of Morocco across the straits. Another continent was so close. Seeing it reminded me how the Moors conquered the Iberian Peninsula more than a millennium ago.
We were reminded of that historical fact again in Malaga. As our guide drove the 4X4 out of the city, he noted that the Moors lived in this Andalusian region of Spain for far longer than the Catholics, who after all only entered 500 years ago. Our route away from the coast and into the pine-covered mountains followed an old mule path that once connected the port of Malaga with the inland city of Granada. This was also the route used by disposed Moors in the fifteenth century to retreat from the coast into the hills and escape the conquering Catholic kings. Apparently, in these hard-to-reach valleys of the Sierra Tejeda, the Islamic refugees were left alone.
The guide noted that in the small villages of the hills that we were about to visit, we would still see elements of Moorish architecture and would hear the tones of Arabic in the spoken Spanish. My ear is not good enough to pick up tones of abandoned languages, but we definitely saw the architectural elements in the small communities of Frigiliana, Acebuchal and Cómpeta. At the same time, these towns glimmered with the gloss of modern rehabilitation and polish. Buildings seem almost too charming to be true.
The same couldn’t be said of the mountain trails we traversed—steep, marked by continuous switchbacks, filled with boulders and ruts, and edged by drops of hundreds of feet lacking both guardrails or trees to keep your from a tumbling disaster—they provided both a thrilling ride and beautiful views. Luckily, I wasn’t driving or our 90-day trip would already be over.
At the end of the mountain trek, we ended up in a café in Cómpeta’s central plaza. Sipping local sherry and snacking on green olives cured with thyme and tapas of local ham and a Spanish tortilla with potato and hot peppers, we snacked under a shining sun and a bright blue sky, cooled by a light breeze that filtered up from the sea miles away. It would have been a delight to linger longer.
But it was time to return to the ship and head toward Malta.
Robert adds: Sailing into the Straits of Gibraltar is one of the special wonders of cruising, with a different continent on each side, plus many other ships large and small going in and out. Fun Fact: the water in the Mediterranean Sea is saltier than the water of the Atlantic Ocean. Who knew? I was also interested to see many tall wind turbines on both sides of the Strait.
I will add two things to Dennis’ commentary about our 4×4 jaunt outside of Malaga. First is another Fun Fact, that Malaga is Europe’s southernmost city. I had to blink and think twice about that, certain that it couldn’t be true, what with Italy’s “boot” sticking down into the sea. But sure enough, look at the map…I learned something new.
And about the Moorish influence on the Spanish language, I learned that pretty much any Spanish word starting with “al” is probably Moorish in origin. I was reminded of the “Alfama” district we walked through in Lisbon, and also the Alhambra, and Alcazar in Spain. Quite by accident, I also glanced at the atlas on display in the ship’s library and noticed that the Egyptian city of Alexandria was similarly “al” inspired. Along the same lines, while we were bouncing up and down the mountain road, we were surrounded at one point by large flowering trees. Dennis and I should have recognized these, having seen them many times in central California, but we were drawing a blank. I asked our driver, and he called them almendra trees (in Spanish), ie. almond. Again, “al.” He also told us that the entire region used to be predominantly used for olives and grapes, but about 10 years or so ago, everyone started planting avocado groves and they were everywhere. So much of the typical Mediterranean climate flora that we know as “normal” in California, and which evokes oohs and aahs from our fellow passengers from Canada, England and the like. You should hear them exclaim about a gigantic overhang of bougainvillea against a white stucco home, and the Californians among our group shrug with a big “enh.” HA!
To check out Dennis’s novels, visit www.amazon.com/author/dennisfrahmann
frahmannthoughts 
When you were in Gibraltar, you were at the location which archeologists have determined to be one, if not the only, last holdout of a small group of Neanderthals, about 30,000 years ago.
Meeps!
Here is where I might caption the upper photo “Robert checks for familial resemblance,” but that would be rude. Especially since he knows where we live!
“Al” be making a quick exit now.