And now with expectations of warmer and sunnier weather…
My Spanish feet itch to set foot on Spanish land but the first day we anchor at the river Guadalquivir in front of the town of Mazagón and on the 24th January it is too cold to swim ashore, even for a Dutch immigrant.
From there, the following day is a short, fast sail to the town of Rota, in the bay of Cadiz, a holiday destination for Spanish people and mostly known for a huge military NATO base.
We are welcomed with a spectacular sunset from the beach while we enjoy our first Spanish aperitivo in a terrace.
Although the weather is good, the winds are consistently southwest for days on, and we need a window of two days to sail to Gibraltar, with a stopover in Barbate. At least that is our plan (more on that later).
No time to get bored however, as this part of Spain has some highlights not to be missed. The ‘Ruta de los pueblos blancos’ goes from the coast into the hills of the natural park of Grazalema where we walk on an ancient Roman road. Respect for the Roman’s walking in the cold on these cobbles in their tunics and sandals!
The white villages of Ubrique, Grazalema, Benaocaz, El Bosque, Arcos de la Frontera… are indeed blinding white in the sun, without a single discordantly coloured house.
By the coast we visit Chipiona, famous for being the birth place of the famous Spanish singer Rocío Jurado (aka La Más Grande). On a different cultural note, the city of Cadiz has a beautiful cathedral, where the musician Manuel de Falla is buried, as well as a market situated in an old cloister. A passage of the market is devoted to bars and, being Saturday, it quickly fills up with locals for the aperitivo. We eat fantastic tortillas de patatas, in the classic version, but also with a modern twist of some unusual ingredients.
Surrounded by water at high tide the Castillo de Santa Catalina served as a prison for Jehova’s witnesses who refused to do a military service in the Franco times, and also earlier in the years around the civil war for war prisoners, among which my grandfather.
In between all this sightseeing we keep an eye on the weather and, by lack of better options, finally decide to leave at 4:00 at night and sail nonstop to Gibraltar. We sail comfortably close to the coast to avoid potential orca encounters through the tuna fishing areas near Barbate down to the cape of Tarifa, the most southwestern cape of Spain…and then we are hit by a wall of wind and waves: the infamous wind Levante.
Luckily it’s only two hours beating against until we reach the Bay of Algeciras, where we moor at the Marina of La Linea, right under the Rock of Gibraltar.
Our stay here is marked by family visits. With Gemma and Theo, our first overnight guests, we visit Gibraltar and go all the way up with the cable car to see the famous monkeys. Although Gibraltar is British territory, it has a big Spanish influence and it feels a bit like somewhere in between both countries.
Also near here is the largest forest of cork oaks of Europe, Los Alcornocales park, where we visit the tiny pitoresque village of Castellar, where every corner looks like an Instagram foto.
There is also time to visit family in Algeciras, where I spent many of my childhood summers. I had a wonderful time recalling old memories with my aunt and cousins.
In the meantime we meet other liveaboards Michael and Leontien on Make My Day who have their own Youtube channel sailingmakemyday. The weather remains challenging and we keep on waiting for a respite in the atrocious Levante to head for the Costa del Sol.
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