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A windy, exotic and unspoilt Spain of empty Atlantic beaches on the doorstep of Africa, where the Spain ends and the wind begins. The Costa de la Luz, the Coast of Light, is an unique and marvelous place stretching from Tarifa, just north of Strait of Gibraltar, to the historical harbour of Sanlucar de Barrameda where Magellan sailed for the first circumnavigation of our planet. Swept by the Atlantic winds that once filled also Columbus's sails, Costa de la Luz remains an undiscovered paradise of beaches and dunes. Its shores witnessed the famous Battle of Trafalgar, where the Franco-Spanish fleet was defeated by the British leaded by Nelson, who died here. Arriving from the Costa del Sol, the Costa de la Luz is like open the window and breathing in a totally different world cooled by Atlantic breezes, a fascinating place where two oceans meet and two continents almost touch. At its southernmost is the town of Tarifa, a unique amalgam of kitesurfing and legends, only nine miles far from Africa, Is the windiest town in Europe, where across the water Morocco seems within swimming distance, a place with perhaps too much atmosphere where the powerful Levante wind can make people fractious.Tarifa was the very first Spanish town taken in the Arab conquest that followed 710AD and its history is full of defences and reconquests. Today is a worldwide kitesurfers paradise but there is a sense of restlessness about the place, and in the Voices of the Old Sea (1984) a fisherman told to the writer Norman Lewis, “One thing is certain, here we have always been and here, whatever happens, we shall remain, listening to the voices of the old sea”. Today the Costa de la Luz is at the same point of transition as the Costa Brava half a century ago and the Voices of the Old Sea have been replaced by a forest of wind turbines, but the wind will remain the same.like the Roman ruines looking Bolonia’s infinite sand beaches. Cadiz, the only big town of Costa de la Luz founded about 1100 BC by the Phoenicians, takes most of its present appearance from the eighteenth century when was enriched by trade with the new world, and sacked by the British. The city has tremendous atmosphere, with the luminous intensity of of Andalucian sunshine reflecting off whitewashed exteriors, and every one of its narrow cobbled streets spans centuries of history.
87 imagesA windy, exotic and unspoilt Spain of empty Atlantic beaches on the doorstep of Africa, where the Spain ends and the wind begins. The Costa de la Luz, the Coast of Light, is an unique and marvelous place stretching from Tarifa, just north of Strait of Gibraltar, to the historical harbour of Sanlucar de Barrameda where Magellan sailed for the first circumnavigation of our planet. Swept by the Atlantic winds that once filled also Columbus's sails, Costa de la Luz remains an undiscovered paradise of beaches and dunes. Its shores witnessed the famous Battle of Trafalgar, where the Franco-Spanish fleet was defeated by the British leaded by Nelson, who died here. Arriving from the Costa del Sol, the Costa de la Luz is like open the window and breathing in a totally different world cooled by Atlantic breezes, a fascinating place where two oceans meet and two continents almost touch. At its southernmost is the town of Tarifa, a unique amalgam of kitesurfing and legends, only nine miles far from Africa, Is the windiest town in Europe, where across the water Morocco seems within swimming distance, a place with perhaps too much atmosphere where the powerful Levante wind can make people fractious.Tarifa was the very first Spanish town taken in the Arab conquest that followed 710AD and its history is full of defences and reconquests. Today is a worldwide kitesurfers paradise but there is a sense of restlessness about the place, and in the Voices of the Old Sea (1984) a fisherman told to the writer Norman Lewis, “One thing is certain, here we have always been and here, whatever happens, we shall remain, listening to the voices of the old sea”. Today the Costa de la Luz is at the same point of transition as the Costa Brava half a century ago and the Voices of the Old Sea have been replaced by a forest of wind turbines, but the wind will remain the same.like the Roman ruines looking Bolonia’s infinite sand beaches. Cadiz, the only big town of Costa de la Luz founded about 1100 BC by the Phoenicians, takes most of its present appearance from the eighteenth century when was enriched by trade with the new world, and sacked by the British. The city has tremendous atmosphere, with the luminous intensity of of Andalucian sunshine reflecting off whitewashed exteriors, and every one of its narrow cobbled streets spans centuries of history.
77 imagesMoorish streets, and breathtaking views, this is the land of the Pueblos Blancos, the White Towns of the Sierra de Cadiz. Whitewash is the common denominator of the villages along the route that cross the Sierra de Cadiz mountains, with their extraordinary architectural heritage of lime-washed façades. For centuries these towns and their hilltop castles were the frontier between Moors and Christians, and today the Pueblos Blancos preserve deep-rooted genuine traditions. Thanks to their urban layouts these villages still sho the influence of Al-Andalus, the Moorish Spain that can even be seen in the name of many villages, but the Berber heritage here blends in with the Christian invasions, the arrival of the French troops and the legends of the bandoleros hidden between these mountains, bandits but often also political opponents of the regime on charge. And whilst each village displays its individual history, all have common characteristics, from the road they look like huge white spots in the middle of a landscape of green hills but their urban layout reveal a stunning monumental heritage of Gothic-Baroque castles and churches located just a few kilometers from the beaches of the Costa della Luz. The Sierra de Grazalema countryside, a UNESCO'S Biosphere Reserve, is the area with the highest rainfall in the Iberian peninsula, Arcos de la Frontera with its labirinth of narrow street stretched along a limestone spur, the hilltop town of Zahara de la Sierra was a iconic pueblo blanco on the fault line between Moors and Christians in the 15th century. Setenil de las Bodegas has two small hidden road carved under a cliff, other white towns like Grazalema and Medina-Sidonia are pure Andalusia. Villages like blinding white crooked teeth with steeply winding streets and a Moorish fortress fronting the hilltops.