Oof, I'm in LOVE! Medina Sedonia has to bey favourite Spanish city so far. Not just this trip as I have been to Spain before. If you are ever in the south in Andalusia don't miss it.
The arch above definitely gives a clue to the foundations of this city. Some people believe its one of the oldest cities in Europe, dating back to ancient times, possibly founded by the Phoenicians.
Of course, being on a hill, it would have been a crucial military defense location, like it's neighbour Arcos De La Frontera. The city's name originates from Arabic and means "City of Sidon.", and in the 15th century, it was a significant ducal seat, notably producing admiral Alonso P茅rez de Guzm谩n, who led the Spanish Armada against England (in 1588)
Throughout its history, the city changed hands between different ruling powers, including the Romans, Visigoths, Muslims, and Christians. It's not hard to see their mark on the architecture.
Please excuse the higgedly piggledy presentation of this post. To make sure I could write about the trip in sequence, I uploaded a heap of photos over wifi and now I'm writing the text as we rattle down the coastal route toward Marrakech. As many of you would appreciate, it's hard to left and right justify on your phone by copying and pasting text! Sometimes I wonder why they don't make it as easy as, say, WordPress, to format posts, or am I missing something?
Jamie managed to navigate Butters down some pretty narrow lanes. Although we had stopped in one parking lot and walked to a central plaza to get pastries for lunch (I've certainly learnt Jamie needs to snack a lot on the road or he is intolerable) we didn't trust it was safe so had to go park somewhere that was. As we are on Aussie plates we could only get third party insurance so we are understandably cautious!
The walk up to the castle was steep, passing orange trees releasing their heady scent. Thankfully the rain had stopped for a while. I loved the narrow streets and houses painted pure white. Sadly a lot of the churches were shut but to be honest I like being outside more.
As we climbed we observed all the spring 'weeds' and flowers - from the more obvious plantings of rosemary and lavender to Spanish thistle that they still make a dish from. Some would be poverty or famine food but as you know some of us are still willing to try foods from the wild. Nettles, milk thistle, snapdragons, daisys. Sometimes I feel like my inner witch comes out to joyfully play, as if I am signalling her across the centuries as I feel and smell and pluck.
The view from the top was glorious. Once Roman soldiers would have stood on the battlements, bemoaning the wind as it rushed up the hill. Perhaps they had a fire here to warm their bones.
I was also struck by the terrible story of the wife of a king here who, upon being dissatisfied with his bride and the unpaid ransom from the king of France, locked her in a prison and executed her at 25. It is always woman's stories I attend to in places like this, and there was something about the wild flowers and white walls and full moon that called her spirit down across the hundreds and hundreds of years. Fuck you, Peter the Cruel, we sang in unison, and the men like you.
After a few beautiful hours in uncrowded streets we drove an hour down the road to an Aire in a lovely little town on the way to Algeciras. Storm Nelson was building, and we were keen to get to Morocco before it got worse as they anticipated high waves and winds in the Strait. In fact a few crossings would be cancelled and we would make it across just in time.
If you'd like to read more about this beautiful town, check out the pins on the Pineapple app with posts by Hive folk such as 
Je suis desolee.
With Love,
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