Hi all👋🏻
With this post I’m joining in at the Wednesday Walk challenge and Make me Smile challenge. That are hosted by @tattoodjay and @elizacheng every week on Wednesday. Have a look: Here in the Wednesday Walk Community!
Today I want to share with you some highlights of my walk through the countryside on the right and left side of TARIFA in the Cádiz province, Spain.
I will not be visiting the town itself, but the stunning nature that surrounds Tarifa.
I walked here in September 2017 and the photos are taken by my (late) Canon eos 550D, lens 18-135mm.
Locations I’m visiting and starting my walks:
Tarifa, the most southern point of Europe
I start with the Observatorio del Estrecho on the right sight of Tarifa. It is a lookout point for birdwatchers.
Then I will go to the left side of Tarifa, the Valdevaqueros dunes and a street /path through a protected military area towards Paloma Baja. Where you find an amazing restaurant hidden away.
Let’s start on the right side of Tarifa at the observatory :
From here on the left side, you can see at the top The Maritime Rescue and Safety Society.
More information in Spanish you find Here!
Next: Our view is aimed towards Tarifa port.
You can see a ferry heading towards Morocco has just left.
The observatory is surrounded by ruins.
As you can clearly see in the next photographs.
More information about the observatorio del Estrecho / observatory of the Straight you can find Here in English!
It makes for interesting photographs the ruins and these backgrounds.
I must say, when I was there, not much birds came over. But birdwatching wasn’t my aim this day… I was just exploring the surroundings and walked 😊
The rugged edge of the coastline.
Across the Mediterranean Sea we see the mountains of Africa… the sea was all sparkly.
Let’s walk further, we see now a cow. Its friends are a bit further away, as you could see in my previous port photo.
We reached another ruin, next to the observatory.
A little further into the walk, more left overs from buildings. In the distance we see the lighthouse of Tarifa.
I follow a sandy path now and see the first bird in some bushes next to me. It isn’t bothered with me walking by as it remains there… all calm.
Open fields, all dry after the hot Mediterranean Summer.
I spot a butterfly on a flower.
I didn’t want to go too close as I was sure it would fly away 😉
Next I spot some white egrets. They are landing in a field close by.
Let’s have a look.
The horse is looking around the corner as it heard me. He or she isn’t bothered by the birds.
I see more horses, the first photo from this post is also from this spot. The landscape in the back and the fence makes it almost look like forgotten times as in western movies…
I walk further, let’s see what I found now.
Some snails… all up in the top of some plants. Hibernating for better weather to arrive.
As I look closer, they are everywhere in the area I’m walking in.
It makes for an interesting sight.
Yes, one more photo… I just loved the way it looked. Here you can see all up close. 😁
I turned around and spotted this bird on my way back, I wanted to go to the next area I wanted to explore.
After a short drive….
We reach Valdavaqueros dunes. After parking the car next to the road I start walking towards the sea… along the street. In this photo towards the green trees.
This tree was across where the car was parked. All alone… in the dune.
After I walked a bit, looking back towards inland we see the trees I just passed.
I walk over the dune and see the beaches of Valdavaqueros.
Africa still in the distance…
Next to us are lower bushes and trees.
I walk back up over the dune and continue my walk along the path.
The trees are getting denser next to the path.
But at an open space : Another lonely tree…
As I walked further I saw such beautiful undisturbed sand from the dunes…
I took a closer look.
The wind had played with it…
More details: sand grains… remember my feather painting?
A little further now I reached the military zone… I didn’t take photos of this part, but you can walk and drive through it over the path at certain times of the day.
At the end we find Paloma baja and the Restaurante El Mirlo - Tarifa.
It’s a long track to go… don’t give up and just continue. It’s worth it. 😎
Views from there:
It feels like the end of the world as it is far away from main roads, but worth exploring.
And with this last photo , I finish our walk and end my #WednesdayWalk and #Makemesmile… post.
Hope you enjoyed my photographs of this beautiful walk in this part of the world 🤩 Cádiz province: The Tarifa countryside!
Thank you for looking and reading 😊 and if you liked my post, an upvote or re-blog is always welcome 🙏🏻
Any questions or comments, let me know. Always happy to help.
Have a great Wednesday all 😎
Grtz Jackie
Unless stated otherwise: All art and photos used in my posts are taken, created and owned by me. If you wish to use any of my photographs, please contact me first. As I have used some commercially myself. We don’t want that you or somebody else gets into trouble 😉 So please don’t use them without my consent.