Spain is a country that I keep on coming back to. Bizarrely enough, as a student many years ago, I actually avoided learning Spanish, simply because Spain was a colonial power of the Philippines. I suppose those considerations are gone by now, that I have nothing against the language, and I keep on coming back to the country. After all, the weather can still be warm in Spain during winter, so that was exactly what we have done last December. When it was freezing in Berlin, we took a week and drove around Andalusia for a week.
As we have already seen the major cities in Andalusia, we prioritised seeing the smaller towns and villages this time. So one Saturday last December, we flew from Berlin to Málaga, purely because there is a direct flight from Berlin, and there is a major international airport. We picked up a rental car, and drove to Almería, where we stayed for 2 nights. Not only did we check out the city of Almería, but we also visited the town of Mojácar and Guadix.
And then we moved on, and stayed in Jaén. We were here for 3 nights, and used it as a base to check out the surroundings, such as Baeza, Úbeda, Alcalá la Real, and Priego de Córdoba. During this time, we saw fantastic Old Towns displaying Italian Renaissance architecture, as well as amazing castles perched on top of high hills. And we also had a fantastic dinner in a Michelin-starred restaurant.
Finally, we spent two nights in Antequera. We stayed in a former convent, which was renovated into a five-star hotel, in the middle of nowhere, outside of the city. We explored the city, tasted amazing tapas, and we even hiked karst formations outside of the city. This was a fantastic place, and something I can imagine checking out again in the future.
In the end, we drove from Antequera to Málaga exactly one week later, when we then dropped off the car. From Málaga, we had a direct flight to Budapest, where family awaited. The weather contrast between sunny Málaga and snowy Budapest was quite jarring, but in any case, we definitely had fun under the sun, and even though it was just a week long, it was absolutely enjoyable, and something I'd love to repeat again.
