Walking Tour in Sierra de Grazalema

Last weekend we drove 1 hour and 45 minutes north to the Grazalema area
near Ronda. It was a beautiful day.

We call this photo "Layers" because that is just what it looked like:
four layers of  poppy fields, rolling hills, mountains, and sky. 

We met Brenda Jones, our guide from Spanish Nature (spanishnature.com)
Brenda and her husband moved from their native England to Spain six years ago.
Brenda is an expert on wildflowers in the area and takes people on
 private tours. (Her husband, we learned, has a passion for
 birding and takes people on birding trips in Spain,
as well as distant places like Gambia, Ecuador, and Kenya). 

We spent the day with Brenda, driving to different spots, hiking around,
and learning the names of different flowers in bloom, like this one-- Ferula or Giant Fennel.

We always thought of iris as a cultivated plant, but here Spanish Iris grows in the wild.

The Sierra de Grazalema was the backdrop to all these beautiful flowers.
We had been to this area before and passed it many times on our way to Ronda,
but on this day with Brenda, we discovered a lot of "back roads" with gorgeous scenery.

The area is loaded with different varieties of rockroses or Cistus.

The petals are so delicate.

Rockrose bushes are about three feet high and spread quickly.
They look lush and colorful in areas that are hot and dry.

We saw many fields of white and were surprised to find out it was
flowering cilantro. 

 Ironically, the Spanish grow
a lot of cilantro but don't use it much in their cooking (at least in Andalucia).

We took notes and photos all day long. Hopefully we have the names of these
flowers right. (Brenda, if you're reading this, please fill in and correct!)
 This is pretty Ronda Cranesbill.

We've included this little beauty but confess to not knowing its name.

We only saw one snake the whole day. Thankfully.

Sweet little orchids.

The Milk Thistle flower was as stunning as its variegated leaves.

Brenda told us about a number of really good hikes in this area, and we
plan to come back in June and do some serious walking . This was
part of the 14K LLanos de Librar.

Lovely pink Valerian.

 Another no name....

Tri-color Convulvia. Not photoshopped. Nature is perfect.

Some sort of prickly pear. So strange looking, right?

This is a "man cave"---the real kind. Brenda told us that in the
winter, men from the village take a break from their wives and hang
out here! It's got a fireplace, stone benches, a couple of framed
"girly photos."

The cave is located on a hill above the pueblo blanco, Montejaque.

The end of another memorable day.
Gracias to Brenda for a wonderful tour. We loved it!
Hasta luego, Deb and Jim.