Sunday Hike in Costa de la Luz

Hola, friends! Sunday was a gorgeous April day. We had a leisurely
morning and then drove an hour south to hike in
 the Parque Natural del Acantilado y Pinar de Barbate.

This 7.2 kilometer route starts out just west of Barbate and takes you
along the ocean cliffs, through pine groves, and deposits you in the little town of
Los Canos de Meca. Here's what we saw along the way....

Wildflowers were in full bloom.

Large Pimpernel.

Thistle.

 Gigantic pink, orange, and yellow shrubs of Lantana (or Verbena)
lined the paths.

The trail was relatively flat and often sandy and it snaked through umbrella pines
that spread back from the cliffs, with the blue ocean below. 

We encountered only one small problem.

The hazard of hiking on sandy paths results in
sandy shoes. The flip side of this inconvenience, however,
is that it justifies taking breaks, which we did!

Along the route we came upon this watchtower or
"Torre del Tajo."
In the 16th century, Spaniards could look out over the ocean
to see if Moors from North Africa were advancing and
determine if "the coast was clear."

About two hours later, we came through a pine grove and saw this sight before us.
The white mansion on the right was probably once a private residence but is now
a hostel. We had arrived at the bohemian town of Los Canos de Meca.

Tourism is encroaching, but the guidebook says "camping is
still the preferred lodging and nude swimmers routinely cavort
in the surf." (We saw neither.) The village definitely had a laid-back, hippie
feel. We could have been back in the '70s. We loved it.

We stopped for lunch at a restaurant overlooking the ocean.
 Deb had her first bowl of gazpacho for the season. Delicious.

Jim had tuna and onions. Barbate is one of the largest tuna fishing
ports in Spain, so the fish was fresh and tasty. We washed our
food down with plenty of agua and a cerveza.

An hour later, with food and rest,
we were ready to return to Barbate on the very same trail. 

Starting back at 5:30 in the evening, we still had plenty of daylight
ahead of us because sunset isn't until 9:00 these days.
The roundtrip hike and lunch took five hours.
What a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.
Hasta luego, Deb and Jim