Old City street
Arcos de la Frontera, Andalucia, Spain. January 2017
I heard about it....
My friend Adrian Fernandes Vara de Rey in London spent nearly every holiday somewhere in Spain because he was half-Spanish and because his long-time friend, Glenn, was retired BA cabin crew and always scored free or nearly free tickets for travel. It is to Adrian that I owe my love of Spain - a country I visited far too late in life, but made up for aggressively while working in Saudi Arabia and Iraq. Adrian casually mentioned places he had visited in Spain over the years and occasionally shared the photos. One destination that stuck in my mind was Arcos de la Frontera. While in Seville on a week's holiday, I realized I was about as close as I was ever going to get to Arcos, so I took the train and bus combo and made it out to the white city. It did NOT disappoint!
I gave the Spanish one thing, their transportation system was well-thought out. Almost all city bus stations were adjacent to the main train station. What was NOT so easy in Spain was figuring out which bus to take because of the plethora of carriers. A bus station typically had a bunch of ticket windows (some closed!) each with a slightly different schedule and route. That part was maddening, but a few questions later, I was usually on the right bus. The bus stop for Arcos was on the edge of town, so I had a hike ahead of me to get to the old city.
Spain has a thing for cities built on cliff edges - Arcos dlF, Cuenca, Ronda and Siguenza spring to mind. These locations were fabulous for defense way back when, but in the modern age their situations generally had the unintended effect of making any bus or rail connection quite far from the city center. So it was for Arcos dlF, built up on a three-sided ridge, the only way there was yet another small bus ride or to walk. I hoofed it just to see more of the city along the way.
The further up the hill one walked, the whiter and older the city became. The streets got progressively narrower until only a few could admit vehicles and even then, they were one way. The passages got so narrow, if a car came, there was no choice but to step into a doorway to let it pass! There were a lot of houses built right onto the cliff edges and I found surprising overlooks at the end of alleyways. Adrian was right, Arco dlF was worth the visit. I spent an enjoyable few hours wandering the old city including scrambling down to the base of the cliffs to get a few photos back up at the white city gleaming on the ridge. It almost looked like a Greek Island had been transported to that cliff top.
I had no idea where the "Arcos" came from, but the "de la Frontera" referred to the Reconquista, when the Spanish were slowly wresting back control of the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors. Very little remained in Arcos from Moorish (and even Roman) times except a few foundations here and there. The Spanish erased their presence back in the 13th century and never looked back. There was a very "border-esque" feel to the place what with all the sheer cliffs and drop offs. It was my first cliff-hanging town in Spain and I was greatly impressed.
So thank you Adrian FVdR for putting me onto Spain and Arcos dlF! It remains one of the travel highlights for me of Andalucia.
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