Destination: Zahara de la Sierra, Spain

One of the many benefits of living in southern Spain all of those years was the opportunity to travel. With all there is to see in Europe, and along the coasts of Southern Spain, every day was a vacation. That's the kind of life VFC likes to live. Zahara de la Sierra is not someplace you'd plan a vacation around, but if you're in Andalucia visiting Malaga, Torremolinos or Gibraltar, Zahara de la Sierra is a MUST SEE. Luckily enough for us, it was close enough that we could wake up any morning (as long as the tinto con limons wore off early) and just jet up to Zahara for the day. During my last summer out there in Rota, it was an absolute must-see-one-last-time destination, so I threw the kids and the mother-law-in the car and off we went.

Part of the charm of traveling to the town is the drive around the man-made lake you must take as you approach the town. You can see the white-wash buildings stuck into the hillside with the centuries-old tower on the top. The town, and the watch tower, date back to the Moorish times, where it served as a Moorish outpost. Due to its strategic location, the town switched hands between the Muslims and the Christians many times.

Back to present day, the town is an absolute stunning sight to behold, kinda like Pamela Anderson was when I laid eyes on her for the first time years ago. As you roll up into the town, you never lose sight of that amazing tower on the top of the hill, and town is surrounded by beautiful greenery and trees.

I always just parked on the backside of the town and walked through the narrow streets. There is a nice little local coffee shop tucked into a corner of the town where i'd always stop at and order either a cafe con leche or a manzanilla. As is typical for VFC, if I started on the Manzanilla I never left, so sticking to coffee was a better plan. The kids always liked getting an ice cream and eating on the patio outside where the locals would stroll by and stop to see the kids.

There's a beautiful old church in town and walking path to the top of the hill to the watch tower. The views from the top are amazing, but no way was I letting go of the kids arms, there stands only a small, rusty, two-railed fence between the top of the cliff and the tops of the buildings down below.

Although I never stayed the night in Zahara, the town has a few hostels and maybe a little hotel or two, and there is enough to see in the town to make it a multi-day trip.
Again, Zahara de la Sierra is a must-see if you're going to Andalucia. Not to be confused with Zahara de los Atunes, located on the coast between Cadiz and Gibraltar.
Don't forget to take a dip in the lake on the way out! And off to Ronda, which is just up the road.