So after the, well I guess I can call it a dramatic first trip, we decided to give it another go. But with a slight change of plans. For those who missed the first episode, my girlfriend got carsick on the way up to the Sierra Nevada.

The initial plan was to visit three of the 105 most beautiful villages of Spain, all three part of my favorite part of Andalusia, the Alpujarras. A place I lived for years, a place I left because there was a lack of work, and a place where I one day hope to return when work doesn´t require me to be living in the city of Granada.

The Alpujarras

The three villages from the 105 most beautiful "pueblos" I planned to visit were Pampaneira, Bubión, and Capileira of which Capileira is the highest at an altitude of 1,436 m, these three villages are situated in the gorge of the Poqueira river.

At that altitude (1400 meters) I did not expect my girlfriend to get mountains sickness again. But knowing the roads in the Alpujarras, especially the ones leading up a mountain, I did not want to take the risk that anybody would get car sick today. So this second-day road-tripping started with me changing my plans.

The good thing was that I had another 102 villages to choose from. But within a 120 KM radius, there were only a few. And I did not want to see just another old Andalusian village, as I have seen a lot living in the Alpujarras for years.

Just by looking at the map I found something that seemed promising. A place I never went, a place I could easily get lost... if it wasn't for the mobile phones that provide us with Google Maps.

Baños de la Encina

Baños de la Encina in the province of Jaén lies in the Sierra Morena, the village has a caliphal fortress, ordered to be built by al-Hakam. The fortress was finished in 968 and 200 years later the fortress was transformed into a full castle. A castle that has known many battles between Muslims and Christians. Even after those battles, it is still one of the best-preserved castles from that era. A building that has served as the first line of defense, home to royalty, and even a film set.

I have visited many castles during my time in Spain, but this one was more authentic and more straightforward than the well let´s call them "pretty castles" that I visited before. And no, I still did not see the Alhambra, may Dios forgive me.

If you want to enter the castle you really have to time your trip, because depending on the day the gates open for just 1 hour in the morning, and some days another hour in the afternoon.

We just went for the view from the hill and were able to walk around the whole castle and see its only inhabitants- the pigeons.

It was the first time I really took good notice of these types of walls, walls build by the rammed earth technique.

We found one more inhabitant, the horse assumed to be the horse of Don Quixote.

Why the horse of Don Quixote you may wonder? Well, because we were able to locate the windmills of Don Quixote as well.

But the hero of La Mancha himself was not to be found. Although I am sure he would fit perfectly with this castle and the mill form the late 1800´s.

Now coming all this way for just a castle seemed a bit frugal. There was a second thing that caught my eye when looking at the village of Baños de la Encina on the map.

Pantano de Rumblar

A huge water reservoir, just a couple of minutes away from the village. With two places that seemed worth visiting.

Mirador de Cerro Moyano

A mirador is a lookout, and this mirador has an amazing view of the village on one side. It really triggered that Castle on the Hill song in my mind.

And on the other side, you could see the water reservoir, and even though summer is coming it looks like it can use a bit more water. Good thing that April is the rainy month in Andalusia.

Playa del Tamujoso

So after visiting the outlook, we went down to the reservoir, visiting a little beach "Playa del Tamjoso", the wind caused the water to ripple.

It was too windy to even think about taking a swim, and these Pantano's can be deep with a strong undercurrent. Still, it seems that a lot of kayaking is happening here, but not today, I guess the wind was too much even for them.

All in all, and especially compared to the previous trip, I have to say today was pretty successful. I went places I had never been before. My rent-a-Friend and his Girlfriend seemed to enjoy the trip and scenery a lot, and I found out that my girlfriend takes amazing pictures when she is feeling well.

And on top of that, we even found a 5 pesetas coin on the so-called beach.

Which pays for....well absolutely nothing these days but it might have brought us luck because nobody got carsick, nobody drowned and we I am almost sure picked up the trail of Don Quixote.

Feel free to hit that Facebook thingy called the Like Button on my road trip rambles-

Some Free Crypto links

Cake:

$30 CAKE DeFi for free and your $25 deposit back? Here´s How!

Publish0X:

How to earn Free Crypto #FreeMoney - Publish0X

NoiseCash:

How to properly use NoiseCash and earn BitcoinCash