Torre del Tajo

            For those of you who don’t know (which I’m guessing is almost anyone who reads this blog), the area along the coast between Barbate and the nearby town of Caños de Meca is part of el Parque Natural La Breña y Marismas del Barbate, and is basically the Spanish equivalent of a National Park and Wildlife Refuge.  Every month they offer various activities such as guided hikes, chameleon watching, and astronomy introductions.  The day after we got back from Cádiz, we decided to take advantage of a guided hike to el Torre del Tajo. 

            This was especially well timed because it was the first time the six of us Barbate/Zahara auxiliares were all together.  The day started at el punto de información, or visitor’s center, where we met our guide, a spunky and very short Spanish lady named Chari.  Before we could head out, though, she gave us a very thorough introduction to the park, including telling us about the wildlife you can see, plants that grow there, and the history of the tower we would be hiking to.

            An hour after our scheduled departure time (are we Spanish or what?) we finally started our hike.  As we officially left Barbate, we passed this somewhat ominous-looking sign.

Last chance to turn back. 

This undeveloped beach, La Playa de la Hierbabuena, is on the other side of the port from where I live.

            After probably just under 2 hours of hiking slash stopping every hundred meters so Chari could explain this plant or that plant, we finally reached the tower at the top of the cliff!  The tower was one of the old lookout stations that were used both to watch for pirates and enemy ships as well as to quickly communicate messages down the coast.  When we first arrived we thought you couldn’t actually go into the tower but then Chari pulled out a magical keychain and we were in!

Yeah, we're going in there.

Ascending the comically small sprial staircase.  Charlotte has no fear.  

The view from the top was GORGEOUS.  I’ll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

The trees on the right look like something out of a Dr. Suess book.  

Oh hey, Barbate.  

Made it!

The 6 of us! Finally complete :)

            After climbing down from the tower, we walked down a little bit more to a second lookout spot.  Chari told us a story of star-crossed lovers whose families didn’t want them to be together so they threw themselves off the cliff.  Pretty dramatic.  She says that if you look hard enough you can see their faces in the rock. 

See any faces? Me neither.

            We then made our way back down the trail, back to our home sweet home of little Barbate.  And we were greeted by this much less ominous sign. 

No red slashes here.