Comments on: Spain > Andalucia > The White Village of Cartajima

By: MrsNordin

MrsNordin — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 03:43:25 +0000

Awesome! I knew there’s more to this journey when I read your missus’s blog! (hee.. hee…)

The winding road, the Moors, the white village… these are the things which I can only dream of right now. Hope I’ll be able to make the same journey with my husband in the future.

Great stuff!

By: Jan

Jan — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 04:03:23 +0000

Interesting and very readable. Brings back many memories to me

By: ginger

ginger — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 00:34:19 +0000

superb!

By: jesse

jesse — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 06:46:27 +0000

Doc Naim, thanks for sharing…a flair for photo blogging truly u hv…excellent shots, great commentaries…

if i were u i would rent a Golf GTI mk5…both auto and manual

By: naim

naim — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 06:24:38 +0000

Yes, jet-lagged, driving on the right side of the road, unfamiliar paths and traffics, strange language (hola!), hot day, manual car, take right lane to turn left, etc, etc, these are the nuances that make independent self-drive travel interesting, unless you get into an incident. Hehehe!

We clocked up 1,600km doing the Andalusia circuit, plus that detour to Roman Merida, in 6 days. In hindsight it was quite a pleasant journey, just make sure one ate and slept well, and the Islamic remnants/heritage in Andalucia were simply mind-boggling. Imagine ruling for some 800 yrs and to be driven away?

On the way back via London Stansted, we did rent a car for a day to drive to both Cambridge and Oxford. I told missus, I’d never drive inside the M25, but we had to use the M25 to get to Oxford. That was fun, esp. when running into jubilant Burnley supporters on the way home from Wembley (they got premiership promotion that very afternoon), but petrol at a quid a litre was no fun at all!

By: Borhan

Borhan — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 04:35:04 +0000

Thanks for sharing the experience.

I used to travel to a few of these places before (Granada, Cordoba, Ronda, Malaga), in the mid 90s, but didn’t had the chance to put it nicely on paper (or electronics) like this. I wish I could recollect them.

Travelling on the narrow, windy, mountain road, on the right hand side of the road, and probably with a manual car, is a challenge. I don’t know how you managed it. Occasionally my memory lapsed not knowing which side of the road I should be on, esp when you are on your own on the road.

Anyway, great to hear such ventures. More of us should undertake this. I spent 10 days in UK at about the same time as yours, driving with wife, wheel-chair-bound mother in law, and UK based daughter and nephew. I drove, as a lone driver, 1750 mi, over 10 days on our 2.0 liter Ford Mondeo. The challenge was how to adapt from auto transmission to manual, and having to use the clutch through the heavy London traffic. Otherwise, everything else went well.

Hope to hear more of your experience later.

borhan

By: naim

naim — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:40:10 +0000

Azreen, what holiday? This is my Life Mission - doing spiritual journeys such as this.

By: Azreen

Azreen — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 09:05:52 +0000

Wow, what a brilliant holiday doc. I need to do this one day…

Also, next time bring some QuickSchools.com brochures with you and drop them off at schools in your travels!!

By: naim

naim — Sat, 30 May 2009 04:55:11 +0000

Yes, terrain and Mediterranean climate similar to some parts of Australia & California. But summer can hit mid-40s celcius with winter going down to freezing. We were there in spring, hence the greenery & wild flowers. In summer it’d be brown & hot.

By: Manoj

Manoj — Sat, 30 May 2009 03:25:35 +0000

Terrain looks similar to the bay area in San Francisco. Great prictures. Amazing place…