As a respite from this fast-paced world, Bonnie and I enjoy vacations that allow us to travel slowly, so when possible, we walk. On foot, we’re always ready to stop and investigate when we notice something interesting. With that goal in mind, we booked a six-day walking tour with The Adventure Bug, a tour company specializing in Spain’s Andalucia region, home to Morón Air Base and Rota Naval Station.

Our tour began in the Campo region town of Cesares, which is rich in Moorish history, art, and intrigue. Eleven of us followed tour guide Matt Butler up the Sierra Crestillana range, while our bags were transported in the tour company’s van to each day’s destination. 

The tour was a sensory overload. Not long into our hike, we spied a Griffin vulture with a 6-foot wing-span. A mile farther, we had what Bonnie called “a Van Gogh moment,” when we passed a field filled with red poppies, white dog roses, gorse, Jerusalem sage, and lavender. After lunch beside the Rio Genal, we swam in a deep pool teeming with trout. Then, on a climb up to Gaucin, we took in views of Gibraltar, beyond which the Atlas Mountains of Africa loomed gray and mysterious.

Our second day’s hike followed a lavender-scented drover’s trail shaded by cork trees, oaks, and pines. Day three was spent looping through smuggler country to Guenalguacile, where we ate lunch on the steps of the San Pedro de Verona Church, the burial site of some 400 Moors who were killed during the Inquisition.

Next, we climbed up above Cortes de la Frontera (“Edge of the Frontier”), where we tested the waters in a purported fountain of youth. Though we didn’t appear to get any younger, the water was sweet and cold. We climbed still farther, up a Phoenician trail dating back to 2000 B.C. The crags of Libar Llanos surrounded us as we topped the pass. We spotted birds swirling thousands of feet above us, too high to be seeking prey, and we watched until they disappeared, knowing that, like us, they were there for the joy of it. 

On our “day off,” Bonnie and I opted to rest our legs and took a taxi to the village of Ronda, where Ernest Hemingway wrote Death in the Afternoon. I stood in the center of the bullring that was the novel’s focus, where countless matadors have plied their skills against raging bulls. Later, as the sun set, we dined on a lavish meal at Escudero’s on the cliff top—for walkers, being pampered is allowed only on holidays!

For our final trek, we climbed a twisty trail dating back to the third century A.D. that had been blazed by the Romans. We followed it over the pass and above the Rio Genal, which cut a deep gorge beneath us on its way to the Mediterranean, before we spent our last night at the hotel El Anon in Jimena de la Frontera. 

Such are the joys of walking ... and stopping. In ancient times, Phoenicians, Romans, Moors, and Spaniards trod the Andalucia because they had to. Some of us find the same applies today.