Stop 31 - Benalup de Casas Vejas

After a great few days in Jerez we boarded a bus which dropped us off on the side of the road, at the junction of two dual carriageways. We were heading to a WorkAway on a rural Andalucian finca and for some reason hadn't thought to get the number of our host who was expecting us to arrive into a town some 8 kilometers away. After dragging our bags along the hard-shoulder for about 20 minutes, trying and failing to order a taxi and finally managing to make contact with our (very nice) host, we arrived at our home for the next two weeks. We ate some delicious food she had prepared and went to sleep in our little one bed cottage to the sound of horses clip-clopping about in the field

It had been dark when we arrived, but the sunny morning allowed us to see how pretty it was and our host showed us around, giving us a list of tasks to start on. We met the five horses, three dogs and singular goose, all of which were very friendly. We spent the next couple of weeks feeding the animals, walking the dogs, doing bits of gardening and general tidying up of the finca. There was also plenty of time to enjoy the huge pool, our own proper kitchen for the first time in almost five months, and a comfy sofa and DVD selection.

Our little "casita" was very cosy.

The finca was pretty rural, an hours walk from the closest village of Benalup and the landscape was beautiful and dramatic, although very dry from four months without rain!

We went on several day trips; one to a seaside town called Conil, one inland to typical whitewashed Andalucian town called Medina Sidonia and one to the famous, and really quite strange, city of Gibraltar. All were very interesting and gave us a desire to return to this part of Spain for holidays forever more. The apes of Gibraltar were a highlight, as was swimming in the refreshing Atlantic Ocean and eating seafood tapas on the beautiful beach of Conil.