The benefit of being friendly

It pays to be friendly, honestly it does. You'll feel better, the other person will feel better and sure what's not to like about that?

My family and I were on a flight to Spain recently and because there are five of us in the family we took up one full row on the flight and 2/3 of the row behind. A lady joined my son and I in the second row and we quickly struck up some conversation. Herself and her husband and two children have a holiday home in Estepona and fly over and back to Spain two, three or four times every year.

As such, she had some fantastic recommendations. The first little village she recommended made me laugh as it is where my wife and I got married! I mean honestly, what are the chances!?

We had a great chat about that and then shes started telling me shout her second favourite little village to visit. A small hamlet nestled peacefully in the mountains just beyond Ronda and as luck would have it that was just over an hour's drive from our place in Benahavís in the South of Spain.

I took note of the village name which was Setenil de las Bodegas and promised her we would check it out. Now normally our trips to Spain center around the swimming pools and the beach, as it's almost always Summer time, but this holiday was in February with the Mercury only tipping 18° so a few day trips would be great and the relatively short travel time meant there wouldn't be too much of the incessant "Are we there yets"!

So by sitting down next to this stranger on the plane and being friendly and having a nice chat, we added to the enjoyment of our holiday and we took a day out to drive up to this little village and check it out and we were not disappointed.

Here I am with the boys. People say my smile and theres are very alike, would ye agree?? 😁

Introducing Setenil de las Bodegas

Feast your eyes on this beautiful little village and its enchanting vista of caves and caverns. The town is centred on the meander of a small river and the gorge it cut out over millenia. These mountainous villages always appeal to me, but this one boasted an extra dimension and you'll quickly see what that is when you look at some of my photography.

Not only does the town cohabit the space made by the gorge, it actually coexists and morphs with it to produce a village the like of which I've never seen before. As you can see houses, bars and restaurants are actually built into the rock walls of the gorge itself, created by enlarging natural caves or overhangs. Somebody decided to just put a wall on the outside of some caves and make it their dwelling place and over the years others followed and we ended up with this little village which seems to be from a fairytale or a movie, but is actually real.

This village which has a reputation for its world renowned chorizo sausages and cerdo really impressed me and the villagers and tourists alike on the Sunday when we visited made us feel very welcome.

It was approaching lunchtime when we arrived and we were all hungry, with this wood smoked barbecue out on the street onlt adding to our collective hunger.

I love how the chaos of the natural caves and caverns intermingle with the order of the bricks and mortar added by the locals to make this truly unique little village. There was a certain aura to the place, a collective calmness with everyone and everything seemingly relaxed.

The town’s name itself is worth dissecting, “Setenil,” is a Latin word meaning “seven times nothing,” and the second half of the name, “de las Bodegas” most likely refers to the vineyards introduced by early Christian settlers - the wine storage units, or bodegas, were perfect for the cool caves. So the de las Bodegas makes sense, but the seven times nothing I am still trying to decipher.

We visited on a Sunday afternoon and there was a very nice vibe around, with many wining and dining outside and many others wandering around the little labyrinthine streets as they took in the sights, smells and smiles all around.

Arts and Crafts

My wife is a great lover of Arts and Crafts and always likes to pick up a few bits and pieces and souvenirs, so we ventured into a few of these shops. At least the children are of an age now where they won't break everything in sight and it's a little less stressful!

Some of these plates were stunning and she got a few and also bought some magnets as presents for people.

Our three boys were big fans of these Swords and Shields and I must say they are a reall nice handmade and local souvenir.

I have not quite reached the age to be wearing these type of hats just yet, but for anyone who likes these, there was an impressive variety.

Traffic Jam

There was chaos at rush hour when the traffic built up. Yes, one van came very slowly down the hill during our few hours in town and I took a few quick pics, as there was only just about enough room for the van to make it down through the narrow winding streets.

The people inside the van were in no rush, and eased down the hill at an ambling pace, as the pedestrians including ourselves stepped aside and made room for them.

I always enjoy the pace of life in Spain, with nobody getting too stressed about anything, and I find that to be even more the case in mountain hamlets like Setenil de las Bodegas.

Postcards

Postcards are always a great souvenir to pick up on your travels, and they tend to be a great way to showcase the sights and scenes worth checking out locally. This giftshop had loads of black and white ones too which I tend to like, here's a little look at some of them.

Lunch O'Clock

As I alluded to earlier in the post, we arrived here quite hungry, and the view of peope eating and wood burning barbecues, really got our stomachs longing for food.

We looked for a table, but it was Sunday afternoon and the village was teaming with people, and we were looking at one hour waits at a minimum. Luckily my eagle eyed wife spotted a lovely looking place across the ravine and as luck would have it, there was no wait time and we even got a seat outside for Al Fresco dining. Antojos was ideal for a few drinks and some tapas.

Join me for a stroll

I eventually got around to posting about this great little village @phortun, hopefully you'll get to visit it some day. Let's take a walk down the main street again, shall we before I sign off.