Arcos de la Frontera, Spain

Tuesday, March 5, 2024

Today we said good-bye to the city of Seville, Spain. I really enjoyed our time there, and all that we learned and experienced in this historic city. Five days was the perfect amount of time for our family to see all the sights, while also enjoying some down time at our rented urban apartment.

A scene from our time in Seville: winter coats and rain jackets by the front door. We wore these coats more than we’d liked during our week in Seville.

Andi and I tag-teamed clean up of the airbnb apartment this morning— packing our bags, doing dishes, cleaning out the refrigerator, and taking out the trash. Andi made us breakfast before we left the apartment with what food we had remaining in the fridge. Aden is not much of a “wake up and eat” person, and it always happens that he refuses to eat anything before we go somewhere and then says he’s hungry as soon as we get into the car.

It’d been five days since we drove into Seville and parked our rental car in a parking garage somewhere in the city. Andi half-joked that he hoped we’d be able to locate it again because we hadn’t been back to it.

The four of us left our airbnb apartment building and carried our luggage with us about 10 minutes to the parking garage. It’s funny how adjusted to a place we become in only a few short days. When we arrived here last Thursday, everything about the city of Seville felt new and foreign. Now, walking through the downtown streets felt familiar as we passed recognizable corners and businesses.

Getting our luggage from Point A to Point B can be a bit of a hassle in Europe, thanks to the country’s old buildings without elevators and narrow streets made of cobblestone. Andi said he wishes he would have brought a backpack instead of the small roller bag he’s using on this trip because it would have been easier to carry. Personally, I’ve been happy with my small roller suitcase, but I’m glad it isn’t any bigger. I agree that it is annoying carrying the roller bag up several flights of stairs and dragging it down the cobblestone city streets of Europe, but my bag is heavy with all the kids’ school materials inside. I’m thankful not be carrying all those books in a backpack like I did during our trip to Argentina last year. Tory and Aden’s packs have been the perfect size for them to carry.

Andi already paid for our parking through our airbnb host, so we simply pulled out of the garage this morning and headed out of the city of Seville. I was worried about navigating through the narrow city streets, not sure how much traffic we’d encounter, but we didn’t have any issues making our way out of the city. From Seville, we drove 1 1/2 hour south to the small village of Arcos de la Frontera.

This week, we plan to visit several small villages in southern Spain called the Pueblos Blancos (translated to “white towns” in English). These small, historic towns with whitewashed buildings are a bit off-the-beaten-path, but look absolutely gorgeous in the photos I’ve seen. I can’t wait to visit them.

Just like in Seville, the host of our bed & breakfast recommended we park our rental car on the outskirts of the village in a parking garage and walk into the city centre. Cars cannot fit through the narrow, cobblestone streets.

Andi located the parking garage the host told him to park in, and found a spot to leave our car. We carried our bags out of the garage and into the main square in town where a few taxi cabs were waiting for customers. Andi suggested we take a cab to our bed & breakfast, or at least get a ride as close to the bed & breakfast as we could get to it so we didn’t have to carry our bags uphill through the streets. The taxi cab driver didn’t speak English, but he was able to understand where we wanted to go when Andi showed him the address.

The width of the taxi barely fit through the opening of the narrow, cobblestone roads. After driving us a small distance, the taxi driver said something to us in Spanish which I assume meant he couldn’t take us any further. We paid €3 for our taxi fare, and continued on our way to the bed & breakfast by carrying our luggage the rest of the way.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t much of an internet signal for our phones and Google Maps was having a hard time pinpointing where we were located. Each time we took a step, the map told us to go in the opposite direction.

The old white buildings created a maze of alleyways, webbing in all different directions. Of course, the roads were all at a slant which made lugging our bags around much more challenging! We wandered around the narrow streets of Arcos de la Frontera for 15 minutes before we finally found our bed & breakfast. It turns out, we should have rounded the corner and turned left down a big hill when the taxi driver originally dropped us off. Who knew!

Andi rang the bell of La Casa de Bovedas, and the four of us were welcomed inside by the owner. “Ah, Andi, the Americans!” she greeted us as we walked inside her cozy guesthouse with terracotta floors and plants in every corner. Andi and I filled out some paperwork for our stay, and then the owner showed us to our suite. We are staying for one night in a large family room that has three beds and one bathroom. There’s a tranquil view of Lake Arcos outside our window.

By now, it was 2:00pm and we were ready for some lunch. The owner suggested a restaurant called Taberna Jovenes Flamencos and said we’d have no trouble finding it because the outside of the restaurant is decorated in red and white polka dots.

We dropped our bags and set out once again to navigate the narrow streets in search of this traditional tapas-style restaurant. Understandably, Tory and Aden were apprehensive about wandering up and down the steep alleyways. “Are you absolutely positive it’s this way, Dad?”

Arcos de la Frontera is not a big village, so it didn’t long to walk to the restaurant on the other side of town. We passed by a working nuns convent and the centuries-old Church of Santa Maria on our way. The streets were quiet and most of the businesses closed, likely because of afternoon siesta.

Inside Taberna Jovenes Flamencos, we were seated at a table right away. It would have been a nice place to sit outside on a warm, sunny day at one of the adorably-decorated red and white polka-dot tables, but this afternoon the wind fiercely funneled through the narrow street.

The restaurant’s menu was small and authentic to the Andalusia region. Andi ordered two tapas plates of ham croquettes as starters. Aden picked grilled pork with french fries for his meal, and Tory choose to have the vegetable soup. Andi and I both decided on traditional style entrees with chickpeas and vegetables. All the food was prepared from scratch by an older woman cooking in the kitchen. The traditional stews didn’t look very appetizing, but they were actually flavorful and hearty. I really enjoyed my choice for lunch.

After lunch, the four of us continued our stroll through the white town. The streets of Arcos de la Frontera are littered with subtle glimpses of the town’s past from Roman columns to Moorish courtyards, fountains, and tile work. Like most of Spain, Arcos de la Frontera is largely Catholic now with two churches in town and a working convent. Walking through the web of deserted streets felt like we were staying in a movie set.

The kids wanted dessert, but there wasn’t much open in town. We found a place with a large, albeit empty, patio and sat down to look at the menu. The friendly waiter brought us each bottles of soda and the only two desserts on the menu — natilla, a Spanish custard, and a slice of chocolate mousse cake with whipped cream. Tory and Aden weren’t picky; just thankful to have something sweet to eat.

Next, we walked to one of the town’s mirador overlooks. We had the expansive view of the countryside to ourselves except for one other couple bundled up together on a park bench. The sunshine felt warm on our faces after walking through the shaded narrow streets all afternoon.

I’d read that the nuns of the convent sell sweets from a turn-style window during certain hours of the day, and told Andi we couldn’t miss out on this unique opportunity. At 5:30pm, we entered into a dimly-lit courtyard of the convent and rang the bell for service. I asked for a box of puff pastry cookies from the nun standing on the other side of the window. Just briefly did I see her standing there in her black robe and habit before she spun the window around with our dessert. I put €10 in the window box, and she spun it around again to make my change.

The kids’ eyes grew wide when I opened the white box full of oval-shaped powdered sugar cookies. They tasted flaky and sweet as we each bit into one.

Tory ate about six of the nun cookies before we had a chance to stop her. A sure-fire way to lift Tory’s spirits is by feeding her dessert! Unfortunately, Andi’s stomach wasn’t feeling the best so he wanted to go back to the bed & breakfast to lay down. All the steep hill walking was making his stomach cramp, he said.

For dinner, I took the kids next door to a little convenience store for snacks. They each picked out a bag of chips, a package of cheese, and a cup of ramen noodles. I was still full from the stew I ate for lunch, so I had a glass of wine and was content with that. Andi ate a banana and rested for the remainder of the evening.

Tomorrow, we’re planning to leave Arcos de la Frontera and drive to a nearby pueblo blanco (white town).