On Saturday I walked for 15 minutes from my front door to my local atalaya, that's the photograph below. It has a commanding view of the south, where invaders would naturally come from. There's a walled garden that, by the look of it, was maintained until fairly recently, it's almond trees are still producing fruits. The ascent to this atalaya has become overgrown though and it's taken me many attempts to conquer it!
The tower below is in Jaen province, a one hour drive north from me, and about 2 hours from the coast.
I cheated here and used a photograph I took in July. This is a tower (in the distance!) on the road to Cordoba.
Finally, yesterday I drove to the town of Moclin, north of Granada. The town is built around the the castle and atalaya. Can you spot it?
So, now we all know what an atalaya is!
The photographs on this blog were taken by me, unless otherwise noted. If you'd like to share them with friends or use them in some way, please let people know where you found them, or send me an 
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These are beautiful! But I really love that last picture :)
ReplyDeleteHow absolutely breath taking. You are truly blessed to be able to experience such beauty. Thanks for the gorgeous pictures.
ReplyDeleteI am intriqued by your pursuit of the Atalaya! It could become addicting, knowing that hundreds of prime Spanish vistas are waiting to be conquered. Of course, the vista 15 minutes from your front stoop is prime enough for a lifetime. The first and last photos rock. Those are the Spanish skies I love. Here in Central Californina we don't get a lot of storms, and virtually none in the summer.
ReplyDeleteWe were shown slides of Diego Velasquez paintings through all 4 years of high school Spanish. When I finally got to Spain in my early 20's, I remember thinking the summer skies looked exactly like the dramatic backgrounds in DV's paintings.