More Day Trippin'; or, Is that Bullsh*t?

More day tripping, November 2017 edition

I like to call November "No-School November" because between Veteran's Day and Thanksgiving holidays and the school breaks for the end of the quarter and parent conferences, there is only one measly week in which kids attend all five days.

We celebrated the Friday of the Veteran's day holiday by taking a little road trip to the small town of Bolonia and the Baelo Claudia ruins. It was also the road trip maiden voyage of Mamacita (the new car). Oh boy, did we really break it in with this one.

Baelo Claudia is the remains of a 2nd century BC town founded by the Romans on the shores of the Strait of Gibraltar. It is about 20 minutes from the seaside town of Tarifa. (I'm awful with kilometers v. miles, so pardon me as I describe everything from here on out in terms of driving time). For the bargain basement price of 1.50€ (and if you hold an EU passport, it's free!), we got to go through a small museum with many beautiful artifacts that told the history of the area, and then we walked around what is left of a city ruined by earthquakes and abandoned sometime in the 6th century AD.

Even our 12 year old had fun.
Here's his photographic contribution to our adventure.
The sculpture dates from around 2 BC.
Nice smile. :) 

In this area, Romans salted fish

There are remains of a temple to Isis, baths, a theatre, and an area where fish was salted for preservation. Archeologists have a somewhat-active dig site, and the walkway is wooden or flagstone with very well-done signs in Spanish and English. There are sand dunes above and a beach below, with views of the beautiful Strait.

The sky and water were both sky-blue, and the weather was crisp and breezy---it was a perfect fall day for a perfect road trip.

Thanks to our GPS, we found ourselves taking a wrong turn (damn you, Garmin!) and ended up on a goat path. I know people use the idiom "goat path" to mean a small road, but I literally mean a goat path. We knew it was going to be an interesting drive when we ventured upon many fresh, steaming piles of cow poo in the middle of the road. As the road got narrower, we came upon cows, then bulls, then horses, and then. . . goats.

As some of you know, I am terrified of goats. Having a goat look me in the eye and dare us to pass it was funny and scary at the same time.

The best (worst?) part of this little detour is it did not actually go anywhere we needed to go, so when the road went from potholes to gravel, we were relieved to find a way to turn around. . . and pass the livestock again.

I looked the road up on Google maps, and sure enough, bulls are a norm.

We found Ferdinand and his family, and Google Maps even has pictures of them. 

We drove down to Tarifa and looked for a place to stop. At this point, I should tell you that I'm not a great driver, but I am probably a worse navigator. You know what I'm good at doing? Sleeping. Yes, I am a world-class car sleeper. I can sleep no matter the speed or conditions of the drive. But my navigation skills had us completely passing Tarifa without stopping, which meant we had to wait for another elusive Spanish turn-around.

forget the powerlines---it was a spectacular view
I kept saying over and over again, "Wow! That's Africa!"

And what a turn-around spot we found, indeed! We found ourselves on the ledge of a large hill (mountain?) with a beautiful view of the Strait of Gibraltar. I love serendipitous mistakes. I seem to make several in my driving excursions, and this one tops the list. I would highly recommend driving through Tarifa and stopping at the café on the right. As I sat outside, drinking café con leche and eating ice cream (Europeans love their ice cream!), I had to pinch myself. Even with weird detours (and a lot of bullsh*t), it was an alright day.