Up really early today so we can at least watch from the balcony as we sail through the Puente de las Delicias drawbridge – the last few kilometers of our sail up Guadalquivir River.  This is one of the big bummers of this itinerary – we sail the Guadalquivir River both ways in the dark.  We’ve done it in the daylight already, but still.  At any rate, it does make for great pre-dawn photos – especially of the gorgeous Conservatorio Profesional Danza (The Dance Conservatory Headquarters) across from the pier – with the sliver of a moon behind it.  It looks like a shining palace.

A full day of driving, hiking and exploring planned, we hit the dock as soon as we are cleared, walking up the seafront promenade in the near dawn, passing the formidable Torre de Oro – the outer defensive tower of Seville, built in the 1200s – and on to the Plaza de Armas to pick up our rental car for the next 2 days.

Out on the wide open road quickly and easily, we head north of the city, quickly entering into farmland and open fields filled, as it turns out, with solar fields, not vegetable fields!  Our guide in Malaga had told us that Spain has a goal of being 100% reliant on renewable energy by 2030, they currently produce 60% of the renewable energy necessary for the country. It is well apparent here – everywhere we look, acres and acres of solar panels with a couple new developments in process.  Truly an impressive feat.

Soon, those solar fields turn into Orange orchards – as this area is the capital of orange production in Spain.  Passing through the Palma del Rio area, where we will spend the night, we head further north into the Parque Natural Sierra de Hornachuelos, with the idea of hiking on the Botanical trail we had found in AllTrails.  The trail ran along the Rabilarga stream which is popular not only for the cork oak grove, but also the birds populating the area.  Unfortunately, upon arrival, we found the area closed for maintenance or construction or some such.  Bummer.  A nice drive up there, but a bummer nonetheless.

Reversing course, back through Hornachuelos, which is by no means an easy task with little narrow roads and weird angle turns, we tried to find the trailhead for the Sendero del Bembezar, allegedly at then end of a narrow bridge across the Bembezar river.  Another bust – there is no way a trailhead was there – nor anywhere to park.  We started driving up the winding road alongside the river, but quickly got stuck behind a huge herd of sheep – leading us to literally reverse course – reversing back down the road to a wide spot at the bridge to turn around and plot our Plan C course!

Finding a decent parking spot in Hornachuelos – an actual designated parking area by the fountain, yay! – we strike off to find the Sendero Vistas al Rio (river vista walk) which appears to be through an old wrought iron gate and down this wicked hill then alongside the river.  The signage is actually pretty decent down here, although the trail is less than maintained. Then again, have we mentioned the torrential rain Spain has been having?  It has been almost flood potential in many places, and it appears here that there may well have been flooding.  The trails are swampy and wet, with lots of downed branches all over.

Carefully navigating down the wicked hill, we end up following a road into the lower valley that ends at a water processing plant, with parking, where a bunch of local guys are fishing off the embankment.  Making our way past the end of the road we meet up with the Sendero Los Angeles, a 3.9k hike out along the river edge.  Works for us, and we set out on the banks of the muddy river – wow, you can really tell it rained here. 

It is gorgeous in the full beautiful sunshine.  The trail is good, well maintained, the views lovely across the river to the hills on the other side.  Then the trail is not so good – landslides!  We have to slog our way through really deep mud – using anything we can as a foothold – branches, a discarded plastic bag.  Yikes. 

The scenery is still great, although the trail is getting a little tougher with large swaths of flooded area and finally a stream running fast and fairly deep across the trail.  That’s where we decide it is time to turnaround and find something else to do. We aren’t equipped to go in the water – and honestly don’t really want to.  And we know we have to climb the wicked hill back to town…so….

…back around the riverfront we go, passing the fishermen now packing up for the afternoon, back up the wicked hill (which you can’t even tell was wicked from these photos, but at least you can get the idea of the rains and wash outs and see how the houses are perched up above on the deteriorating rock ledges)…..

….to an adorable café right across from where we parked the car, Café Los Angelos, for a fantastic lunch of Croquetas Caseras (house croquetas – ham and mushroom maybe? Excellent regardless of what they were) and Chorizo de Venado (fabulous chorizo in wine) along with wine and beer and of course, free tapas that comes with our drinks (little chicken strips and green olives).  Fabulous lunch – and just right to keep us going the rest of the afternoon until our included dinner at Monasterio de San Francisco this evening at 8:00. And speaking of the Monasterio – that’s our next destination as we say farewell to Hornachuelos and head back to Palma del Rio for the afternoon and evening.