With all the sun of its latitude, but a heat much reduced by its altitude, and surrounded by great rolling cliffs and forests, valleys and rivers РІР‚вЂњ theР’В RР“ВoР’В GenalР’В is the cleanest in Europe РІР‚вЂњ it has long attracted artists and has a vibrant resident community of them to this day. In the hermitage of the castle was a small idol, El NiР“В±o Dios, which, dressed in a resplendent court suit, was held in profound veneration far and wide.РІР‚Сњ Gibraltar rises like a molar tooth in the distance, and Africa looms beyond. Ascend the Moorish castle the view is glorious.

The Notting Hill of Andalusia, GaucР“ВnР’В has long been a favourite of English visitors, with the great travel writer Richard Ford writing 175 years ago: РІР‚СљGaucin is most romantically situated on a cleft ridge. So, I push on through the wild and vertiginous mountain roads to stay with friends in the most picture-perfect of white-walled Spanish towns, GaucР“Вn, the birthplace of operaРІР‚в„ўs most famous heroine, Carmen. Built by the Algeciras Gibraltar Railway Company at the end of the 19 thР’В century to house British Army Officers on their holidays, and designed by the same architect as LondonРІР‚в„ўs Savoy, its combination of anglicised comforts and epic backdrop has relaxed and inspired guests for over a century, including the great Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke. Similarly shuttered is my favourite Hotel La Reina Victoria. The term ghost town has, by necessity, been vastly overused in these pages, but what elseР’В can oneР’В say? The lovely old historic restaurants like Hermanos MacР“Вas, opposite SpainРІР‚в„ўs most historic bullring, and the classicР’В Almocabar, named for the gate in the Moorish battlements it sits beyond, are both closed.

However, passing through Ronda I saw that the people do not necessarily agree. I finally left Seville, from where I sent my last postcard, as Spain entered what the government are calling the new normal.

Postcard from spain