Spain Day Eight. Spectacular Views, Birds, Flowers, Mushrooms, And A Buddha On A Hike On La Pena.

 I awoke in my hotel in Tarifa Spain early Wednesday morning. I looked outside over the port.  It was cloudy , but finally,it wasn’t raining.  And there was no rain in the forecast.  I had experienced rain and high winds every day during my stay in Gibraltar and southern Spain. ( Tarifa is known for its windy weather but I was told this winds were stronger than usual this year) . Despite the rains and winds I enjoyed the scenery, history and people on my trip. The only goal I hadn’t accomplished was to visit Morocco in Africa. It is only  nine miles across the Straight of Gibraltar.  The ferry to Morocco leaves from the port right across from my hotel.

I tried to take the ferry twice but both times it wasn’t sailing because of the high winds. I was hoping to make the trip that morning. However, when I walked to the ticket office I learned there were actually two ferries  that went to  Morocco.  The one recommended by  the staff of the hotel included a guided 5 hour tour. The other, would only take you to the Morocco  with no tour included. .  The one offering the guided tours wasn’t sailing. The other,  was sailing,  but  wouldn’t return until 7 p.m.  I decided I didn’t want to spend the entire day in Tangiers  in Morocco myself. . I had one more day and I would try the next morning to take the ferry with the guided tour.   I returned to the hotel and had another breakfast at the awesome buffet which included many local foods.

I now had to decide what to do on this  clear day.  There were many options with so many parks and beaches near Tarifa. I talked to the always helpful staff at the hotel and a young lady at the reception desk  suggested a hike on the Buddha Trail. She said the it was steep but the views were  spectacular. I had looked at this trail on my All Trail App. where it is known as the Sierra de Enmedio: Sendero del Buda Trail And Pena.  The trail would take me to the summit of La Pena. So I decided  this was were I was going to hike. I  was soon on highway N-340 driving along the scenic southern Spanish coast. I parked at the Estrecho Natural Park Information visitor center about five mile from Tarifa.

It was cloudy as I  walked  along  a  rural  road,

 through an residential area with well maintained homes and gardens,  with a lot of unleashed dogs,

before I came to the rocky trail through a pine woodland.

Here I saw a few European goldfinches,

a Sardinian warbler

and some common house sparrows. These would be the last birds I would see for a few hours.

The rocky and steep trail continued up through the beautiful  pine forest, 

occasionally providing  views of the ocean and Straight of Gibraltar below. 

I saw this butterfly, I believe a speckled wood butterfly,one of the few I would see on my visit to  Spain.

The yellow needle sunrise flowers  or fumana  bloomed everywhere along the trail as it continued up through the pine trees.   It become more  rocky and I had to walk around and up through some large boulders and rocky outcrops. 

The trail became more narrow, rocky and  covered with roots as it climbed above the trees.

It was hard hiking up the steep trail but the views of the beaches at Bolonia

 Tarifa   with the mountains of Africa in the background across the Straight of Gibraltar were specular.

I was surprised to find this Amanita mushroom growing this  high on the mountainside.  I believe it may be a Caesar’s mushroom. These mushrooms were favorites of the early Romans.  However, I do no eat of Amanita mushrooms since there are mainly poisonous and deadly mushrooms in those species.

I continued up the trail,

and saw a cow.  Again, I was  surprised to find a cow grazing this high up the mountain side.  As I was watching the cow a gentleman came hiking up the hillside and we had  a nice chat about  the Tarifa area. He continued onward while I took in the view.

I continued on my hike and came to the rocky outcrop now know as the Buddha Cave.   Someone placed a statue of Buddha here  and hikers have added gifts and more statues creating  a shrine along the trail.

It is considered good luck to leave a gift, and I had nothing except cash which I didn’t think would be  an appropriate  gift.

 I thought about leaving my hat but it was one of my favorite from an Africa trip  . Then I remembered one of the symbols on the  U.S  dollar. The Eye of Providence a symbol of God’s compassionate watchfulness over humanity.  So I folded my dollar and left the dollar so the eye was showing , a symbol of much what is needed  in our world today.

I continued  on the hike and looked down on the cave and magnificent views.

which got better as I climbed the slopes of La Pena.

I came to some more boulders as I neared the summit, here I was surprised to find a lot of wildflowers blooming in the rocky soil.

Halimium or rock rose covered the slopes

I believe this is purple gromwell

and this a wild crocus, all native to  southern Spain.

I was now near the top of the mountain and I could see the large windmills that were part of a windmill farm atop the ridge in this eastern edge of the Sierra de Enmedio mountian range.

I also had views of the ocean below and the inland mountians .

It was very windy on the mountian ridge and the sound of the swishing windmill blades above my head was deadening. It had ti walk almost a 1/2 mile with the noise of the blades making it hard to even think.  I  have experienced this awful sound when I hiked  through a windmill farm near my home in Northeastern Pennsylvania. Here is a link to a gallery on my blog web page with some more photos from my ascent up the mountian. Spain Day Eight: Tarifa. Seirra de  Enmedio ascent March 19 2025.

I was glad when I found the trail that led down the mountain side and away form the deafening sound of the windmills.

At first the  trail was steep and rocky, like the trail on the hike up the mountainside. However. it soon entered a mixed pine,

and cork forest.

It was still steep, and difficult to walk on the slippery pine needles, but it much easier hiking down hill.

On the way I did see a few birds, first I saw this short-toed treecreeper. I had seen one on my hike a few days earlier.

I also saw this beautiful  great spotted woodpecker.

I also saw a few great tits singing in the trees along the trail.

After the steep descent  on the narrow trail through the pine forest  I came to a wider trail that took me below the cliffs of the mountian I just climbed.

Cork,

and pine trees grew along the trail,

and there were views of the ocean below. It was a nice place to hike on the sunny afternoon.

Here I saw a few European stone chats singing  near the trail. As I comntinued onthe  trail  below the cliffs of  La Pena I saw a few  vultures and raptors soaring in the winds  below the cliffs.  I amd not sure if this is a Eurasian griffon or cinereous vulture.

this was common raven.

This I believe is a black kite,

this a booted eagle

and this a short toed snake eagle. I was  happy to finally see some of the migrating birds southern Spain is famous for.  Here is a link to a gallery on my blog web page with some more photos  of the birds I saw on my hike. Spain Day Eight: Tarifa. Seirra de  Enmedio birds  March 19 2025.

In addition to the birds I also saw some cattle grazing along the trail,

including a moomy  cow nursing it’s calf.

Every step I took on the trail created another post card like scene,  with views of  beaches at Tarifa

and Bolonia.

Here I also found more mushrooms growing long the trail, I wasn’t sure what species these were

but I knew these were bolete mushrooms, many of which are edible and which I forage for in the woods near my home in Northeasern Pennsylvania.

The trail took me to a paved road which I followed and soon realized it was not taking me back to my car.  I   had lost the trail.  I had to backtrack a few times  and tried following  a stream that flowed in the direction I wanted to go. This led to a deadend and I decided to just hike along a fence that took on the trail  show on my All Trail app.

I followed it through a lot of confusing  rocky trails until,

it  took me to Mirador de la Pena,  a rocky outcriop with a view of the Straight of Gibraltar and Africa in the distance . I knew this because of the sign at the outcrop.

From here I made my way to the trail where I began my hike and back to my car.   It was a long hike  6 miles with a climb of  over 1600 feet in elevation   It was worth every step. I enjoyed the flora, fauna and scenery of beautiful southern Spain.  I took a slow ride scenic roads  back to my hotel Here is a link to a gallery on my blog web page with some more photos from my descent  down  the mountian. Spain Day Eight: Tarifa. Seirra de  Enmedio descent March 19 2025.

It was late afternoon when I returned to  my hotel.  In my younger days I would take a rest and be out exploring the night life of Tarifa. I am not young anymore and I was tired and hungry. I took a long shower, edited some photos and was the first one at the hotel restaurant for dinner at 7 p.m.  I had another wonderful dinner,  starting with the refreshing zucchini pasta salad,

and then with a shrimp and rice dish which was absolutely delicious. It was late, for me when I finished my meal. I spent about an hour reflecting on another great  day while I edited photos. I retired early,  hoping I would get to see Africa and Morocco in the morning, .

“If adventure has a final and all-embracing motive, it is surely this: we go out because it is our nature to go out, to climb mountains, and to paddle rivers, to fly to the planets and plunge into the depths of the oceans… When man ceases to do these things, he is no longer man.”  – Wilfrid Noyce