Arcos de la Frontera, Spain – November 28, 2009
During our Thanksgiving trip to Rota, Spain, we took a day trip to Arcos de la Frontera. The town lies about 70 kilometers (43.5 miles) east of Rota. So, in about 50 minutes, we were looking for a place to park.
The roots of the town now known as Arcos de la Frontera trace as far back as 1011. The population today is around 30,000. It is easy to see why the location appealed to people of that era. The castle and much of the old town sits atop a limestone formation with some cliffs as tall as 46 meters (150 feet). It is a beautiful little town on a hill. Arcos de la Frontera is at the western edge of an area known as Pueblos Blancos (white towns). They get this name because virtually the entire old town area is white. It is really quite striking.
As with some of our other excursions, I focused on the many unique examples of door hardware.


This is the first town where we were really glad we parked the 4Runner before we arrived at the city center. I don’t think it would have fit on many of the roads in the old town area. If the 4Runner had fit, I am not certain it could have made some of the 90-degree turns. This can be seen well in the “Calle de Olivares” photo below.




































One of the main sights of the town is the Minor Basilica of St. Mary of the Assumption. It is located on a square right next to the Parader hotel. We did not go into the church. It may be that a mass was in progress at the time, I cannot remember.
We walked a little farther east from the Minor Basilica of St. Mary of the Assumption and stumbled across the St. Peter Church. We did go inside that church. One of the things that struck us was the old, decaying body in a glass coffin. It is allegedly an uncorrupted saint, I do not recall who. Regardless, it was a little creepy.








As I noted before, I was amazed at the width of the streets. That was really evident at one location where we were entering an art gallery. When we turned around, we could see just how narrow the entrance was.
Even though this is one of the first cities we have visited in Spain, we really enjoyed it.

Loved your doors ~ Very interesting photography. Please know I thought the church was gorgeous.
WOW the streets in this little “white” town were narrow. And all the doors were neat.