Barbate, Spain

You can see the village of Barbate in the distance.

Barbate is a small village about an hour drive from where we live.  There is a National Park there called Breña y Marismas de Barbate Natural Park.  There are 22 natural parks in Andalucia and this one is the smallest.  We decided it was a good place to take the kids since the trails weren't super long and the ride wouldn't be too long either.  We found the town of Barbate very easily and once we knew which direction to go in the Park was easy to find too.  We picked a trail that was 7.2 km long and would take us to the village of Caños de Meca but our car was on the Barbate side and we weren't sure if the girls would've survived walking 7.2 km there and back.  Instead we walked about 5km and then turned around. The views of the village, ocean and cliffs were spectacular.  I think we made a good decision to turn around because the wind was really starting to pick up and the sand was blowing.

One of the cliffs.

The girls sleeping/protecting themselves
 from the sand on the way back.

The girls were great on the hike! They rode in the stroller and walked the way there.  The walk must have wore them out because they both slept on the walk back to the car.


After the hike we drove into the village and ate lunch at Casa Oscar, a restaurant located right on the beach.  They served traditional spanish tapas and local dishes.  We ordered a few different tapas to start with, I would definitely recommend the green peppers and we got the chicken kabob for the girls.  They were two euro for a kabob and french fries.  Rebecca ate them up! Barbate is known for their tuna so we ordered tuna stew with rice.  It was very similar to paella except with tuna.  It was delicious and a must try if you ever make it here. Lily loved it and ate two servings!

Because Barbate is only an hour away and the park has a few different trails we can go back here anytime.  Maybe on a Sunday since the park is always open and everything in Spain is closed on Sundays so we don't usually have much to do!