www.property-in-the-sun.com

Castillo de Castellar: One previous visit to Castillo de Castellar on a grey day in March had resulted in some very dull photographs, but we were so impressed by the setting that we went back for a longer visit on a lovely clear day in early April.
We drove up the A369 and turned off to Castillo de Castellar, you then drive a few kilometres through some lovely cork oak forests, then climb a very twisting quite narrow road up to the castle. All the way there are wonderful rocky outcrops covered in flowers, it is a delightful drive.
Suddenly you turn corner and you see a wonderful lake/reservoir.
The Embalse del Guadarranque. We parked the car outside the small hamlet and looked up to see the Castillo. The banks of the reservoir are wooded and the slope we were on was covered in sweet scented Broom. The view looking north. To the Parque Natural de los Alcornocales. The hillside is a wonderful mixture of limestone outcrops interspersed with wind beaten trees, shrubs and plants. We drove up a little higher. Here's a closer shot of the castillo. It seems from a distance to be in very good condition. We drove up through the small hamlet of houses and parked outside the Tourist Information office which was closed. We believe it gets very busy here during the summer but today there were only a couple of cars.
The view with the lake is beautiful but the view across the Guadiaro and Genal to the campo de Gibraltar from the other side of the hill is stunning. This is with 10x Zoom, you can see La Linea on the Spanish side in front of the Rock and the town of Gibraltar to the right of the Rock

The castillo. The stone streets and archways are fantastic.
You walk up through the arches into a small square, the castle has new double glazed windows and looks like it is being turned into apartments.
We turned the next corner I was expecting to go up to the battlements but was really surprised to find a small pueblo in the castle!
As you can see it is very pretty.
We did a circuit of the small pueblo, there are around twenty to thirty houses. Many have been converted into Rural Tourism houses which are usually fairly spartan. It also means there are more foreigners here than Spanish ... This is the view to the Genal valley. Gaucín is the village in the distance on the mountainside to the left. We walked down from the castle and climbed some rocks to get this view of the northern edge of the lake. Castillo de Castellar is well worth a visit, it has a castle, lake, great views, pick a nice day and your guaranteed some great photographs.