Exploring the Town of Rota
For the holiday season, we took a housesit somewhere we’ve never been together…the sparkling southern coast of Spain. Other than being home to a bizarrely familiar community, thanks to the US/Spanish Naval Base, Rota is a charming seaside destination with a quaint and quiet old town, whitewashed Andalusian houses, narrow streets and squares, and long, alluring beaches.
In the summertime, the town is bursting at the seams with visitors, but being here during the holidays allowed us to see it, literally in a different light. Naturally, those belonging to Navidad.
One of the main plazas where Iglesia Santa María sits next to palms, which means this particular Catholic Church is always stocked for Palm Sunday. It also features a bare-naked Christmas tree, which the Rotans seem less stocked for. Fortunately, the tree looks a lot more dashing after dusk, which happens at the quite late 6:30 p.m hour. This is all fine until you realize the flip side is an 8:30 a.m. sunrise. Oompf. I’m sure it works great for the Spaniards, but it’s been pretty challenging for us.
A head-swiveling art installation called the Maceteros de Cabezas (Head planters) gives serious person-ality to a nearby whitewashed wall. These ceramic heads with some notable hairstyles have become quite an icon in the 20th century, and you can see them in this extended masterpiece, but also peering from other edifices throughout the town.
The Christmas Market took place over one weekend during December near the Torre de la Merced. It felt a bit more American in vendor offering and pop-up tents than the traditional Central European set-ups we’ve grown accustomed to. Also, disappointingly no mulled wine aromas lingered in the air, although a craft brewery represented the alcohol scene for those that wanted a crisp craft beer on a chilly night (aka, my husband.)
The expansive beach we walked along about 30-40 minutes along to arrive to the Old Town. It had quite a variety of architecture along the seafront.
The boardwalk of Rota near the marina.
The official “Rota” sign, which was unique compared to most city’s.
One of the streets of the old town area…which feels a lot more polished, than the aged cobbles near one of the main entrance gates.
The Castillo de Luna sits in the heart of Rota, which once served as a medieval fortress-palace…not just a military castle. Today it serves as Rota’s Town Hall for a population of about 35,000 people and has continuously been used since built in the 13th Century.
Near the castle, a monument is devoted to Bartolome Perez, and the Villa of Rota, who received a participation award for the discovery of America.
More heads sprouting wandering minds.
Locals enjoying afternoon tapas and beers in the late afternoon light. At Plaza Barroso, we found a curious site. Don’t jump little man! Everything’s gonna be ok!!
The Arco de la Villa is one of the four medieval gates of the old wall that surrounded Rota. However, it has origins that date back to the ancient Moorish wall of the 12th Century. It once served as a customs house in the Middle Ages.
The public market, which is where the Christmas market was also planted. After tapas, all the locals were now ready for their cookies.
One unique thing the market offered was the infamous “Nun cookies” which are offered by most Catholic Churches in Spain during the Christmas season and this one even offered free samples!! Mmmm…
These sweet treats are deeply rooted in convent tradition and follow centuries old, handwritten recipes, (using lots of lard!) which are now often used as fundraising tool at Christmas markets. However, you can also visit a real convent, ring a bell, speak through a wooden turntable and never see a “real” nun. We tried to do this in Sevilla, but weren’t successful.
All is calm this Christmas evening. 🌴🎄🇪🇸 Feliz Navidad amigos!!
Daily Life in Rota with Pixie & Shelley
After 33 days, we tied up ends at our housesit in the south of Spain, which was the first time we’ve ever spent the holidays at the beach. Of course beach and lovely weather are not always synonymous. In fact, thanks to it being the coldest, and wettest December on the Iberian Peninsula since 2010, it definitely hasn’t been what we expected and we are more than ready to pack up and head to a warmer destination!
But we’ve enjoyed the time with our little piglet, Pixie, Shelly the rescue tortoise, and particularly the nearby nature…when the elusive sun was kind enough to grace us with her presence. That said, this may be our last winter in Europe. We’ve gone as far south as we can! 😂
Here’s a peek inside our month…
We had two spectacular slices of Mother Earth accessible off our doorstep…a forest of pine trees positioned like an inviting sea of broccoli, and the actual sea, aka Atlantic Ocean. Because of the way Rota is situated, we were also able to see the 8:30 sunrise and 6:15 sunset over the water, which is quite rarity. Also a rarity was the days this actually happened.
Another unique element of the area was the nearby Los Corrales de Rota, which is an 2000+ year old fishing system devised by the Romans, or maybe even Phoenicians. Fascinatingly, this sustainable fishing method, which are basically human-made stone tide pools with walls, are still being used today by local fishermen.
Here’s how it works:
- At high tide, seawater flows freely over the low stone walls.
- Fish, octopus, cuttlefish, shrimp, and shellfish swim in naturally.
- When the tide goes out, the water drains back to the sea…
- …but the animals get trapped inside the enclosed areas.
- Fishermen then collect the catch by hand at low tide.
- This means fishermen need no damaging boats, nets or engines.
Seriously, let’s put the Ancient Romans back in charge. Errr…at least on architectural and sustainability matters.
Our yard tortoise named Shelly, and our sweet house piglet named Pixie in her Christmas sweater. Like us, she was frosty most of the month due to an inefficient heating system which are quite common in Europe, but especially Spain, as well as ice cold tile floors with no rugs or insulation.
The heating/combo AC units that ARE available basically feel like a mediocre hairdryer which blast heat continuously in the top half of the room while anything from chest down stays frigid. Fortunately we had hot showers. Needless to say, we were wearing all the winter clothes we have on a daily basis and piling on lots of blankets. We were making fun of the Spaniards, but hace mucho frío indeed! 😂
Another reality is we haven’t even been able to keep each other warm at night because the bed provided is so small and uncomfortable that we’re in separate areas of the sizeable ice palace.
So…you can see why all of us truly rejoiced on those rare sunny days!
On the night we arrived, our host took us out for a delicious Chinese meal. She’s an American lady who has lived here 30 years and recently retired from the US/Spanish Naval Base.
This is our first tortoise client so we were interested to see Shelly’s set-up. She has a small outdoor house, and also likes to sleep on the porch, both on heated tiles. For nights with single digit lows, we’ve been bringing her in the house. Though I’m not sure it’s that much warmer, she’s at least protected from the winds.
Shelly’s diet is also interesting. She basically eats grass, but only when it’s sunny, as well as lettuce and oranges from the tree. We’ve tried giving her other vegetables but she seems to be as picky as a five-year-old child though in theory she should be a bit more mature!
Scrutinizing her selection. We read you’re not supposed to feed tortoises oranges all the time because they’re too sweet, but that was the food we were provided.
A selfie I took with Pixie one sunny morning outside where Greg and I had our breakfast when able. The 9€ fuzzy snowflake jammies I bought in Sevilla were the most brilliant decision I made this holiday season. 😂Greg also made a smart decision with his manly avocado slipper purchase to protect his feet from the “burning” of the Antarctic floors.
The outside of the house, when we’re able to use it, is by far its selling point.
It included an orange tree which was entirely picked clean throughout the month. Although they don’t look like anything special, they are the most succulent oranges we’ve ever had in our lives. OMG!
We both really missed this little snuggler after we left.
She provided entertainment pretty much the entire month, including getting eaten by the couch
Beyond the perimeter of the house, where we lived was a bit challenging without the use of a car, even though there was a perfectly good one sitting in the driveway, which we were only allowed to touch to start it weekly and then it died anyways, because it was a hybrid and according to the mechanic, needed to be regularly driven. Talk about salt in the wound.
Anyhow, we were a good 35-40 minute walk to Old Town (the cute part) and about 30 minutes to a grocery store because Rota brilliantly clumped all three market next door to each other à la strip mall style. Alongside palm trees, and McDonald’s next to CrossFit gyms (ha!), it generally felt like being in Florida or SoCal. In fact, many days we even forgot we were in Spain because of the abundance of English speakers, thanks to the navy base.
Only when you arrive to the section of the supermarket with a line-up that looked like the Rockettes Christmas Spectacular, starring Miss Piggie, do you remember where you actually are.
Overall, groceries were on par with other parts of Europe we experienced in 2025, including our month in Bulgaria. We spent $614, which including cooking all our own meals and buying pretty much whatever we want. Our next location won’t be a vino destination so this included plenty of Vitamin-V. (€.85=$1 currently.) Our groceries also included another new pet.
Even though we didn’t eat out except once, we did treat ourselves to a beach bar one sunny happy hour. Two glasses were 8€ or about $9. It was served to us by a Colombian guy wanting to practice his English so it was ironically even challenging to practice much Spanish here.
Interestingly, the only people we really chatted with over the course of the month were Colombians. There seems to be a lot living here. It’s pretty quiet otherwise. I did get invited to a Spanish/English meet-up by my massage therapist, also Colombian, but it sadly never happened with the holidays.
A quiet street in our neighborhood felt a bit like Vegas. In the summer it’s quite the opposite, we’ve heard especially with all the camper-vans that man spread the streets.
The pine forest was absolutely tranquil for walking Pixie or morning runs, which I was doing until I about took a spill thanks to some inconspicuous black ice. 😬
In the sand dunes…a leftover Roman power symbol?! Funnily, it was place right next to a cell tower that soared over it about 5 times. The differences, but also insane similarities, of ancient versus modern man. 🙄
We also would regularly see the river outlet leading to the ocean, as well as fuschia prickly pear cacti dotted the dunes as well.
After a particularly stormy night, one morning I found dozens of chubby sea cucumbers, or pepinos de mar, dotting the beach. These weird looking creatures are basically the gardeners of the sea, which rework and oxygenate the seabed as they feed. Kinda like earthworms on land (says Chat GPT.) Although Spanish people don’t eat them (not sure why considering the Wilbur legs in the supermarkets), there has been a history of illegal harvesting in this area, as they are high value products in Asian markets.
Where is Rota? Well, we are all too close to Morocco. I’ve been chomping at the bit to visit, but Greg is no hurry after a quite unpleasant experience in 2005. (Pre-Me).
That said, although it would be logical, this is not our next destination. I’m actually quite glad about this now that I’ve experienced the weather. 😂 So where are we heading? A hint….Hasta Luego to España….but not to Español!
