The weather was getting extremely hot. When we were high up in the mountains we had the benefit of a cooling breeze but the following day we drove to Iznajar, a pueblo blanco (white village) built around the ruins of an 8th century Moorish castle at the top of a rocky outcrop. There was a lake 32k long and 6k wide that surrounded the village on both sides, so it resembled an island in the middle of the lake.
We got a lift to the top of the village. The temperature was already over 30° so we dived into the nearest café for a cooling drink and to take in the magnificent panorama of the lake with a backdrop of hills covered in silvery olive trees.
We walked down the hill following the labyrinth of narrow lanes lined with typical Andalusian whitewashed houses. By that time we reached the bottom the temperature was over 40°, so we returned to the campsite, collected our bathers and a couple of chairs and spent the remainder of the day at the lakeside, sitting under the pine trees and swimming in the lake.
The temperature stayed high until well after sunset. We had a meal in the local hotel and walked back afterwards in the relative cool of the evening, only having to stop once to have a nightcap in a lakeside café.
