Old friends from the US met us in Madrid to spend ten days in southern Spain together. We took the high speed train from Madrid to Malaga then got our rental car. We spent a few days exploring the coast and then moved north a couple hours to spend time among the endless groves of olives. Both areas have unique charms. We visited several “pueblos blancos” (white villages.)  We enjoyed near perfect fall weather in spite of the rains and flooding that had happened in Malaga and (especially) Valencia the week before and again the week after our visit. We were very fortunate to miss all the bad weather. Spain is a huge and diverse country that we feel lucky to have as our next-door neighbor. We can visit often. Highlights from this visit included: Salobreña, Nerja, Frigiliana, Torrenueva Costa, Pampaneira, Zamaranos, Córdoba, Braena, Zuheros, and Priego de Córdoba.