A journey full of rain, sheep, farm land and abandoned buildings, the drive from Sevilla to Arcos de la Frontera takes 1 hour and 18 minutes (113 km)… if you take toll highways.
For the longest time we couldn’t figure out why the highways were empty. It was a week of holidays so we initially assumed that people were staying at home.
However, by the time we reached Arcos, we’d determined that the Spanish simply refused to pay to drive on toll routes. This is not surprising, given the toll roads (autopistas de peajes) are expensive. In average we paid 6-10 EU for each 50km we travelled, with some routes being more expensive than others. And, we later discovered that the rate changes and becomes even more expensive in summer.
Expense aside, the highways are pristine quiet, and safe. It was on these highways that we were able to travel to the various cities quickly.
