Saturday, February 23, 2008
Episode 35
Episode 35
Heading for Granada we drove through some rather pretty but very arid hills and mountains. We crossed a pass between two bare limestone mountain tops at around 1000m, then continued going up through a valley beyond. Passing through one large town and several villages all surrounded by olive trees: The olive trees are planted in rows marching up and over the hillsides like long lines of fat green soldier; there is little else growing, some yellow flowering gorse, some dry grass and wild herbs and some almond trees is about all. Any natural vegetation has all gone. Many of the olive plantations are fairly new and we saw a couple more of those tree shakers working harvesting the olives.
As we got nearer to Granada the land became even more arid and mostly it was almond plantations that we saw, though there were still some olives. I had read somewhere that Granada was in a green valley; well somewhere something was wrong because there is nothing green around here at present. Only some of the almonds are in bloom, and none are in leaf yet. A thick dust haze hangs over the whole place.
The main attraction in Granada is the Alhambra Palace complex standing on top of a hill with the modern city spread out below and the snow capped Sierra Nevada Mountains in the back ground. The Alhambra buildings have a reddish hue and are quite plain on the outside; it is their ornately decorated interiors that make them so famous, being one of the most visited tourist attractions in Spain. Built in the 13th and 14th centuries by the Moslem rulers of this part of Spain they appear very modest beside the grand renaissance Palace of Carlos V built in the early 16th century but never finished, its bulk stands right in the middle of the ridge and backs onto the other palaces.
Because of the great numbers of tourists who visit this site it was imperative that we start out early so we arrived at the ticket office just after it opened at 8am, bought our ticket and headed up into the grounds so as to be on hand when places opened at 8.30am. To visit the Palacio Nazaries (this includes all the Muslim palaces) we had been given a particular time slot in which to enter and that was 8.30 to 9am, so we got one of those audio guide things from a stall and went along to the palace and found that there were very few other people yet here. It had been best to come early:
The decoration of the stucco walls with their delicately moulded patterns of leaves, vines, geometric patterns and Arab inscriptions above the tiled plinths that reach nearly 1.5m up the walls are beautiful but then you see the ceilings and they are stunning. Different rooms have different types of ceiling. Some have wooden ones with small pieces of wood all inlaid to form stars, and all sorts of geometrics designs; they are not really inlaid as they are nailed with tiny nails onto a backing material, probably wood. The huge wooden doors are made in the same manner. Then there are the archways. Beautiful archways, some rounded, some the pointed horseshoe design, and some with mouldings that almost give a leafy outline within the arch. On the underneath of these arches there is what has been described at ‘stalactite’ mouldings. Little hollows and pinnacles that somewhat resemble what we saw in one of the caves we visited a couple of weeks ago. Much of these mouldings have been painted blue, traces can still be seen.
Then there are the courtyards always with a water element. In one a long pool that is nearly always calm as its sheltered from the wind, gives an almost perfect reflection of the tower. It is surrounded by myrtle hedges that are said to be fragrant but perhaps not at this time of year, I certainly can’t seem them. One courtyard has a fountain with the water issuing from 12 lions mouths but this is off for restoration at present so we couldn’t see it. Still the courtyard has 124 marble columns around the edge with a small pavilion at both of the narrow ends. The archways around that colonnade are all decorated with the stalactite mouldings. One of the rooms off here was believed to have been the place where the Emirs favourite concubine lived. On the floor, on both sides of a central fountain (gone for restoration) are huge white marble panels known as the two sisters.
One room has a domed ceiling of those ‘stalactite’ mouldings whilst another has a domed ceiling of the wood inlay in the form of stars that are said to represent the 7 heavens of Islam. Whatever it’s meant to represent its really lovely: Another room that is at present closed because of more restoration work has a leather ceiling.
The American writer Washington Irving lived in this Palace in 1829 at the time it was abandoned and in a very sad state of disrepair. It was somewhat due to his writings and an increasing tourist interest in such things that measures were taken to restore these palaces:
Having spent more than an hour looking around here we made our way out and along to the Palace of Carlos V. This is a square building but it has a huge round courtyard inside. Around that courtyard on two levels are stone columns and balastrading all made of some conglomerate rock. One the top floor is a fine arts museum with many paintings and sculptures by Spanish masters and a display of 19th century women’s dresses and gowns. The latter was a beautiful display: On the ground floor is another museum showing objects that have been found during archaeological excavations on this ridge. Coins, pottery, tiles, glass and many other things: Also one of the lions from the palace that has been restored. He is just waiting for his mates to be finished then they will all be re-assembled and put back where they belong.
From here we walked through the arched doorway known as the Puerta de Vino (wine door). This was the entrance to the Medina and where the merchants had to pay the tax on all goods brought into the Medina. Going towards the Alcazaba we were heading out the gate. We crossed a flat open area that was once a moat but has been filled in and large water cisterns are beneath and came to the Alcazaba with three towers and some ramparts on the end of the ridge overlooking the city. These date from around the 12th century and contained a military barracks, a public baths for the military personal, and dungeons. We climbed to the top of the watch tower and got a great but hazy view over the city.
Now we walked back through that Wine gate straight ahead past the Carlos V palace and came to a large church. It is also undergoing restoration and was almost bare; it stands on the site of a former mosque and next door we entered a house that was in the medina and there we could see the baths that once belonged to the Mosque. The house has been altered a great deal in recent centuries: Apart from this one house nothing else remains of the Median except what is being found through archaeological exploration.
Continuing along the ridge we walked through an avenue of cypress trees that have been tied and pruned to form the shape of high archways; on one side is an expensive hotel and on the other the Medina excavations. Then we came to a bridge over a gully and into the Gerenalife gardens. These were the gardens built for the pleasure of the Emirs or Sultans or whatever the Muslim rulers called themselves. These gardens contained more of the sculptured cypress trees along with beds standard roses, all pruned at present, and an arbour that would be covered in grape vines in the summer. Small gardens of pansies and pots and small beds of cyclamens provide a splash of bright colour at present along with the ever-present citrus trees with their yellow/orange fruit. Looking over the edge from this garden we look down onto the vegetable gardens that supplied vegetables to the royal households. They are still growing veg here; one plant looks very much like a thistle but it’s planted in rows and plenty of it so it must be good for something, the other veg we saw are broad beans. Looking over past the garden, accross the gully and there is the Alhambra straight in front of us with the Alcazaba towers behind it.
At the end of the gardens is the Sultans summer palace. A rather small place compared to the other but very cool and open. It has a couple of lovely courtyards one with a long pool and bordered by long gardens now almost bare and the other a much smaller one with a dead 700 year old cypress tree trunk wired up in one corner. From this point we made our way up a stairway with water running down channelling in the balustrade and people trying to take photos of it. Then a walk through some un-tamed garden area and another arbour this one with tall oleander bent to form an archway and so back to the entrance to gardens and the end of our tour hereabouts. We returned our audio guide and left.
Later we followed a suggested walking tour from the Lonely Planet book. This took us up some interesting narrow streets and cobbled lanes past an 11th century bathhouse not that we could see anything that looked remotely 11th century but then it was closed. We came to a view point where we got a great view of the Alhambra with the snow capped Sierra Nevada behind. Still very hazy: Passed an 11th century minaret with a cross on top, the mosque had been converted into a church long ago and the minaret into a bell tower. Then down through a street of tourist shops with a distinct Arab influence. We would have visited the cathedral but it was closed. The front of it is massive and has some beautiful carvings all in a caramel coloured stone.
I just mentioned those cobbled streets; I will tell you a little more about them: many are made with small rounded pebbles now worn a little flat on top and smooth and can be quite slippery. Then there is the cobbling with the pebbles that are a little longer and flatter and are laid narrow side up. Usually all cemented into place. These are often laid as a feature in a plaza or alley and can be in a special shape like a bird or an animal or just a geometric pattern and sometimes painted black or some other colour. You get this sort of cobbles in South American countries too. Another sort is when granite has been cut into small cubes and laid like pavers; it is not cemented in so that it easily comes loose even by someone tripping on it. It looks great when in good repair but as it does break up easily it usually has holes or edges that are falling apart. This we saw a lot of in Portugal and is another very common paving in Latin American countries.
Not far from Granada are the highest mountains in Spain in the Sierra Nevada and also a ski resort. The drive up is quite pretty through the hills but the dust haze was so bad that we couldn’t see any view back towards Granada. We were almost at the resort before we saw any snow at all and then it was only a little bit by the road side. Very little has fallen so far this season and what there is on the piste (the ski runs) has largely been made using the snow making machines. Apart from the runs the covering is thin and patchy. On the day we went up there a very strong wind was blowing so the lifts were not working with the result that no one was out skiing. Not much good for those people who rely on it for an income.
There is no road across the mountains at that point so we drove back to Granada and on towards Guadix to take a route over a 2000m pass. At that pass there was only some tiny patches of snow in some of the more sheltered spots and it didn’t look very recent. The lady in one of the tourist info offices says that good snow is still quite possible, it might come as late as May.
Continuing on around the southern flank of the Sierra Nevada we came to the area known as Las Alpujarras. This is an area of steep and deep ravines that descend off the southern slopes off the Sierras; there is some snow on the higher tops. Many of these mountain sides had been terraced in the days of the Muslims who grew mulberries on them to raise silk worms. Silk was a major industry in those times. When the Muslims were expelled in the 16th century and replaced with Christians from further north the industry died and so did the mulberry trees. No trace of them at all now; the terraces can still be seen but nothing other than a little dry grass is growing on them:
White painted little villages cling perilously to the steep terrain, the houses separated by twisting narrow lanes. I can’t work out what all the people do who live here though I think that a great percentage of them are elderly. There are a huge number of restaurants, cafes and bars along with plenty of hostels and hotels; however there does not seem to be a great number of tourists about at present though of course, in the summer it is very crowded with them.
All these little valleys, and there are several of them, flow into a larger on at the bottom where a great deal of citrus is grown. The cheapest citrus we have seen anywhere is for sale on roadside stalls in the principal village Orgiva; we got a big plastic bag full of oranges and mandarins for €3 ($5au). They are really sweet:
Then we were back amongst olives and almonds, predominantly almonds, the hillsides are a mass of white and pale pink blossom and we even saw a bus load of people picnicking amongst them, perhaps they were on an almond blossom tour. The road wended its way up through these orchards that are planted on so steep hillsides that all the nuts must roll right to the bottom. At 1300m we topped out and from the view point looked south towards the Mediterranean shinning in the sun. Between us and it was a steep descent and acres of plastic sheeting covering thousands of green houses and the dirtiest area of Spain with an almost dry river bed full of garbage, mainly plastic in one form or another. Generally speaking the country has been quite clean with garbage and recycle bins absolutely everywhere, never more that an few hundred metres from them.
If green houses can be so tatty as to be called shanty green houses then this is what these are. They are all shapes and sizes and though most of the plastic is clear there are bits of all sorts of other plastics that have been used to mend or patch sides and ends. Often that woven material that is used for fertilizer bags at home has been used and not only in white, but in green and black, some green shade cloth and the odd bit of hessian here and there. They are very ugly. As yet we haven’t been able to determine just what is growing in them, something tall, possibly tomatoes, the plastic is not clear enough to get a reasonable look.
The stretch of coast that we arrived at west of the city of Almeria is not a tourist area, it has a steep rocky shore and these plastic green houses. Out in the water there are a large number of small boats to be seen, they appear to be fishing boats.
With the coast not being all that interesting we turned back inland and drove up through more plastic green houses. Some are positioned just as precariously on the steep mountain slopes as the houses while there are plenty more on the valley floor.
As we climbed over the Sierra Nevada, the eastern end of them, we passed through a large area of very neatly terraced hillsides. Probably these were once all covered in mulberry trees now planted with almonds trees, mostly not yet in flower and the white painted villages stand out rather starkly amidst the dark of the surrounding terraces. From one view point all we could see was terraced hillsides and white villages with a deep gorge through the middle.
Crossing the Sierra Baza just a little further north we ran into thick fog then above the 1900m when we came out above the fog there was some snow. We climbed to just over 2000m and drove through a forest of pine trees, they have all been planted in rows and each one had a tiny patch of snow on its shaded northern side. On the north facing slopes there was a bit more snow remaining. We also saw 3 deer in this area. I think that they were red deer. Drove through fog again going down and then when we run out of it we saw spread out below a huge valley full of almond trees, we thought we’d seen a lot before but nothing like this quantity. Spain must produce a fair quantity of the world’s supply of almonds:
Before entering Jaen province we came to a large dam that is quite low and the country surrounding it is very similar to what the Americans term ‘bad lands’. An area of deeply eroded steep hills and ravines surrounded by higher mountains that are also steep and eroded, so that you can stand on the higher hills and look down into the ‘bad lands’. This is all very dry country and these hills have just an odd patch of dry grass or herbs (rosemary and thyme) and perhaps oak or pine tree to give a splash of colour to the otherwise red/orange colour of the soil and rocks.
In Jaen province we could immediately see how it could produce 10% of the world’s supply of olive oil. It is just about wall to wall olive trees. Even up the mountains they reach quite high on the rocky slopes and seem to thrive.
In the Sierra de Segura there are many view points where we could stop and look out over the lower hills towards the plains, it was very hazy so we couldn’t see a long way and the wind nearly blew us away, but for as far as we could see there were olive trees in any available spot. A few must have got the chop though as near the town of Quesada we saw a large solar farm under construction. It covers about 20 to 30 acres (8 to 12 hectares), the frames are all in place but only some of the solar panels have been put up. About a kilometre away there is another smaller area that is going to be another solar farm. We had seen a couple of small ones not sure if it was in Spain or Portugal but they only covered an acre or two, nothing on this scale. We had passed two large wind farms that weren’t working, not from lack of wind I can assure you.
One night we camped in the pine forest and in the damp morning air the smell of pine and wild rosemary filled the air. We drove out of the mountains and onto the plains of La Mancha, (Don Quixote country), this is wheat and barely country with many young crops in the fields.
Drove into the city of Albacete, it has some nice late 19th early 20th century buildings but not a great deal to see. One thing that did attract our attention was a shop window full of knives, all different, there were hundreds of them. There is a knife and scissor museum in the city but it was closed on the day we were there.
Heading north east from Albacete we came to the gorge of the Rio Júcar. This gorge is like a deep jagged gash across the flat landscape. We suddenly arrived at the edge of the cliff and the road descended in a series of hairpin bends arriving at the bottom beside a gently flowing milky aqua blue stream meandering its way past small farm plots, tall pencil pines and Spanish pine and bare gray frames of deciduous trees. The cliffs are sandstone in horizontal stratas, probably an ancient sea bed; the colours are soft, from white and grey through to a gently orange.
Alongside the stream there are a few small villages and many homes are dug back into the sandstone cliffs. One we saw was painted bright pink. In another village there were many shops with concrete fronts but dug back into the cliffs whilst on the other side of the river the houses climbed back up the almost vertical cliff one above the other. An old castle stood upon a pillar of rock at the bend in the river overlooking the village.
Heading roughly north from the gorge we passed through an area of low rolling agricultural land, plenty of young wheat or barley emerging and a vast area of grapes. Some of those grape vines are very old judging by the size of the base stem. Mostly they were cut back very low to the ground but in some fields they were on trellises.
Then we entered another gorge, not quite so dramatic as the Júcar but still quite impressive. This one was quite different, predominately red stone and not in strata; it still had some incredibly sculptured outcrops. A lot of pine forest along with the ilex or holm oak. I possibly had not mentioned it before but this oak is an evergreen, not a deciduous tree.
Making our way towards the city of Teruer we seem to pass through several more gorges, not deep, yet each one was a little different. As we neared the city we passed though a stone fruit growing area, the trees still asleep: It is a the poorest area we have seen so far. Most houses are not painted at all, just the colour of the raw brick or stone so they blend in very well with the redish hue of the landscape. Generally they are in fair repair; it’s just that the place has a much less affluent feel to it.
Teruer has seen better times apparently; over recent years the population has dropped significantly as people move to other places to find work. Just the same there is still a great deal of construction of new houses and apartments going on in the city. It’s a pleasant enough place with a cathedral dating from the 12th century. Its tower is the most notable thing; built in the Mudejar style and decorated with some green tiles it looks as much Islamic as Christian. The inside is said to be interestingly painted but the place was locked up tight so we didn’t get to see the inside. Around the town there are some lovely old buildings, probably 19th century, with ornate plaster mouldings around the facia and balconies, and fancy iron railings on those balconies.
We had seen a well decorated house in another town earlier. It has tiles laid in a decorative pattern around windows and doors on the ground floor, then on the 2nd floor it had a combination of tiles and painted art work with an ornate rounded balcony on one corner that overhangs the corner of the street. It has grabbed out attention as we drove through the town.
© Lynette Regan February 19 2008
Heading for Granada we drove through some rather pretty but very arid hills and mountains. We crossed a pass between two bare limestone mountain tops at around 1000m, then continued going up through a valley beyond. Passing through one large town and several villages all surrounded by olive trees: The olive trees are planted in rows marching up and over the hillsides like long lines of fat green soldier; there is little else growing, some yellow flowering gorse, some dry grass and wild herbs and some almond trees is about all. Any natural vegetation has all gone. Many of the olive plantations are fairly new and we saw a couple more of those tree shakers working harvesting the olives.
As we got nearer to Granada the land became even more arid and mostly it was almond plantations that we saw, though there were still some olives. I had read somewhere that Granada was in a green valley; well somewhere something was wrong because there is nothing green around here at present. Only some of the almonds are in bloom, and none are in leaf yet. A thick dust haze hangs over the whole place.
The main attraction in Granada is the Alhambra Palace complex standing on top of a hill with the modern city spread out below and the snow capped Sierra Nevada Mountains in the back ground. The Alhambra buildings have a reddish hue and are quite plain on the outside; it is their ornately decorated interiors that make them so famous, being one of the most visited tourist attractions in Spain. Built in the 13th and 14th centuries by the Moslem rulers of this part of Spain they appear very modest beside the grand renaissance Palace of Carlos V built in the early 16th century but never finished, its bulk stands right in the middle of the ridge and backs onto the other palaces.
Because of the great numbers of tourists who visit this site it was imperative that we start out early so we arrived at the ticket office just after it opened at 8am, bought our ticket and headed up into the grounds so as to be on hand when places opened at 8.30am. To visit the Palacio Nazaries (this includes all the Muslim palaces) we had been given a particular time slot in which to enter and that was 8.30 to 9am, so we got one of those audio guide things from a stall and went along to the palace and found that there were very few other people yet here. It had been best to come early:
The decoration of the stucco walls with their delicately moulded patterns of leaves, vines, geometric patterns and Arab inscriptions above the tiled plinths that reach nearly 1.5m up the walls are beautiful but then you see the ceilings and they are stunning. Different rooms have different types of ceiling. Some have wooden ones with small pieces of wood all inlaid to form stars, and all sorts of geometrics designs; they are not really inlaid as they are nailed with tiny nails onto a backing material, probably wood. The huge wooden doors are made in the same manner. Then there are the archways. Beautiful archways, some rounded, some the pointed horseshoe design, and some with mouldings that almost give a leafy outline within the arch. On the underneath of these arches there is what has been described at ‘stalactite’ mouldings. Little hollows and pinnacles that somewhat resemble what we saw in one of the caves we visited a couple of weeks ago. Much of these mouldings have been painted blue, traces can still be seen.
Then there are the courtyards always with a water element. In one a long pool that is nearly always calm as its sheltered from the wind, gives an almost perfect reflection of the tower. It is surrounded by myrtle hedges that are said to be fragrant but perhaps not at this time of year, I certainly can’t seem them. One courtyard has a fountain with the water issuing from 12 lions mouths but this is off for restoration at present so we couldn’t see it. Still the courtyard has 124 marble columns around the edge with a small pavilion at both of the narrow ends. The archways around that colonnade are all decorated with the stalactite mouldings. One of the rooms off here was believed to have been the place where the Emirs favourite concubine lived. On the floor, on both sides of a central fountain (gone for restoration) are huge white marble panels known as the two sisters.
One room has a domed ceiling of those ‘stalactite’ mouldings whilst another has a domed ceiling of the wood inlay in the form of stars that are said to represent the 7 heavens of Islam. Whatever it’s meant to represent its really lovely: Another room that is at present closed because of more restoration work has a leather ceiling.
The American writer Washington Irving lived in this Palace in 1829 at the time it was abandoned and in a very sad state of disrepair. It was somewhat due to his writings and an increasing tourist interest in such things that measures were taken to restore these palaces:
Having spent more than an hour looking around here we made our way out and along to the Palace of Carlos V. This is a square building but it has a huge round courtyard inside. Around that courtyard on two levels are stone columns and balastrading all made of some conglomerate rock. One the top floor is a fine arts museum with many paintings and sculptures by Spanish masters and a display of 19th century women’s dresses and gowns. The latter was a beautiful display: On the ground floor is another museum showing objects that have been found during archaeological excavations on this ridge. Coins, pottery, tiles, glass and many other things: Also one of the lions from the palace that has been restored. He is just waiting for his mates to be finished then they will all be re-assembled and put back where they belong.
From here we walked through the arched doorway known as the Puerta de Vino (wine door). This was the entrance to the Medina and where the merchants had to pay the tax on all goods brought into the Medina. Going towards the Alcazaba we were heading out the gate. We crossed a flat open area that was once a moat but has been filled in and large water cisterns are beneath and came to the Alcazaba with three towers and some ramparts on the end of the ridge overlooking the city. These date from around the 12th century and contained a military barracks, a public baths for the military personal, and dungeons. We climbed to the top of the watch tower and got a great but hazy view over the city.
Now we walked back through that Wine gate straight ahead past the Carlos V palace and came to a large church. It is also undergoing restoration and was almost bare; it stands on the site of a former mosque and next door we entered a house that was in the medina and there we could see the baths that once belonged to the Mosque. The house has been altered a great deal in recent centuries: Apart from this one house nothing else remains of the Median except what is being found through archaeological exploration.
Continuing along the ridge we walked through an avenue of cypress trees that have been tied and pruned to form the shape of high archways; on one side is an expensive hotel and on the other the Medina excavations. Then we came to a bridge over a gully and into the Gerenalife gardens. These were the gardens built for the pleasure of the Emirs or Sultans or whatever the Muslim rulers called themselves. These gardens contained more of the sculptured cypress trees along with beds standard roses, all pruned at present, and an arbour that would be covered in grape vines in the summer. Small gardens of pansies and pots and small beds of cyclamens provide a splash of bright colour at present along with the ever-present citrus trees with their yellow/orange fruit. Looking over the edge from this garden we look down onto the vegetable gardens that supplied vegetables to the royal households. They are still growing veg here; one plant looks very much like a thistle but it’s planted in rows and plenty of it so it must be good for something, the other veg we saw are broad beans. Looking over past the garden, accross the gully and there is the Alhambra straight in front of us with the Alcazaba towers behind it.
At the end of the gardens is the Sultans summer palace. A rather small place compared to the other but very cool and open. It has a couple of lovely courtyards one with a long pool and bordered by long gardens now almost bare and the other a much smaller one with a dead 700 year old cypress tree trunk wired up in one corner. From this point we made our way up a stairway with water running down channelling in the balustrade and people trying to take photos of it. Then a walk through some un-tamed garden area and another arbour this one with tall oleander bent to form an archway and so back to the entrance to gardens and the end of our tour hereabouts. We returned our audio guide and left.
Later we followed a suggested walking tour from the Lonely Planet book. This took us up some interesting narrow streets and cobbled lanes past an 11th century bathhouse not that we could see anything that looked remotely 11th century but then it was closed. We came to a view point where we got a great view of the Alhambra with the snow capped Sierra Nevada behind. Still very hazy: Passed an 11th century minaret with a cross on top, the mosque had been converted into a church long ago and the minaret into a bell tower. Then down through a street of tourist shops with a distinct Arab influence. We would have visited the cathedral but it was closed. The front of it is massive and has some beautiful carvings all in a caramel coloured stone.
I just mentioned those cobbled streets; I will tell you a little more about them: many are made with small rounded pebbles now worn a little flat on top and smooth and can be quite slippery. Then there is the cobbling with the pebbles that are a little longer and flatter and are laid narrow side up. Usually all cemented into place. These are often laid as a feature in a plaza or alley and can be in a special shape like a bird or an animal or just a geometric pattern and sometimes painted black or some other colour. You get this sort of cobbles in South American countries too. Another sort is when granite has been cut into small cubes and laid like pavers; it is not cemented in so that it easily comes loose even by someone tripping on it. It looks great when in good repair but as it does break up easily it usually has holes or edges that are falling apart. This we saw a lot of in Portugal and is another very common paving in Latin American countries.
Not far from Granada are the highest mountains in Spain in the Sierra Nevada and also a ski resort. The drive up is quite pretty through the hills but the dust haze was so bad that we couldn’t see any view back towards Granada. We were almost at the resort before we saw any snow at all and then it was only a little bit by the road side. Very little has fallen so far this season and what there is on the piste (the ski runs) has largely been made using the snow making machines. Apart from the runs the covering is thin and patchy. On the day we went up there a very strong wind was blowing so the lifts were not working with the result that no one was out skiing. Not much good for those people who rely on it for an income.
There is no road across the mountains at that point so we drove back to Granada and on towards Guadix to take a route over a 2000m pass. At that pass there was only some tiny patches of snow in some of the more sheltered spots and it didn’t look very recent. The lady in one of the tourist info offices says that good snow is still quite possible, it might come as late as May.
Continuing on around the southern flank of the Sierra Nevada we came to the area known as Las Alpujarras. This is an area of steep and deep ravines that descend off the southern slopes off the Sierras; there is some snow on the higher tops. Many of these mountain sides had been terraced in the days of the Muslims who grew mulberries on them to raise silk worms. Silk was a major industry in those times. When the Muslims were expelled in the 16th century and replaced with Christians from further north the industry died and so did the mulberry trees. No trace of them at all now; the terraces can still be seen but nothing other than a little dry grass is growing on them:
White painted little villages cling perilously to the steep terrain, the houses separated by twisting narrow lanes. I can’t work out what all the people do who live here though I think that a great percentage of them are elderly. There are a huge number of restaurants, cafes and bars along with plenty of hostels and hotels; however there does not seem to be a great number of tourists about at present though of course, in the summer it is very crowded with them.
All these little valleys, and there are several of them, flow into a larger on at the bottom where a great deal of citrus is grown. The cheapest citrus we have seen anywhere is for sale on roadside stalls in the principal village Orgiva; we got a big plastic bag full of oranges and mandarins for €3 ($5au). They are really sweet:
Then we were back amongst olives and almonds, predominantly almonds, the hillsides are a mass of white and pale pink blossom and we even saw a bus load of people picnicking amongst them, perhaps they were on an almond blossom tour. The road wended its way up through these orchards that are planted on so steep hillsides that all the nuts must roll right to the bottom. At 1300m we topped out and from the view point looked south towards the Mediterranean shinning in the sun. Between us and it was a steep descent and acres of plastic sheeting covering thousands of green houses and the dirtiest area of Spain with an almost dry river bed full of garbage, mainly plastic in one form or another. Generally speaking the country has been quite clean with garbage and recycle bins absolutely everywhere, never more that an few hundred metres from them.
If green houses can be so tatty as to be called shanty green houses then this is what these are. They are all shapes and sizes and though most of the plastic is clear there are bits of all sorts of other plastics that have been used to mend or patch sides and ends. Often that woven material that is used for fertilizer bags at home has been used and not only in white, but in green and black, some green shade cloth and the odd bit of hessian here and there. They are very ugly. As yet we haven’t been able to determine just what is growing in them, something tall, possibly tomatoes, the plastic is not clear enough to get a reasonable look.
The stretch of coast that we arrived at west of the city of Almeria is not a tourist area, it has a steep rocky shore and these plastic green houses. Out in the water there are a large number of small boats to be seen, they appear to be fishing boats.
With the coast not being all that interesting we turned back inland and drove up through more plastic green houses. Some are positioned just as precariously on the steep mountain slopes as the houses while there are plenty more on the valley floor.
As we climbed over the Sierra Nevada, the eastern end of them, we passed through a large area of very neatly terraced hillsides. Probably these were once all covered in mulberry trees now planted with almonds trees, mostly not yet in flower and the white painted villages stand out rather starkly amidst the dark of the surrounding terraces. From one view point all we could see was terraced hillsides and white villages with a deep gorge through the middle.
Crossing the Sierra Baza just a little further north we ran into thick fog then above the 1900m when we came out above the fog there was some snow. We climbed to just over 2000m and drove through a forest of pine trees, they have all been planted in rows and each one had a tiny patch of snow on its shaded northern side. On the north facing slopes there was a bit more snow remaining. We also saw 3 deer in this area. I think that they were red deer. Drove through fog again going down and then when we run out of it we saw spread out below a huge valley full of almond trees, we thought we’d seen a lot before but nothing like this quantity. Spain must produce a fair quantity of the world’s supply of almonds:
Before entering Jaen province we came to a large dam that is quite low and the country surrounding it is very similar to what the Americans term ‘bad lands’. An area of deeply eroded steep hills and ravines surrounded by higher mountains that are also steep and eroded, so that you can stand on the higher hills and look down into the ‘bad lands’. This is all very dry country and these hills have just an odd patch of dry grass or herbs (rosemary and thyme) and perhaps oak or pine tree to give a splash of colour to the otherwise red/orange colour of the soil and rocks.
In Jaen province we could immediately see how it could produce 10% of the world’s supply of olive oil. It is just about wall to wall olive trees. Even up the mountains they reach quite high on the rocky slopes and seem to thrive.
In the Sierra de Segura there are many view points where we could stop and look out over the lower hills towards the plains, it was very hazy so we couldn’t see a long way and the wind nearly blew us away, but for as far as we could see there were olive trees in any available spot. A few must have got the chop though as near the town of Quesada we saw a large solar farm under construction. It covers about 20 to 30 acres (8 to 12 hectares), the frames are all in place but only some of the solar panels have been put up. About a kilometre away there is another smaller area that is going to be another solar farm. We had seen a couple of small ones not sure if it was in Spain or Portugal but they only covered an acre or two, nothing on this scale. We had passed two large wind farms that weren’t working, not from lack of wind I can assure you.
One night we camped in the pine forest and in the damp morning air the smell of pine and wild rosemary filled the air. We drove out of the mountains and onto the plains of La Mancha, (Don Quixote country), this is wheat and barely country with many young crops in the fields.
Drove into the city of Albacete, it has some nice late 19th early 20th century buildings but not a great deal to see. One thing that did attract our attention was a shop window full of knives, all different, there were hundreds of them. There is a knife and scissor museum in the city but it was closed on the day we were there.
Heading north east from Albacete we came to the gorge of the Rio Júcar. This gorge is like a deep jagged gash across the flat landscape. We suddenly arrived at the edge of the cliff and the road descended in a series of hairpin bends arriving at the bottom beside a gently flowing milky aqua blue stream meandering its way past small farm plots, tall pencil pines and Spanish pine and bare gray frames of deciduous trees. The cliffs are sandstone in horizontal stratas, probably an ancient sea bed; the colours are soft, from white and grey through to a gently orange.
Alongside the stream there are a few small villages and many homes are dug back into the sandstone cliffs. One we saw was painted bright pink. In another village there were many shops with concrete fronts but dug back into the cliffs whilst on the other side of the river the houses climbed back up the almost vertical cliff one above the other. An old castle stood upon a pillar of rock at the bend in the river overlooking the village.
Heading roughly north from the gorge we passed through an area of low rolling agricultural land, plenty of young wheat or barley emerging and a vast area of grapes. Some of those grape vines are very old judging by the size of the base stem. Mostly they were cut back very low to the ground but in some fields they were on trellises.
Then we entered another gorge, not quite so dramatic as the Júcar but still quite impressive. This one was quite different, predominately red stone and not in strata; it still had some incredibly sculptured outcrops. A lot of pine forest along with the ilex or holm oak. I possibly had not mentioned it before but this oak is an evergreen, not a deciduous tree.
Making our way towards the city of Teruer we seem to pass through several more gorges, not deep, yet each one was a little different. As we neared the city we passed though a stone fruit growing area, the trees still asleep: It is a the poorest area we have seen so far. Most houses are not painted at all, just the colour of the raw brick or stone so they blend in very well with the redish hue of the landscape. Generally they are in fair repair; it’s just that the place has a much less affluent feel to it.
Teruer has seen better times apparently; over recent years the population has dropped significantly as people move to other places to find work. Just the same there is still a great deal of construction of new houses and apartments going on in the city. It’s a pleasant enough place with a cathedral dating from the 12th century. Its tower is the most notable thing; built in the Mudejar style and decorated with some green tiles it looks as much Islamic as Christian. The inside is said to be interestingly painted but the place was locked up tight so we didn’t get to see the inside. Around the town there are some lovely old buildings, probably 19th century, with ornate plaster mouldings around the facia and balconies, and fancy iron railings on those balconies.
We had seen a well decorated house in another town earlier. It has tiles laid in a decorative pattern around windows and doors on the ground floor, then on the 2nd floor it had a combination of tiles and painted art work with an ornate rounded balcony on one corner that overhangs the corner of the street. It has grabbed out attention as we drove through the town.
© Lynette Regan February 19 2008
Friday, February 15, 2008
Episode 34
Episode 34
On a warm sunny day we visited the city of Cadiz. It sits at the north-western end of a long sandy spit with a rocky outcrop at the end. On the Atlantic side there are some lovely stretches of beach and on the inland side is a wide bay dotted with boats. At the head of the bay there was once a vast area of marshland but very little of it remains; most has been drained and built on but there is one small area that has been made into a Nature Reserve though I doubt that there is any great abundance of wild life there as it is probably badly polluted from all the industry hereabouts.
There is a festival on at present in the city, all the happenings are at night and for at least 3k’s the long straight road leading into the town has bands of decorative fairy lights strung across it, each band would have thousands of tiny lights and there was one every 40m or so. It would be pretty to drive up here at night I expect but the traffic would be horrific and parking impossible; apart from the fact that David doesn’t like driving at night anyway.
The city itself it quite a pleasant place with the usual abundance of churches and a Cathedral to visit: The cathedral is quite nice but not all that old only 19th century. It does have massive pillars inside and a high dome 50m above the floor. A climb to the top of the bell tower up another series of ramps affords a great view over the city and harbour. Ferries leave from here to go to Gran Canaria, and there is a cruise ship facility.
As usual we looked into a number of churches; we accidently came across some Roman ruins too: An old amphitheatre that is in surprisingly good condition without having been restored, though some of it has been built over. As luck would have it the one church of most interesting to see was the only one that wasn’t open, it has some paintings by Goya inside. Nearly everywhere we go there are public telephones but today because I wanted to use one I couldn’t find one, we spent a good half hour looking for one, then when we come to use the phone card we were told that it had expired, so we then spent another half hour or more trying to find a place to buy another one. Eventually we did so and made our phone call; how to spend an hour without really trying.
Arcos de la Frontera is a rather pleasant small town of white painted houses spread out along a high ridge with a church and an old castle on the highest point with cliffs below on three sides. In the 11th century under the Muslims it was of strategic importance. The view from the cliff tops is very extensive taking in the large fields of oats and pasture with many more fields in fellow, and along the river flats far below are large orange groves with gum trees on the river bank. High mountains to the north and east are part of another national park.
In this general area quite a lot of prickly pear grows. It can be seen along the sides of the road where it is sometimes used as a hedge. There would be very few animals that would brave attempting to make their way through that stuff. I don’t know if they have any ‘cati blati’ insect to control it but I have not seen any plants that are dead or dying.
On a blustery windy overcast day we drove into Gibraltar, that tiny British colony on the southern edge of Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar was one of the two Pillars of Hercules, the other one being a mountain on the Moroccan coast 25k’s distant; the ancients believed these pillars guarded the entrance to the known world. It is certainly an impressive great chunk of white limestone with almost vertical cliffs that drop directly into the Mediterranean on the eastern side. The western side is not quite so steep and has some dense vegetation that is home to the Barbary Macaques, the apes that live on the rock.
In the last thousand years the Moors, the Spanish and the British have occupied the Rock but Romans passed this way and it also is mentioned in some ancient Greek writings.
Back in 1972 we had driven up to the border and watched as the Spanish people on one side the border stook and shouted at their counterparts 15m away on the other side of the border. In those days the border was closed but it re-opened in 1985. Now you can just drive straight across with mere wave of the passports as you pass through. Then, more than likely you will be held up at the first traffic light you encounter because it is the one that controls traffic onto the airport runway. The road into the city crosses the runway there is no alternative as the runway stretches right across the Isthmus, coast to coast and is not very long.
With very little space available for a growing city the buildings reach quite a way up the steep slope of the rock and 12 story high rise apartments are beginning to line the harbour front. The steep alleyways have names like Dimino’s Ramp and Library Ramp. At the southern tip Europa Point there is a lighthouse and a view point. Offshore we could see many ships including two that were carrying Liquefied Natural Gas and ferries en route to Tangier or Ceuta.
The higher part of the Rock is a Nature reserve that is accessible by footpaths, a cable car and a narrow one way road hewn out of the cliff face that wends its way upward barely wide enough for a car. We drove up along this road, paid our entrance fee at Jews Gate and continued on up to St Michaels Cave. This is a huge limestone cave full of stalagmites and stalactites, and tourists. Trouble was we’d arrived at the same time as the morning tour busses, but within 15mins they had mostly departed and we had the place almost to ourselves.
The limestone formations are superb and there is a vast amount of them as well as many really thick columns. Of particular interest is a huge stalactite that had broken off at some point in time and become ‘cemented’ to the floor. The end of it has been sawn off and polished; it resembles an agate: It has many rings in its 1200mm to1300mm diameter, like the growth rings in trees that reveals its growth pattern. In periods when there has been a lot of rain the rings are a pale fawn colour; in drier times the rings are a deep brown colour, and two of three crystallized rings are believed to have been formed during times of glaciations (ice ages). One of the caverns is huge and holds an auditorium. Early last century another ventilation shaft was blasted out and during that process another deeper and extensive cave system was discovered. Human skulls 5000 years old have been found here.
A kilometre walk up hill from the cave brought us to the top of the rock with views all around. Unfortunately it was too cloudy and there were some showers around so we couldn’t see the Moroccan coast. The Mediterranean coast directly below was none too inviting looking; gray sand or pebbles I couldn’t tell which: The wind nearly blew us off the top.
Further round the rock we came to the ‘siege tunnels’: This is really one fairly long tunnel hewn out of the rock using small hand tools in the late 18th century. This was at a time with the British here were under siege from the Spanish and by digging this tunnel and mounting the guns in small galleries when they could fire down onto the flanks of the Spanish they managed to repel the Spanish invaders. Gibraltar has withstood many sieges over the centuries.
Some way lower down the Rock there are some WW2 gun emplacements that we had a look around before reaching the old Moorish castle that stands just above the city: The castle is really no more than a fortified tower with really thick walls. It bears the scars of bombardment it sustained during many sieges. This building dates from the 1200’s but an early castle here was destroyed.
All around this nature reserve we had seen many of the Barbary Macaques (apes) for which the rock is famous. They are quite a pretty golden brown colour and not very large, the size of a small dog, (corgi size) except for the old males that are larger and a dark gray colour. Some have become quite aggressive so we were warned but we had no trouble with them.
Before leaving we filled up with cheap fuel, it’s much cheaper here than in Spain and half the price it is in England, for the diesel we use anyway.
The Sierra de Grazalema are quite pretty mountains that we drove through along a narrow twisting road through hillsides covered in cork oak and holm oak trees with plantations of Spanish pine here and there. The Spanish pine is different to most pine trees as it usually has a rounded canopy and can often have a leggy mushroom shape. The mountains have some odd shapes and all have bare white rocky tops that look a bit like a light snow covering from a distance (to my eyes anyway). Its white limestone probably; and many outcrops resemble rock walls especially when they are leading up a steep ridge.
Following the valley of the Guadiaro River we looked out over lush green crops of oats close to the river while the lower hill sides were planted with olive groves and just a few orange orchards. A few small fields with almond trees in blooms and many more scattered along the road sides:
In the town of Ronda we had great trouble finding a place to park the car. It was Saturday afternoon and usually there is no problem, especially with the underground car parks they are often nearly empty, but not here, everything was full and there were people everywhere. Many were dressed in costumes and we decided that we had arrived just as some sort of festival activity was finishing. We did see some kids up on a stage wearing red ‘Santa Claus’ suits and singing Jingle Bells, this made us wonder if we have been caught in some sort of time warp for 10 months or so. David says it’s all the little ‘santa claus’ we have seen hanging up outside peoples homes come back to haunt them.
We had come to see the old part of Ronda that stands above the Tajo gorge of the Guadalevin River; this gorge proved such an effective barrier that the town remained under Muslim long after the rest of Spain had been reconquered by the Christians. It was not reclaimed by the Christians until 1498:
The 18th century Puente Nuevo connects the new part of the town with the older Moorish part with is narrow twisting, cobbled streets. As we crossed this bridge we looked down into the very narrow gorge beneath and to the river flowing over some small cascades 100m below. It is quite spectacular: On the one side the gorge continues another 100m then on the south bank it opens out into lush farming country while on the north bank the high cliffs continue quite some way leading to a ridge of high hills. On the other side the gorge runs several hundred metres upstream. It is crossed by a couple of other bridges one of which is a 16th century single arch bridge built in the Roman style.
This old Medina part of the town has a few houses or part thereof surviving from the Moorish time. One of them is now a museum and so we visited it to have a look around. It has a lovely courtyard with a well and columns and archways on two sides; all the rooms open out onto this central courtyard. This is a traditional Moorish style: Other houses have been added into the complex later so that there are two more courtyards within the one complex. One is in a traditional Mudejar style: It has triple semicircular arches on three sides enclosing arcades. The columns are marble and them the brickwork above is tiled with bright decorative tiles up to the height of the lintel below the 2nd story balcony. Heavy wooden doors etched in traditional Mudejar style carving open out through a horseshoe shaped pointed archway into sunny private gardens of myrtle hedges and citrus and oleander trees that overlook the cliffs and the valley beyond.
One large room upstairs, the Nobility Hall, has a Mudejar style coffered ceiling. It is crossed by heavy dark wooden beams that resemble the skeleton of an old wooden ship, inverted. Many of the end pieces are carved with decorative motifs. It is very beautiful.
As we meandered about the narrow alleyways we noticed that many of the houses had a coat of arms embossed on the lintel above the doorway. We have seen this in many places, it seems to have been a popular idea in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Another thing I will comment on is the fact that although there had been a festival with masses of people and loads of street stalls selling all the usual carnival junk there was amazingly little rubbish spread about. A few sheets of paper here and there, but in no way would you describe it as dirty. Absolutely no food scraps, no empty cans, bottles or take away containers; there was plenty of cigarette butts and one wino sleeping it off on a park bench totally oblivious to all the activity going on about him.
On the Guadalhorce River near the small village of El Chorro is the El Chorra gorge. The downstream entrance is very dramatic with two high mountains rising on either side almost vertically with just a very narrow gap through which the quite small stream flows. This gorge is up to 400m deep and only 10m wide in places. Also visible near the entrance is the foot bridge across the gorge about 50m above the stream. There was once a camino (trail) that lead around the cliff side and over that bridge then on through the gorge, but it was not maintained and part of the cantilevered walk that clung to the cliff has fallen away. Apparently it is possible to walk along through the railway tunnels but on the day we were here; there was a police guard stopping people from entering the railway tunnel. The rail line passes through several tunnels as it goes through the gorge.
From a view point on the other side the river we actually saw some people on the bridge and watched them come alone the walkway to the end then they abseiled down about 30m into a steep gully from where they could climb up under a railway bridge and join the track that we had walked along earlier to view the gorge.
In the same area as the gorge halfway up a high mountain with views out over mountains and valleys is a little church that has been hewn out of solid granite. Called the Mozarabe because an Arab who converted to Christianity in the 10th century was buried there: It has certainly taken some work to chisel it out; it has one end rounded and a couple of large ‘windows’ along one high wall: Some walls are not very high: It is about 6 to 7 metres long and 3m wide, on the other side of the windows another room has been chiselled out of the rock too, not quite so large. About 50m away we found another small room dug out of the rock. From what I’ve read I haven’t been able to work out whether or not it was this Arab who actually made this church.
From the top of the mountain there is an absolutely fabulous view over the village of El Chorro, the dam on the Gaudalhorce River, the large town of Alora further downstream and the mountains all around. We couldn’t see the coast but on a clearer day it may be possible. The same railway line that goes through the gorge crosses three large viaducts as passes around Alora.*
At Laguna Fuente de Piedra we went looking for flamingos. This is a lake where up to 1600 pairs are know to come and breed arriving at this time of year. However, this is not a permanent lake, some dry years it has no water, this year it has some water but is by no means full. There is a great deal of bird life just the same and we spent a while seeing what there was to see. If it hadn’t have been for the bitterly cold boisterous wind blowing we would have spent longer watching them. Even in the specially constructed bird hides we couldn’t escape the wind.
The lady in the information office had shown us what birds to expect to see and outside on the lake and around some shallow ponds near the lake we saw several types of ducks and shovelers, moorhens, gulls and stilts, just to name a few. Some lapwings with punk head feathers were meandering about too. From one of the car park lookouts we did eventually see the flamingos out on the lake but they were too far away to see individual birds, just a patch of pinkish colour out in the water. There are not many this year because the water is low.
On the drive around the lake we passed through large olive groves and came to a place where many people were working. There was a big machine shaking a tree while a fellow with a very long pole brushed it through the same tree, this broke a lot of the smaller branches off as well as the black olives. The fruit landed in nets below the tree and when the machine moved onto the next tree the nets were gathered up and emptied. There olive trees were really loaded with fruit.
We had noticed that the younger olive plantations had rows that were further apart than the older plantations, now we know why; the extra width allows the machine to be used because it is a very large machine. Even with this mechanical help this is still a fairly labour intensive job as there were many people to collect and empty the nets and relay them under trees still to be harvested.
El Torcal is an area of high mountains with eroded and weathered limestone forming curious formations a few kilometres outside the town of Antequera, north of Malaga. At an altitude of 1200m the blustery wind was much colder so we wrapped up in our winter woollies that we hadn’t worn for a few weeks before venturing out to walk around through some of these formations on a 3k hike. This took us into large bowl shape depressions, at bit like shallow canyons with the high white limestone pinnacles all around. They are in strata like pancakes piled high and topped with pinnacles. A few have fallen over:
To us some resembled faces, one a hand with two fingers in a V, a couple were like chess pieces and then some resembled some of the Muppets, Gonzo in particular. Our path took us from one bowl to another through areas that were very sheltered and the trees and rocks are covered in thick green moss, there are narrow chasms and tiny chambers. One area looked a bit like a city in ruins. There were a lot of birds too and we saw some green finches and chaf finches that we could identify.
It was late in the afternoon when we were quietly making our way back and we saw some animals grazing some distance off. At first we thought they were goats, then deer, but when we got a closer look at some we decided that they look like a cross between the two though I expect that they are just goats. They have the slender lithe shape of a deer but the horns of a goat. They also have the dark patch on the backside similar to some other deer we have seen. The information office was closed by the time we got back so we couldn’t ask in there. They are possibly Ibex as there are some of them in the Sierra Nevada mountains not all that far distant.
Also near Antequera are some ancient tombs. They took a great deal of effort to find as signposting leaves a lot to be desired and we never did find the tourist information.
Two of the tombs known as Dolmen de Viera and Dolmen de Menga are beside each other and they date from around 2000 to 2500BC; a third one some 3k’s distant is from a later period 1800BC. We visited the older ones first simply because they were the ones we found.
First we watched a video of how the ‘experts’ believe that the tombs were constructed. The video was in Spanish only but easy enough to follow regarding the construction. Whether or not it mentioned where the rock was quarried I can’t be sure but I don’t believe so. The ancients cut massive stone slabs and supposedly hauled them by teams of men pulling ropes according to the video. Some of that hauling would have been up hill as the tombs are on top of a rise.
First the site was cleared, then dug out to a depth of around 2.5m, then around the edge of that hole a deeper trench was dug, probably at least another 1/2m deep and a metre wide. It was into this trench that the upright stone slabs that formed the walls were dropped. When they were all in position then the whole thing was filled with dirt again so that the top slabs for the roof could be pulled across and into position; after that the filling was removed leaving an empty cavern. Some final landscaping was done by covering the top with a vast amount more dirt to round it off, leaving just the entryway and door for access.
The largest of these tombs had an open porch of around 3m long, then a covered entryway 5m long leading to the main cavern that was 17m long. The massive stone slab on the back wall of the cavern was 3m wide x 2.5m high (plus it was at least a half meter below the floor level) and 1m thick. There were at least 17 more slightly smaller slabs around the walls and I don’t know how many forming the roof. 3 central pillars help support the roof each of around 600mm square. Menga was the large tomb, Viera was about ¼ of the size and not as high. In Menga a well had been dug but that was done much later by the Romans, they had a cemetery further down the hill side.
The other tomb built several centuries later is very different. The walls are dry stone construction with stone slabs for the roof. A long passage leads through a trapezoid shaped door into a bee hive dome shaped cavern about 5m diameter, then another door, not in alignment with the first, a short passage, then a small bee hive chamber, only about 2.5m diameter. Each has a stone slab over a round hole for the roof and a flagstone floor.
© Lynette Regan 12th February 2008
On a warm sunny day we visited the city of Cadiz. It sits at the north-western end of a long sandy spit with a rocky outcrop at the end. On the Atlantic side there are some lovely stretches of beach and on the inland side is a wide bay dotted with boats. At the head of the bay there was once a vast area of marshland but very little of it remains; most has been drained and built on but there is one small area that has been made into a Nature Reserve though I doubt that there is any great abundance of wild life there as it is probably badly polluted from all the industry hereabouts.
There is a festival on at present in the city, all the happenings are at night and for at least 3k’s the long straight road leading into the town has bands of decorative fairy lights strung across it, each band would have thousands of tiny lights and there was one every 40m or so. It would be pretty to drive up here at night I expect but the traffic would be horrific and parking impossible; apart from the fact that David doesn’t like driving at night anyway.
The city itself it quite a pleasant place with the usual abundance of churches and a Cathedral to visit: The cathedral is quite nice but not all that old only 19th century. It does have massive pillars inside and a high dome 50m above the floor. A climb to the top of the bell tower up another series of ramps affords a great view over the city and harbour. Ferries leave from here to go to Gran Canaria, and there is a cruise ship facility.
As usual we looked into a number of churches; we accidently came across some Roman ruins too: An old amphitheatre that is in surprisingly good condition without having been restored, though some of it has been built over. As luck would have it the one church of most interesting to see was the only one that wasn’t open, it has some paintings by Goya inside. Nearly everywhere we go there are public telephones but today because I wanted to use one I couldn’t find one, we spent a good half hour looking for one, then when we come to use the phone card we were told that it had expired, so we then spent another half hour or more trying to find a place to buy another one. Eventually we did so and made our phone call; how to spend an hour without really trying.
Arcos de la Frontera is a rather pleasant small town of white painted houses spread out along a high ridge with a church and an old castle on the highest point with cliffs below on three sides. In the 11th century under the Muslims it was of strategic importance. The view from the cliff tops is very extensive taking in the large fields of oats and pasture with many more fields in fellow, and along the river flats far below are large orange groves with gum trees on the river bank. High mountains to the north and east are part of another national park.
In this general area quite a lot of prickly pear grows. It can be seen along the sides of the road where it is sometimes used as a hedge. There would be very few animals that would brave attempting to make their way through that stuff. I don’t know if they have any ‘cati blati’ insect to control it but I have not seen any plants that are dead or dying.
On a blustery windy overcast day we drove into Gibraltar, that tiny British colony on the southern edge of Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar was one of the two Pillars of Hercules, the other one being a mountain on the Moroccan coast 25k’s distant; the ancients believed these pillars guarded the entrance to the known world. It is certainly an impressive great chunk of white limestone with almost vertical cliffs that drop directly into the Mediterranean on the eastern side. The western side is not quite so steep and has some dense vegetation that is home to the Barbary Macaques, the apes that live on the rock.
In the last thousand years the Moors, the Spanish and the British have occupied the Rock but Romans passed this way and it also is mentioned in some ancient Greek writings.
Back in 1972 we had driven up to the border and watched as the Spanish people on one side the border stook and shouted at their counterparts 15m away on the other side of the border. In those days the border was closed but it re-opened in 1985. Now you can just drive straight across with mere wave of the passports as you pass through. Then, more than likely you will be held up at the first traffic light you encounter because it is the one that controls traffic onto the airport runway. The road into the city crosses the runway there is no alternative as the runway stretches right across the Isthmus, coast to coast and is not very long.
With very little space available for a growing city the buildings reach quite a way up the steep slope of the rock and 12 story high rise apartments are beginning to line the harbour front. The steep alleyways have names like Dimino’s Ramp and Library Ramp. At the southern tip Europa Point there is a lighthouse and a view point. Offshore we could see many ships including two that were carrying Liquefied Natural Gas and ferries en route to Tangier or Ceuta.
The higher part of the Rock is a Nature reserve that is accessible by footpaths, a cable car and a narrow one way road hewn out of the cliff face that wends its way upward barely wide enough for a car. We drove up along this road, paid our entrance fee at Jews Gate and continued on up to St Michaels Cave. This is a huge limestone cave full of stalagmites and stalactites, and tourists. Trouble was we’d arrived at the same time as the morning tour busses, but within 15mins they had mostly departed and we had the place almost to ourselves.
The limestone formations are superb and there is a vast amount of them as well as many really thick columns. Of particular interest is a huge stalactite that had broken off at some point in time and become ‘cemented’ to the floor. The end of it has been sawn off and polished; it resembles an agate: It has many rings in its 1200mm to1300mm diameter, like the growth rings in trees that reveals its growth pattern. In periods when there has been a lot of rain the rings are a pale fawn colour; in drier times the rings are a deep brown colour, and two of three crystallized rings are believed to have been formed during times of glaciations (ice ages). One of the caverns is huge and holds an auditorium. Early last century another ventilation shaft was blasted out and during that process another deeper and extensive cave system was discovered. Human skulls 5000 years old have been found here.
A kilometre walk up hill from the cave brought us to the top of the rock with views all around. Unfortunately it was too cloudy and there were some showers around so we couldn’t see the Moroccan coast. The Mediterranean coast directly below was none too inviting looking; gray sand or pebbles I couldn’t tell which: The wind nearly blew us off the top.
Further round the rock we came to the ‘siege tunnels’: This is really one fairly long tunnel hewn out of the rock using small hand tools in the late 18th century. This was at a time with the British here were under siege from the Spanish and by digging this tunnel and mounting the guns in small galleries when they could fire down onto the flanks of the Spanish they managed to repel the Spanish invaders. Gibraltar has withstood many sieges over the centuries.
Some way lower down the Rock there are some WW2 gun emplacements that we had a look around before reaching the old Moorish castle that stands just above the city: The castle is really no more than a fortified tower with really thick walls. It bears the scars of bombardment it sustained during many sieges. This building dates from the 1200’s but an early castle here was destroyed.
All around this nature reserve we had seen many of the Barbary Macaques (apes) for which the rock is famous. They are quite a pretty golden brown colour and not very large, the size of a small dog, (corgi size) except for the old males that are larger and a dark gray colour. Some have become quite aggressive so we were warned but we had no trouble with them.
Before leaving we filled up with cheap fuel, it’s much cheaper here than in Spain and half the price it is in England, for the diesel we use anyway.
The Sierra de Grazalema are quite pretty mountains that we drove through along a narrow twisting road through hillsides covered in cork oak and holm oak trees with plantations of Spanish pine here and there. The Spanish pine is different to most pine trees as it usually has a rounded canopy and can often have a leggy mushroom shape. The mountains have some odd shapes and all have bare white rocky tops that look a bit like a light snow covering from a distance (to my eyes anyway). Its white limestone probably; and many outcrops resemble rock walls especially when they are leading up a steep ridge.
Following the valley of the Guadiaro River we looked out over lush green crops of oats close to the river while the lower hill sides were planted with olive groves and just a few orange orchards. A few small fields with almond trees in blooms and many more scattered along the road sides:
In the town of Ronda we had great trouble finding a place to park the car. It was Saturday afternoon and usually there is no problem, especially with the underground car parks they are often nearly empty, but not here, everything was full and there were people everywhere. Many were dressed in costumes and we decided that we had arrived just as some sort of festival activity was finishing. We did see some kids up on a stage wearing red ‘Santa Claus’ suits and singing Jingle Bells, this made us wonder if we have been caught in some sort of time warp for 10 months or so. David says it’s all the little ‘santa claus’ we have seen hanging up outside peoples homes come back to haunt them.
We had come to see the old part of Ronda that stands above the Tajo gorge of the Guadalevin River; this gorge proved such an effective barrier that the town remained under Muslim long after the rest of Spain had been reconquered by the Christians. It was not reclaimed by the Christians until 1498:
The 18th century Puente Nuevo connects the new part of the town with the older Moorish part with is narrow twisting, cobbled streets. As we crossed this bridge we looked down into the very narrow gorge beneath and to the river flowing over some small cascades 100m below. It is quite spectacular: On the one side the gorge continues another 100m then on the south bank it opens out into lush farming country while on the north bank the high cliffs continue quite some way leading to a ridge of high hills. On the other side the gorge runs several hundred metres upstream. It is crossed by a couple of other bridges one of which is a 16th century single arch bridge built in the Roman style.
This old Medina part of the town has a few houses or part thereof surviving from the Moorish time. One of them is now a museum and so we visited it to have a look around. It has a lovely courtyard with a well and columns and archways on two sides; all the rooms open out onto this central courtyard. This is a traditional Moorish style: Other houses have been added into the complex later so that there are two more courtyards within the one complex. One is in a traditional Mudejar style: It has triple semicircular arches on three sides enclosing arcades. The columns are marble and them the brickwork above is tiled with bright decorative tiles up to the height of the lintel below the 2nd story balcony. Heavy wooden doors etched in traditional Mudejar style carving open out through a horseshoe shaped pointed archway into sunny private gardens of myrtle hedges and citrus and oleander trees that overlook the cliffs and the valley beyond.
One large room upstairs, the Nobility Hall, has a Mudejar style coffered ceiling. It is crossed by heavy dark wooden beams that resemble the skeleton of an old wooden ship, inverted. Many of the end pieces are carved with decorative motifs. It is very beautiful.
As we meandered about the narrow alleyways we noticed that many of the houses had a coat of arms embossed on the lintel above the doorway. We have seen this in many places, it seems to have been a popular idea in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Another thing I will comment on is the fact that although there had been a festival with masses of people and loads of street stalls selling all the usual carnival junk there was amazingly little rubbish spread about. A few sheets of paper here and there, but in no way would you describe it as dirty. Absolutely no food scraps, no empty cans, bottles or take away containers; there was plenty of cigarette butts and one wino sleeping it off on a park bench totally oblivious to all the activity going on about him.
On the Guadalhorce River near the small village of El Chorro is the El Chorra gorge. The downstream entrance is very dramatic with two high mountains rising on either side almost vertically with just a very narrow gap through which the quite small stream flows. This gorge is up to 400m deep and only 10m wide in places. Also visible near the entrance is the foot bridge across the gorge about 50m above the stream. There was once a camino (trail) that lead around the cliff side and over that bridge then on through the gorge, but it was not maintained and part of the cantilevered walk that clung to the cliff has fallen away. Apparently it is possible to walk along through the railway tunnels but on the day we were here; there was a police guard stopping people from entering the railway tunnel. The rail line passes through several tunnels as it goes through the gorge.
From a view point on the other side the river we actually saw some people on the bridge and watched them come alone the walkway to the end then they abseiled down about 30m into a steep gully from where they could climb up under a railway bridge and join the track that we had walked along earlier to view the gorge.
In the same area as the gorge halfway up a high mountain with views out over mountains and valleys is a little church that has been hewn out of solid granite. Called the Mozarabe because an Arab who converted to Christianity in the 10th century was buried there: It has certainly taken some work to chisel it out; it has one end rounded and a couple of large ‘windows’ along one high wall: Some walls are not very high: It is about 6 to 7 metres long and 3m wide, on the other side of the windows another room has been chiselled out of the rock too, not quite so large. About 50m away we found another small room dug out of the rock. From what I’ve read I haven’t been able to work out whether or not it was this Arab who actually made this church.
From the top of the mountain there is an absolutely fabulous view over the village of El Chorro, the dam on the Gaudalhorce River, the large town of Alora further downstream and the mountains all around. We couldn’t see the coast but on a clearer day it may be possible. The same railway line that goes through the gorge crosses three large viaducts as passes around Alora.*
At Laguna Fuente de Piedra we went looking for flamingos. This is a lake where up to 1600 pairs are know to come and breed arriving at this time of year. However, this is not a permanent lake, some dry years it has no water, this year it has some water but is by no means full. There is a great deal of bird life just the same and we spent a while seeing what there was to see. If it hadn’t have been for the bitterly cold boisterous wind blowing we would have spent longer watching them. Even in the specially constructed bird hides we couldn’t escape the wind.
The lady in the information office had shown us what birds to expect to see and outside on the lake and around some shallow ponds near the lake we saw several types of ducks and shovelers, moorhens, gulls and stilts, just to name a few. Some lapwings with punk head feathers were meandering about too. From one of the car park lookouts we did eventually see the flamingos out on the lake but they were too far away to see individual birds, just a patch of pinkish colour out in the water. There are not many this year because the water is low.
On the drive around the lake we passed through large olive groves and came to a place where many people were working. There was a big machine shaking a tree while a fellow with a very long pole brushed it through the same tree, this broke a lot of the smaller branches off as well as the black olives. The fruit landed in nets below the tree and when the machine moved onto the next tree the nets were gathered up and emptied. There olive trees were really loaded with fruit.
We had noticed that the younger olive plantations had rows that were further apart than the older plantations, now we know why; the extra width allows the machine to be used because it is a very large machine. Even with this mechanical help this is still a fairly labour intensive job as there were many people to collect and empty the nets and relay them under trees still to be harvested.
El Torcal is an area of high mountains with eroded and weathered limestone forming curious formations a few kilometres outside the town of Antequera, north of Malaga. At an altitude of 1200m the blustery wind was much colder so we wrapped up in our winter woollies that we hadn’t worn for a few weeks before venturing out to walk around through some of these formations on a 3k hike. This took us into large bowl shape depressions, at bit like shallow canyons with the high white limestone pinnacles all around. They are in strata like pancakes piled high and topped with pinnacles. A few have fallen over:
To us some resembled faces, one a hand with two fingers in a V, a couple were like chess pieces and then some resembled some of the Muppets, Gonzo in particular. Our path took us from one bowl to another through areas that were very sheltered and the trees and rocks are covered in thick green moss, there are narrow chasms and tiny chambers. One area looked a bit like a city in ruins. There were a lot of birds too and we saw some green finches and chaf finches that we could identify.
It was late in the afternoon when we were quietly making our way back and we saw some animals grazing some distance off. At first we thought they were goats, then deer, but when we got a closer look at some we decided that they look like a cross between the two though I expect that they are just goats. They have the slender lithe shape of a deer but the horns of a goat. They also have the dark patch on the backside similar to some other deer we have seen. The information office was closed by the time we got back so we couldn’t ask in there. They are possibly Ibex as there are some of them in the Sierra Nevada mountains not all that far distant.
Also near Antequera are some ancient tombs. They took a great deal of effort to find as signposting leaves a lot to be desired and we never did find the tourist information.
Two of the tombs known as Dolmen de Viera and Dolmen de Menga are beside each other and they date from around 2000 to 2500BC; a third one some 3k’s distant is from a later period 1800BC. We visited the older ones first simply because they were the ones we found.
First we watched a video of how the ‘experts’ believe that the tombs were constructed. The video was in Spanish only but easy enough to follow regarding the construction. Whether or not it mentioned where the rock was quarried I can’t be sure but I don’t believe so. The ancients cut massive stone slabs and supposedly hauled them by teams of men pulling ropes according to the video. Some of that hauling would have been up hill as the tombs are on top of a rise.
First the site was cleared, then dug out to a depth of around 2.5m, then around the edge of that hole a deeper trench was dug, probably at least another 1/2m deep and a metre wide. It was into this trench that the upright stone slabs that formed the walls were dropped. When they were all in position then the whole thing was filled with dirt again so that the top slabs for the roof could be pulled across and into position; after that the filling was removed leaving an empty cavern. Some final landscaping was done by covering the top with a vast amount more dirt to round it off, leaving just the entryway and door for access.
The largest of these tombs had an open porch of around 3m long, then a covered entryway 5m long leading to the main cavern that was 17m long. The massive stone slab on the back wall of the cavern was 3m wide x 2.5m high (plus it was at least a half meter below the floor level) and 1m thick. There were at least 17 more slightly smaller slabs around the walls and I don’t know how many forming the roof. 3 central pillars help support the roof each of around 600mm square. Menga was the large tomb, Viera was about ¼ of the size and not as high. In Menga a well had been dug but that was done much later by the Romans, they had a cemetery further down the hill side.
The other tomb built several centuries later is very different. The walls are dry stone construction with stone slabs for the roof. A long passage leads through a trapezoid shaped door into a bee hive dome shaped cavern about 5m diameter, then another door, not in alignment with the first, a short passage, then a small bee hive chamber, only about 2.5m diameter. Each has a stone slab over a round hole for the roof and a flagstone floor.
© Lynette Regan 12th February 2008
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Episode 33
Episode 33
In Spain the shops close from 1.30pm to 4pm, with some closing a little earlier and others that don’t open at all in the mornings. This can be a bit of a pain at times but things are slowly changing. All the new modern shopping centres are open all day and during the afternoons they are almost deserted. In Portugal most stayed open all day with those that did close only doing so from 12.30pm to 2pm: In both countries they stay open until quite late.
We visited another lovely cave at Aracane, the Grutas de las Maravillas. This one has beautiful stalagmites and stalactites in the form of shells, drapes, curtains, floes and columns. One column looked as if it was wrapped in drapes. When back lit they are translucent and resemble alabaster. One series of vertical floes almost resembles a frozen water wall with the white crystals glittering in the artificial light. Another area looked like delicate while coral all over the ceiling, even on the bottom under the water there were small stalagmites though only a couple reached above the surface of the water. There were several pools and the water was crystal clear and several metres deep. Inside the cave was quite warm at a constant 17˚C, it was much colder outside. One lonely small green plant clings precariously to life high out of everyone’s reach; it can only exist because of the artificial light and the slight air current that passes here because it is fairly near the entrance.
South of here we crossed the Rio Tinto, there is a really big copper mine here run by the company Rio Tinto, and there is a town of the same name. This must be where the name of the company originated. There are several mines in this area.
El Rocio is a small town on the edge of the Donana National Park. Apart from the main road to the coast that runs across the edge of it there are no other sealed streets; they are either wide or very narrow and sandy. That sand can be quite soft in places too. In some ways its like the ‘wild west’ with people on horse back cantering through the street and horse and mules pulling carts. Just for contrast there is a large crane and excavator working on a new housing project, and a few very new large 4 wheel drive vehicles parked on the streets.
We took a tour into the National Park; there is no other way to visit it. I had first read about this wetlands area many years ago when I read Robert Mitcheners book ‘Iberia’. It covers around 50,000 hectares and there is also a Parque Natural on the opposite side of the main road that is protected too. It is a vital winter habitat for many migratory birds from Northern Europe. The graylag geese that we had seen in Svalbard are probably here; perhaps they recognize my bright red pullover. There is not a wide variety of land animals as it is mainly soft sand country with cork and holm oak trees, pine trees and gum trees and other scrub and dune grasses. This is no untouched wilderness; people have been raising horses and cattle here for about 2000 years. Eucalyptus trees were introduced in the mid 20th century so that the oil could be extracted from the leaves to provide another source of income for the people who live here.
The vehicle used for the tour is a Unimog and seats 20 people and although it was one of a group of 6 doing the tour we were lucky enough to have only a few people on our vehicle and an excellent driver/guide who, although he didn’t speak much English he was extremely good at finding and pointing out animals and birds along the way.
The trip began by driving the 33k’s south along the wide sandy beach past men working in the water up to waists digging for cockles. I have finally put a definite name to those shell fish we have seen people gathering for weeks now. It seems that you cannot buy them locally; they are all sent off to major restaurants and hotels in the big cities. At the southern end we came to the mouth of the Guadalquivir River. Large flocks of black backed gulls took to the wing as we passed. We then drove up along it some way before turning into the park proper. Immediately we saw some fellow deer and then some wild boar. The wild boar are a fairly small pig, a very dark gray colour and hairy. Apparently in the early morning they roam the beach digging for cockles, catching fish and even a slow bird or two.
In one area we stopped and looked at the houses the people used to live in here. They are a rounded A shape with a frame built from logs and branches of the trees and thatched with reeds. These houses weren’t meant to be permanent dwellings as the people moved around quite a bit.
On the marshes we saw flamingos, herons, and a whole array of other birds bobbing on the water. In some bushes we saw red kites and a buzzard flying over head. There were red deer as well as fellow deer, and there are wild horses too. Things we didn’t see are the Spanish Lynx, an endangered species with 200 of them living in the park, and the Spanish Imperial Eagle that is another endangered species. Rabbits are here too but the lynx keep their number in check, and there is a mongoose but they are rather difficult animals to even glimpse.
Spent some time in Serville: It seems a pleasant enough place with the Guadalquivir river running through it. Fairly large boats can still come upstream as far as here. There are some lovely plazas and pedestrian streets interconnected by narrow alleyways that can be like navigating a maze. A sleek modern tram glides quietly along the pedestrian areas through the heart of the city past the cathedral. At least you can see where the tram runs, the cyclists aren’t nearly as predictable and pose a much more serious threat to the humble tourist who unwittingly steps into their path.
Seville’s history dates from at least the Roman days. It was occupied by the Muslims for around 300 years and became the headquarters of a powerful Muslim state with territory from the Al Garve to Murcia. After 2 years of siege it was reconquered by the Christians in 1248. Then with Columbus’s landings in America it was given the monopoly on trade with the Americas and rapidly became one of the richest places in Europe. The city has had its ups and downs since then suffering two bouts of plague which killed vast numbers of people in the 17th and the beginning of the 19th centuries. In 1992 a World Expo was held in the city.
The cathedral here is one of the largest in the wold, the largest Gothic one apparently, so the tourist literature claims anyway. Built over the former 9th century Almohad mosque, it dates from the early 15th century but incorporates a few features from the mosque. The most impressive of these features is the tower; the former 76m tall minaret that is square but with gently tapering walls so that its smaller at the top than at the base. It does not have steps but a series or ramps going around the inside of the outer walls. This was done so that the muezzin could ride up here on his horse in order to call the faithful to prayer. A renaissance belfry was added in the 16th century to make it more Christian in appearance, finally a weather vane with the shape of a woman was placed on top bringing the total height to 100m. The view over the city with the river in the distance and the Alcazar Palace and its gardens immediately below is lovely
The main entrance is beautiful with intricately decorated arched doorway above which a pointed V flanked by decorated columns that lead to a balcony with pinnacles which is overlooked by a large rose window with decoration all around it. It is topped by more pinnacles with a small tower on either side one of which has a spiral column running up it.
Inside the cathedral in the main chapel is one of the largest altar pieces in the world, it stands 18m high and has over 1000 sculptures representing scenes from the Old and New Testament. Off to one side is the mausoleum of Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus). His coffin is held aloft by 4 heralds (figures) representing the 4 Kingdoms of Leon, Castile, Navarra, and Aragon. 80 Flemish stained glass windows don’t give a lot of light into the gloomy interior but with the help of artificial lighting and a magnifying mirror we could have a good look at the pattern on the vaulted ceiling.
There are many bells in that tower and on Sunday morning they ring loud and clear but not with any coordinated rhythm, just a cacophony of noise that is not easy on the ear when one is near them.
Another of the main sites in this city is the Alcazar Palace; it was built on the site of a Royal residence from as early as the 10th century. Although it incorporates many features from Islamic architecture most of what we see now is from the 14th century onward. The outer fortified wall probably dates from about the 10th or 11th century.
Perhaps the most impressive area is that surrounding the Patio de las Doncellas. Built around some long pools of water with a small are of grass and some trees it has lovely lobed arches leading off it on each side flanked by lower triple arches with fine plaster screens above them. The plaster mounding and the tile plinths are very Islamic in style. So to are some of the ceilings with mouldings in the form of stars to represent the heavens, especially in the room that was the Kings bed chamber with its domed ceiling.
A second and third story have been added all around this courtyard and these are the quarters still used by the current Spanish Royal Family whenever they visit Serville.
The Patio de las Munecas (dolls) is a much smaller courtyard and has several columns of pink, black and light coloured marble that probably came from destroyed palace in Cordoba. One of the column has three female heads somewhere on it that gives the Patio its name.
In one room upstairs, off to one side of the Royal quarters there are several huge tapestries hung on the walls. They are embroidered in silk, wool and gold thread. One is said to be of some battle in North Africa. Each would easily measure 6m x3m, perhaps larger.
All the rooms are huge and open with tile or stone floors and we both wondered how anyone ever got warm here, no sign of any fireplaces though probably there were wool carpets on the floors and perhaps hung about the walls. Although the winters here are not bitterly cold now, they were certainly much colder during medieval times.
Outside there are extensive gardens with fountains and planted with hedges of myrtle and the ever present orange trees. Walkways lead from one area into another and a two story wall with a covered walk, like a long veranda gives a good overall view of the garden. Apparently much of the original garden built on two levels was destroyed in the 1755 earthquake, the one that destroyed Lisbon.
Both the Palace and the cathedral had much scaffolding erected all about them. In the case of the cathedral they are in the process of cleaning the stone work on the outside and it is coming up a lovely light cream colour, when finished it will look really lovely. In the palace there is some restoration work going on and the main entrances is all enclosed in mesh that has a painted rendition of how it should look.
This area is the heart of Flamenco country so we thought it would be nice to see a show. There are many bars where an impromptu performance may happen but that is usually in the wee hours of the morning and so we settled for a more tourist orientated show at a somewhat more reasonable hour like 9pm.
We arrived well before the starting time and it was just as well that we did so, we got rather good seats without being right under the dancers. This was a very small bar with a miniscule stage so there wasn’t a lot of space for the dancers to move about. I don’t know if any of you know much about flamenco but I had always associated castanets with flamenco dancing but the dancers we saw did not use them.
Our show started with a man playing guitar and a woman ‘singing’; I use that term rather loosely as to my ears it sounded more like wailing, and she had a very painful expression on her face 99% of the time, she also clapped her hands and stamped her feet from time to time. The guitar music was pleasant but in no way was it melodic.
The first dancer was a woman dressed in a black dress with the frills at the back that can be opened out. She frequently pulled it up to open out these frills as she danced, pulling it so high at times that those people sitting right up under the stage would have had a good view of her panties, we got a brief glimpse from where we sat. She too, wore a painful expression as she danced to the accompaniment of the ‘singing and the guitar’. The hand and arm movements are very artistic, the hand clapping and foot stamping just noisy. The very fast feet movements only seem to last a short time, and although they are extremely skilful I don’t think that they are nearly as good as tap dancers like the ‘River Dance’ people etc. Certainly these dancers don’t keep up the very fast rhythm for nearly as long.
A man came on and did a solo dance, very similar to that which the woman had done, then the woman came back dressed in a different dress and they danced together. For the final set the woman who had been singing got up and danced too, and that was quite an accomplishment on that tiny stage, as the fellow playing the guitar was seated there too. The show lasted 11/2 hours by which time my head was thumping from all that wailing. David read somewhere that you have to get a feeling and understanding of flamenco to really appreciate it, well, I think I will pass on that pleasure. Yes, I would go to another show, but if I was equally unimpressed a second time I don’t think there would be a 3rd time.
In the small town of Sanlucar de Barrameda on the Guadalquivir river we visited a Bodega. Bodegas are wine cellars, they are all over Spain, wherever there are vineyards. In this area it is mainly sherry that is produced and in this town they specialize in a particular type of sherry called Manzanilla. They say its not really sherry; it has less alcohol content 15% and is made using a special process. As luck would have it we choose a small Bodega that uses traditional methods still. This is the La Cigarrera Bodega and it was started in 1758 and is now in the 9th generation of the same family.
To make the Manzanilla they buy fermenting grape juice from the co-operatives that crush the local grapes as they don’t own their own vineyards. The fermenting wine is then added to certain oak casks in the storerooms. Firstly, each batch of casks are stored in three layers, one atop the other but separated by a wooden block; they are not moved from that position. Each one is two thirds full of fermenting wine, one third air so that the yeast can breathe. From the bottom casks one third is removed, from the oldest ones this is the stuff that will be bottled and sold, the cask then has the same amount replaced from the cash above it, and so on, so that the new wine that comes from the co-operative goes into the top casks in the storeroom with the casks that have the wine that had been there the least amount of time. It is moved from one cask to another with a special pump that transfers it very slowly through a tube with many tiny pinholes so as not to disturb the yeast on top, this helps to keep the end product clearer so that it does not need filtering when it is bottled.
At the end of our tour that was really only through a couple of store rooms we got to taste several of their products. We tried the Manzanilla, a pale colour and quite dry taste. Neither of us particularly liked it, we also tried a couple of other dry sherry’s and didn’t really like them either but then we tried a couple of sweet red ones and found one that we both really liked so we bought one of them. Sorry, but I don’t think that bottle will make it home.
As a further point of interest Columbus sailed from here in 1498 on his third trip to the Caribbean. In 1519 Ferdinand Magellan also set said from here when he attempted to find a westerly route to the Indies. He succeeded in going round the south of South America but was killed in the Philippines after crossing the vast extent of the Pacific Ocean without bumping into anything. His pilot, Juan Sebastian Elcano, although very rarely ever acknowledged in the history books, became the first man to circumnavigate the globe by bringing home one of the five vessels Magellan had set said with, the Victoria.
In Jerez de la Frontera there is the ‘Real Escuela Andaluz del Arte Ecuestre’ (Royal Andalucian School of Equestrian Art). This is on a similar line to the more famous Spanish Riding School of Vienna, except that of course this one is not only in Spain but in Andalucía, where the horses mostly come from though some are cross bred.
One day a week it’s possible to watch the horses in a practice session and on another day they put on a show. As we were around on the day of the practice session we went along for a look. There is still a charge but that also includes a visit to the large home in the grounds and a coach museum, as well as a visit to the stables.
First we watched a video about the horses and the way they have been used through the centuries then we went along to the arena where we could watch the practice session. They are not practicing as in a rehearsal, but merely learning or practicing certain steps. For the hour that we sat and watched probably about 40 horses came and went from the area. The ones we saw were practicing the simpler steps, with just one or two doing a couple of high kicks, none doing the really fancy stuff but it was still good to watch. Most of the ‘dancing’ horses are gray in colour, or in the process of turning to gray, they are often 15 years old before they have completed the change.
They are broken in at 4 years of age and begin their training that can take up to eight years. They will then work till they are around 22 years old. All the horses are either Stallions or geldings, no mares kept here. With the most difficult steps, there are three especially difficult ones; a horse will only specialize in one of those three steps.
This is a school for riders as well as horses and there are a few international students here too, but to gain admittance here the student must be fluent in Spanish. Some come on a 2 year course others on a 4 year course. Some of the latter may appear in public performances towards the end of their training. There are 120 horses here, but some of them are carriage horses, and about 16 students and professional riders. A school for the carriage driving is run in conjunction with the riding school.
Outside is a circuit course where the horses are exercised, they didn’t do anything else but trot or canter around this course so it must be where they can relax and enjoy themselves as much as for exercise. Next to this is an area where the carriage driving is taught and practiced. We only got a very brief look at this which was a pity because I love to watch these beautiful horses go through their paces.
The large home that the guide called a palace is what I would call a ‘stately home’ or ‘mansion’ though it does have 3 stories above ground and one below. It was build 1860-64 for a Frenchmen by the name of Garnier. Only a few rooms on the ground floor are open to the public but they all have French doors that open out onto patios or the garden and the ones that were used for entertaining have beautiful painted and moulded ceilings. One even has 4 stags heads on the ceiling one near each corner. Downstairs is what used to be the kitchens there is more information about the horses.
We went into the tack room and the guide showed us the different saddles and explained there uses, the ones used in the performances on those horses that jump high are very heavy, 20kg. The stables were next and we could pat any horses that come up to talk to us; each one has its name, date of birth and parents names above the door of its box. By the feeding bowl some have special instructions on their diet from the vet.
In the carriage museum are many carriages from Europe, Britain and North America. One looks very much like an oversized baby carriage. It is of French design and was last used a few years ago when the daughter of King Juan Carlos was married. With the hood folded down in the wedding photos it looks even more like a baby carriage. Another one was especially built for King George IV of England. He was a big chap apparently and the wide seat was designed just to suit his shape. In front of the seat is a big splash guard made of wicker and also two mud guards over the back wheels that are wicker.
In another room there are some modern carriages with disc brakes and metal wheels that are used for modern carriage driving shows and competitions. Then lastly we saw the costume display with costumes from the 1800’s till present day. They have changed surprisingly little over that time.
© Lynette Regan February 5th 2008
In Spain the shops close from 1.30pm to 4pm, with some closing a little earlier and others that don’t open at all in the mornings. This can be a bit of a pain at times but things are slowly changing. All the new modern shopping centres are open all day and during the afternoons they are almost deserted. In Portugal most stayed open all day with those that did close only doing so from 12.30pm to 2pm: In both countries they stay open until quite late.
We visited another lovely cave at Aracane, the Grutas de las Maravillas. This one has beautiful stalagmites and stalactites in the form of shells, drapes, curtains, floes and columns. One column looked as if it was wrapped in drapes. When back lit they are translucent and resemble alabaster. One series of vertical floes almost resembles a frozen water wall with the white crystals glittering in the artificial light. Another area looked like delicate while coral all over the ceiling, even on the bottom under the water there were small stalagmites though only a couple reached above the surface of the water. There were several pools and the water was crystal clear and several metres deep. Inside the cave was quite warm at a constant 17˚C, it was much colder outside. One lonely small green plant clings precariously to life high out of everyone’s reach; it can only exist because of the artificial light and the slight air current that passes here because it is fairly near the entrance.
South of here we crossed the Rio Tinto, there is a really big copper mine here run by the company Rio Tinto, and there is a town of the same name. This must be where the name of the company originated. There are several mines in this area.
El Rocio is a small town on the edge of the Donana National Park. Apart from the main road to the coast that runs across the edge of it there are no other sealed streets; they are either wide or very narrow and sandy. That sand can be quite soft in places too. In some ways its like the ‘wild west’ with people on horse back cantering through the street and horse and mules pulling carts. Just for contrast there is a large crane and excavator working on a new housing project, and a few very new large 4 wheel drive vehicles parked on the streets.
We took a tour into the National Park; there is no other way to visit it. I had first read about this wetlands area many years ago when I read Robert Mitcheners book ‘Iberia’. It covers around 50,000 hectares and there is also a Parque Natural on the opposite side of the main road that is protected too. It is a vital winter habitat for many migratory birds from Northern Europe. The graylag geese that we had seen in Svalbard are probably here; perhaps they recognize my bright red pullover. There is not a wide variety of land animals as it is mainly soft sand country with cork and holm oak trees, pine trees and gum trees and other scrub and dune grasses. This is no untouched wilderness; people have been raising horses and cattle here for about 2000 years. Eucalyptus trees were introduced in the mid 20th century so that the oil could be extracted from the leaves to provide another source of income for the people who live here.
The vehicle used for the tour is a Unimog and seats 20 people and although it was one of a group of 6 doing the tour we were lucky enough to have only a few people on our vehicle and an excellent driver/guide who, although he didn’t speak much English he was extremely good at finding and pointing out animals and birds along the way.
The trip began by driving the 33k’s south along the wide sandy beach past men working in the water up to waists digging for cockles. I have finally put a definite name to those shell fish we have seen people gathering for weeks now. It seems that you cannot buy them locally; they are all sent off to major restaurants and hotels in the big cities. At the southern end we came to the mouth of the Guadalquivir River. Large flocks of black backed gulls took to the wing as we passed. We then drove up along it some way before turning into the park proper. Immediately we saw some fellow deer and then some wild boar. The wild boar are a fairly small pig, a very dark gray colour and hairy. Apparently in the early morning they roam the beach digging for cockles, catching fish and even a slow bird or two.
In one area we stopped and looked at the houses the people used to live in here. They are a rounded A shape with a frame built from logs and branches of the trees and thatched with reeds. These houses weren’t meant to be permanent dwellings as the people moved around quite a bit.
On the marshes we saw flamingos, herons, and a whole array of other birds bobbing on the water. In some bushes we saw red kites and a buzzard flying over head. There were red deer as well as fellow deer, and there are wild horses too. Things we didn’t see are the Spanish Lynx, an endangered species with 200 of them living in the park, and the Spanish Imperial Eagle that is another endangered species. Rabbits are here too but the lynx keep their number in check, and there is a mongoose but they are rather difficult animals to even glimpse.
Spent some time in Serville: It seems a pleasant enough place with the Guadalquivir river running through it. Fairly large boats can still come upstream as far as here. There are some lovely plazas and pedestrian streets interconnected by narrow alleyways that can be like navigating a maze. A sleek modern tram glides quietly along the pedestrian areas through the heart of the city past the cathedral. At least you can see where the tram runs, the cyclists aren’t nearly as predictable and pose a much more serious threat to the humble tourist who unwittingly steps into their path.
Seville’s history dates from at least the Roman days. It was occupied by the Muslims for around 300 years and became the headquarters of a powerful Muslim state with territory from the Al Garve to Murcia. After 2 years of siege it was reconquered by the Christians in 1248. Then with Columbus’s landings in America it was given the monopoly on trade with the Americas and rapidly became one of the richest places in Europe. The city has had its ups and downs since then suffering two bouts of plague which killed vast numbers of people in the 17th and the beginning of the 19th centuries. In 1992 a World Expo was held in the city.
The cathedral here is one of the largest in the wold, the largest Gothic one apparently, so the tourist literature claims anyway. Built over the former 9th century Almohad mosque, it dates from the early 15th century but incorporates a few features from the mosque. The most impressive of these features is the tower; the former 76m tall minaret that is square but with gently tapering walls so that its smaller at the top than at the base. It does not have steps but a series or ramps going around the inside of the outer walls. This was done so that the muezzin could ride up here on his horse in order to call the faithful to prayer. A renaissance belfry was added in the 16th century to make it more Christian in appearance, finally a weather vane with the shape of a woman was placed on top bringing the total height to 100m. The view over the city with the river in the distance and the Alcazar Palace and its gardens immediately below is lovely
The main entrance is beautiful with intricately decorated arched doorway above which a pointed V flanked by decorated columns that lead to a balcony with pinnacles which is overlooked by a large rose window with decoration all around it. It is topped by more pinnacles with a small tower on either side one of which has a spiral column running up it.
Inside the cathedral in the main chapel is one of the largest altar pieces in the world, it stands 18m high and has over 1000 sculptures representing scenes from the Old and New Testament. Off to one side is the mausoleum of Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus). His coffin is held aloft by 4 heralds (figures) representing the 4 Kingdoms of Leon, Castile, Navarra, and Aragon. 80 Flemish stained glass windows don’t give a lot of light into the gloomy interior but with the help of artificial lighting and a magnifying mirror we could have a good look at the pattern on the vaulted ceiling.
There are many bells in that tower and on Sunday morning they ring loud and clear but not with any coordinated rhythm, just a cacophony of noise that is not easy on the ear when one is near them.
Another of the main sites in this city is the Alcazar Palace; it was built on the site of a Royal residence from as early as the 10th century. Although it incorporates many features from Islamic architecture most of what we see now is from the 14th century onward. The outer fortified wall probably dates from about the 10th or 11th century.
Perhaps the most impressive area is that surrounding the Patio de las Doncellas. Built around some long pools of water with a small are of grass and some trees it has lovely lobed arches leading off it on each side flanked by lower triple arches with fine plaster screens above them. The plaster mounding and the tile plinths are very Islamic in style. So to are some of the ceilings with mouldings in the form of stars to represent the heavens, especially in the room that was the Kings bed chamber with its domed ceiling.
A second and third story have been added all around this courtyard and these are the quarters still used by the current Spanish Royal Family whenever they visit Serville.
The Patio de las Munecas (dolls) is a much smaller courtyard and has several columns of pink, black and light coloured marble that probably came from destroyed palace in Cordoba. One of the column has three female heads somewhere on it that gives the Patio its name.
In one room upstairs, off to one side of the Royal quarters there are several huge tapestries hung on the walls. They are embroidered in silk, wool and gold thread. One is said to be of some battle in North Africa. Each would easily measure 6m x3m, perhaps larger.
All the rooms are huge and open with tile or stone floors and we both wondered how anyone ever got warm here, no sign of any fireplaces though probably there were wool carpets on the floors and perhaps hung about the walls. Although the winters here are not bitterly cold now, they were certainly much colder during medieval times.
Outside there are extensive gardens with fountains and planted with hedges of myrtle and the ever present orange trees. Walkways lead from one area into another and a two story wall with a covered walk, like a long veranda gives a good overall view of the garden. Apparently much of the original garden built on two levels was destroyed in the 1755 earthquake, the one that destroyed Lisbon.
Both the Palace and the cathedral had much scaffolding erected all about them. In the case of the cathedral they are in the process of cleaning the stone work on the outside and it is coming up a lovely light cream colour, when finished it will look really lovely. In the palace there is some restoration work going on and the main entrances is all enclosed in mesh that has a painted rendition of how it should look.
This area is the heart of Flamenco country so we thought it would be nice to see a show. There are many bars where an impromptu performance may happen but that is usually in the wee hours of the morning and so we settled for a more tourist orientated show at a somewhat more reasonable hour like 9pm.
We arrived well before the starting time and it was just as well that we did so, we got rather good seats without being right under the dancers. This was a very small bar with a miniscule stage so there wasn’t a lot of space for the dancers to move about. I don’t know if any of you know much about flamenco but I had always associated castanets with flamenco dancing but the dancers we saw did not use them.
Our show started with a man playing guitar and a woman ‘singing’; I use that term rather loosely as to my ears it sounded more like wailing, and she had a very painful expression on her face 99% of the time, she also clapped her hands and stamped her feet from time to time. The guitar music was pleasant but in no way was it melodic.
The first dancer was a woman dressed in a black dress with the frills at the back that can be opened out. She frequently pulled it up to open out these frills as she danced, pulling it so high at times that those people sitting right up under the stage would have had a good view of her panties, we got a brief glimpse from where we sat. She too, wore a painful expression as she danced to the accompaniment of the ‘singing and the guitar’. The hand and arm movements are very artistic, the hand clapping and foot stamping just noisy. The very fast feet movements only seem to last a short time, and although they are extremely skilful I don’t think that they are nearly as good as tap dancers like the ‘River Dance’ people etc. Certainly these dancers don’t keep up the very fast rhythm for nearly as long.
A man came on and did a solo dance, very similar to that which the woman had done, then the woman came back dressed in a different dress and they danced together. For the final set the woman who had been singing got up and danced too, and that was quite an accomplishment on that tiny stage, as the fellow playing the guitar was seated there too. The show lasted 11/2 hours by which time my head was thumping from all that wailing. David read somewhere that you have to get a feeling and understanding of flamenco to really appreciate it, well, I think I will pass on that pleasure. Yes, I would go to another show, but if I was equally unimpressed a second time I don’t think there would be a 3rd time.
In the small town of Sanlucar de Barrameda on the Guadalquivir river we visited a Bodega. Bodegas are wine cellars, they are all over Spain, wherever there are vineyards. In this area it is mainly sherry that is produced and in this town they specialize in a particular type of sherry called Manzanilla. They say its not really sherry; it has less alcohol content 15% and is made using a special process. As luck would have it we choose a small Bodega that uses traditional methods still. This is the La Cigarrera Bodega and it was started in 1758 and is now in the 9th generation of the same family.
To make the Manzanilla they buy fermenting grape juice from the co-operatives that crush the local grapes as they don’t own their own vineyards. The fermenting wine is then added to certain oak casks in the storerooms. Firstly, each batch of casks are stored in three layers, one atop the other but separated by a wooden block; they are not moved from that position. Each one is two thirds full of fermenting wine, one third air so that the yeast can breathe. From the bottom casks one third is removed, from the oldest ones this is the stuff that will be bottled and sold, the cask then has the same amount replaced from the cash above it, and so on, so that the new wine that comes from the co-operative goes into the top casks in the storeroom with the casks that have the wine that had been there the least amount of time. It is moved from one cask to another with a special pump that transfers it very slowly through a tube with many tiny pinholes so as not to disturb the yeast on top, this helps to keep the end product clearer so that it does not need filtering when it is bottled.
At the end of our tour that was really only through a couple of store rooms we got to taste several of their products. We tried the Manzanilla, a pale colour and quite dry taste. Neither of us particularly liked it, we also tried a couple of other dry sherry’s and didn’t really like them either but then we tried a couple of sweet red ones and found one that we both really liked so we bought one of them. Sorry, but I don’t think that bottle will make it home.
As a further point of interest Columbus sailed from here in 1498 on his third trip to the Caribbean. In 1519 Ferdinand Magellan also set said from here when he attempted to find a westerly route to the Indies. He succeeded in going round the south of South America but was killed in the Philippines after crossing the vast extent of the Pacific Ocean without bumping into anything. His pilot, Juan Sebastian Elcano, although very rarely ever acknowledged in the history books, became the first man to circumnavigate the globe by bringing home one of the five vessels Magellan had set said with, the Victoria.
In Jerez de la Frontera there is the ‘Real Escuela Andaluz del Arte Ecuestre’ (Royal Andalucian School of Equestrian Art). This is on a similar line to the more famous Spanish Riding School of Vienna, except that of course this one is not only in Spain but in Andalucía, where the horses mostly come from though some are cross bred.
One day a week it’s possible to watch the horses in a practice session and on another day they put on a show. As we were around on the day of the practice session we went along for a look. There is still a charge but that also includes a visit to the large home in the grounds and a coach museum, as well as a visit to the stables.
First we watched a video about the horses and the way they have been used through the centuries then we went along to the arena where we could watch the practice session. They are not practicing as in a rehearsal, but merely learning or practicing certain steps. For the hour that we sat and watched probably about 40 horses came and went from the area. The ones we saw were practicing the simpler steps, with just one or two doing a couple of high kicks, none doing the really fancy stuff but it was still good to watch. Most of the ‘dancing’ horses are gray in colour, or in the process of turning to gray, they are often 15 years old before they have completed the change.
They are broken in at 4 years of age and begin their training that can take up to eight years. They will then work till they are around 22 years old. All the horses are either Stallions or geldings, no mares kept here. With the most difficult steps, there are three especially difficult ones; a horse will only specialize in one of those three steps.
This is a school for riders as well as horses and there are a few international students here too, but to gain admittance here the student must be fluent in Spanish. Some come on a 2 year course others on a 4 year course. Some of the latter may appear in public performances towards the end of their training. There are 120 horses here, but some of them are carriage horses, and about 16 students and professional riders. A school for the carriage driving is run in conjunction with the riding school.
Outside is a circuit course where the horses are exercised, they didn’t do anything else but trot or canter around this course so it must be where they can relax and enjoy themselves as much as for exercise. Next to this is an area where the carriage driving is taught and practiced. We only got a very brief look at this which was a pity because I love to watch these beautiful horses go through their paces.
The large home that the guide called a palace is what I would call a ‘stately home’ or ‘mansion’ though it does have 3 stories above ground and one below. It was build 1860-64 for a Frenchmen by the name of Garnier. Only a few rooms on the ground floor are open to the public but they all have French doors that open out onto patios or the garden and the ones that were used for entertaining have beautiful painted and moulded ceilings. One even has 4 stags heads on the ceiling one near each corner. Downstairs is what used to be the kitchens there is more information about the horses.
We went into the tack room and the guide showed us the different saddles and explained there uses, the ones used in the performances on those horses that jump high are very heavy, 20kg. The stables were next and we could pat any horses that come up to talk to us; each one has its name, date of birth and parents names above the door of its box. By the feeding bowl some have special instructions on their diet from the vet.
In the carriage museum are many carriages from Europe, Britain and North America. One looks very much like an oversized baby carriage. It is of French design and was last used a few years ago when the daughter of King Juan Carlos was married. With the hood folded down in the wedding photos it looks even more like a baby carriage. Another one was especially built for King George IV of England. He was a big chap apparently and the wide seat was designed just to suit his shape. In front of the seat is a big splash guard made of wicker and also two mud guards over the back wheels that are wicker.
In another room there are some modern carriages with disc brakes and metal wheels that are used for modern carriage driving shows and competitions. Then lastly we saw the costume display with costumes from the 1800’s till present day. They have changed surprisingly little over that time.
© Lynette Regan February 5th 2008
Episode 32
Episode 32
We drove away from Lisbon over a 17k long bridge across the estuary of the Tejo river, on a sunny afternoon after visiting several large shopping centres on the outskirts of the city in the vain hope of finding some gas cylinders to fit our little gas stove. In no other countries in Europe have we had any real problems finding a Primus or Coleman cylinder, or some other brand with the same fitting but it seems that ‘camping gaz’ has the monopoly here in Portugal as we have not been able to find any other brand. One person had suggested a particular large store and we spent a good deal of time looking for it and eventually locating it only to find that we couldn’t get them there either.
Now we headed south east towards Evora. Soon we were in amongst the cork wood trees. Yes, I finally worked out what they look like. It wasn’t difficult as you easily see where the bark as been stripped and the new bark is growing. On the first lot we passed the new bark was very dark, almost black with a reddish tinge, whilst the older bark high up on the smaller limbs is gray. We got out and had a close look at these trees. It seems that they belong to the oak family and are very similar to the Ilex oak we have been seeing all over the Iberian peninsular. They have an acorn that is almost identical, and the leaf is just a little less holly like. Mature trees reach about 8m high and all different shapes. Apparently these trees have a different feeding system to most other trees so that stripping their bark does not kill them.
Some of the trees have been stripped only up to the first fork, but other have been stripped along the thicker branches too. Looking at the base we could see that the cork was a good 50mm (2inches) thicker where it had not been stripped. When we broke off a small piece of that old gray stuff we found it to be a neutral pinkish shade on the inside, not quite the same shade as you see in the tiles, but then it hasn’t yet been treated with anything.
In souvenir shops we have seem lovely handbags made out of cork but I wouldn’t have thought that they would last very long, but I could be wrong. They have a similar feel to suede.
The grass grows quite well under the trees and we have seen sheep, some with lambs, cattle, and goats grazing in shady pasture. At this time of year the temperature is quite pleasant, chilly in the evenings and mornings but not too hot during the day but in summer when the heat is blistering it must be very good for the animals to be able to graze in such a shaded area.
Evora is quite a pleasant rural town with an old walled city that predates Roman times. Right on top of the hill, stands the remains of a Roman temple from the 1st century AD dedicated to Jupiter or Diana, depending on which piece of literature you read. This temple would have commanded a view all around at the time it was built but now it’s almost surrounded by churches and convents. In Moorish times it was used for public floggings and executions, and later a slaughter house, so it has had a varied career. Fourteen columns still stand though they are looking the worse for wear: In a convent that stands right beside the temple we saw a beautiful doorway, it is in a double horseshoe shape with thin twisted columns, a beautiful piece of workmanship; it opens into a small room with vaulted ceilings.
In another square we saw a small renaissance fountain, and lo and behold, in an electrical shop there we found gas cylinders to fit our stove. A brand we’d not come across before but who cares. The old boy in the shop must have thought Christmas had come early when we bought 3 of them. He spoke quite good English which isn’t all that surprising really as this is a very popular tourist town, not far from the Al Garve. There were or course plenty of churches to visit but we had a day off from Churches. An old aqueducto built of stone leads into the city. When we went for a look we saw that many of the arches have been blocked it and turned into houses. In a building that is now used by the local town council the remains of an old Roman baths has been found so we wandered in for a look; a big round stone pool with a ledge all the way round for seating and the bases of some stone walls and arches.
Near the town of Santiago do Cacem there are some more Roman ruins. There was a settlement here hundreds of years before the Romans came about 100BC, some ancient artefacts have been found from that earlier period. Most of the ruins date from the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. At the highest point of the settlement is the Temple, probably dedicated to Venus, and partly rebuilt, below that is the remains of the Forum and the remains of dwellings below that. Then in a gully there were two bath complexes one built at a later time to the other but they are side by side and have a common drainage system. Some lovely brick archways still intact can be seen here. Also a small single arch bridge across the gully: This settlement also had a hippodrome; it was on the flat land almost 1k away. It’s the only place on the Iberian peninsular to have had one and here they used to race both 2 wheeled and 4 wheeled ‘briga’ (a kind of chariot), thus the name of the settlement, Mirobriga:
When I look at these ruins and see the drainage system and the pipes they used to carry water through the houses and other accomplishments of this ancient civilization I often wonder what happened that all this knowledge and technology became lost for about 1000 years. The castles built in the 12th century don’t have as good drainage systems and under floor heating is only now becoming more accepted except for places like Korea where it has been used for God knows how long continuously. The glass too is another thing; what we have now is not that much better than what the Romans made: In some things we really haven’t progressed much at all.
Along the way all through Portugal we have seen old windmills, all a similar round dumpy shape, painted white with a black roof, and with the frame for the sails but none with sails up and working. Here, just a short distance from the ruins we saw another, and although it didn’t have the sails unfurled they were there, just all rolled up. The elderly man who greeted us and showed us around said that it wasn’t working because there was no wind; perhaps it’s too calm at this time of year here but other places we have seen them there has been plenty of wind. This is certainly a working mill, it is used to grind maize now, for what purpose I can’t say but probably for stock feed I should think. We climbed up inside and saw the mechanism and the mill stones and even some bags of corn awaiting the wind that will provide the energy to grind it.
At Sines we reached the coast again; though the guide book says this is the ugliest town in Portugal because of the oil refineries we didn’t find it too back. It’s not a large town and it faces a nice south facing bay with a small port full of fishing boats and a large marina full of expensive pleasure craft. Like most of the better towns the houses are all white washed plaster with orange terra cotta roofs and they look quite pretty as they tumble down the hill sides towards the bright blue of the sea below, and a deep blue sky above. In most of the towns the streets and gardens are full of citrus trees loaded with ripe fruit. Mostly they are a small orange that are quite nice to eat but there are also some lemons too. We had picked and eaten a lot of oranges from those street trees.
Further south near Porto do Covo there are some lovely beaches but the surf in huge and the beach steeply shelving so I think it would be quite a dangerous place to take a dip. I did go for a paddle and found it a degree or two warmer that further north, still needs to get a couple more degrees warmer before it will seriously temp me in for a swim.
Heading towards the south western corner of the country we passed through an area of large vegetable farms with fields of cabbages, or something like a cabbage that doesn’t get a hard dense heart. We have seen a lot of them in the shops but I don’t know what they are called. Also large strawberry farms with berries growing in the fields and hydroponically in plastic green houses.
Also in this area in amongst the eucalypt forest there are wattle trees and many are just beginning to flower. Further north I had often seen the wattle but none in flower. Some of the eucalypts are heavily in bud too and I have seen a few with small white flowers. There are some very pale pink flowering fruit trees that I think might be pomegranate trees beginning to bloom and the white flowering deciduous trees that I think are probably almonds as I read that it flowers in January in this area.
As we neared the south the coast got very rugged with high cliffs and tiny coves with sandy beaches. Many of these coves had jagged sea stacks just separated from the cliffs and in one place we saw where the gaps between the stacks had been cemented and closed in to form, not so much a safe harbour but an area of calmer water at the bottom of a boat ramp so that the boats could be launched and retrieved easier and safer. All the small fishing boats were up on dry land well clear of the high tide.
On the most south westerly corner of Europe at Cabot Sao Vincente there is an old lighthouse, there was once a fort too but not any more. Whereas at Fortaleza just a few mile away there is some of the old fort built by Henry the Navigator in the 15th century still standing. This is the most western part of the Al Garve and we have hit the tourist areas and despite the fact that it is winter and there is only a tiny fraction of the number that you get in the summer there is still plenty of them. About 20 motorhomes were lined up in just one car park, God knows what it must be like in the summer when there is at least 10 times more tourists than now.
Lagos is rather a pleasant small town at this time of year with a population of around 20,000, but in summer that swells to a massive 200,000, and I just can’t imagine it. There are big blocks of apartments that are empty at this time of year. To wander around the narrow streets now is quite pleasant but I would not like to do so in the summer. We saw the old slave market building; it was used as such up till sometime in the 18th century I read. One of the main narrow streets was being dug up and we could see some old stone walls in the holes so we asked a girl we saw and she told us that the street was being dug to replace some pipes and that her group of archaeologists has been called in because ancient foundations had been found. Since then they have found some old Roman walls and medieval walls, Roman pottery and other bits and pieces. They think that one building they found is where the Romans used to make a fish paste.
On the hill top in Silves there is the lovely red stone walls of the old castle that was built by the Moors, the stone almost glows when seen from a distance with the light at the right angle; it has many towers: Almost nothing of the interior is left but it has had two Moorish palaces at different times and it had large cisterns for water and granaries. Some of the foundations of these things can still be seen. Possibly not for much longer though as there is a lot of construction going on inside the walls; not quite sure what they are building but the sign says something about improving tourist infrastructure, so I expect it’s an excuse to increase the entrance fee that is very reasonable at present. With 8000 visitors a day in the summer I expect the one toilet is a little overworked at times.
Sancho 1 besieged the castle in the 12th century: The occupants withstood the siege for several months until their water and grain ran out. Sancho there negotiated a surrender agreement but apparently his army didn’t honour it and most of the moors were killed. But it wasn’t for another 50 years or so, into the 13th century before the Christians again took control of this region.
In some of the hills here the wattles are almost in full bloom and between there yellow blossom and the smell of the eucalypt (gum) trees you would dam near think that you were in Australia; the clear blue skies and warm days only add to the picture. Have also seen silky oaks (grevillea robusta) and callistemons growing in various places.
Another rather nice town on the coast is Tavira. It also has an old castle, well, the outer walls of one anyway with a tower from which you can get a nice view over the town and along the salt marshes that are separated from the ocean by low lying sandy islands. It has an old medieval bridge that is not really as good as the old roman bridges we have seen. A tuna fishing fleet is based here too.
Just near the castle in the old water tower in the old town is a ‘camera obscura’ and we went and had a look. We had not been to one before though there used to be one at Picnic Point in Toowoomba, so I don’t know if you are familiar with how they work, I wasn’t. This one we visited is inside the old water tank and in the centre of the top is a lens and mirrors. The picture is projected in colour onto a large round disc in the centre of the room that we can move around so that as the camera moves around the 360˚ of the horizon we can move around inside and always see the picture from the bottom upward. The girl who was operating the camera was from Uruguay. As she moved it around she pointed out all the different places of interest around the town. We thought it was quite good.
These low lying off shore islands are nature reserves but that seems to mean very little as one we visited was very well populated. This was near Faro, and we could drive across the bridge to it though there wasn’t far you could drive once you got there. The car parks were nearly full at this time of year; don’t think you would ever find a parking spot in the summer. We walked along the boardwalk towards the eastern end of the island. It was a bit cool and breezy but pleasant and there were lots of people kite surfing up this end of the island so we went to watch them; they were all wearing wet suits, the water was dam cold.
All along the way we walked there were houses and shanties on small allotments. I doubt that there is any organised sanitation like sewerage and I saw no sign of septic systems. Nearly every one, tin shanty or smart house, had a satellite dish on the roof. Some had chickens, one had geese, most had cats and dogs too. The only way any nature was reserved was some fencing off of some of the sand dunes to let the grass grow. There was also a no fishing sign but we did see people who had collected buckets full of little shell fish.
I have now decided that it is only the almond trees that are in bloom. We stopped and looked at several and they seem to vary in shade from almost pure white through pale pink to a fairly bright pink. Perhaps they are slightly different species but all the flowers look the same shape and they have the most beautiful perfume.
Spring is in the air here and the storks are beginning to mate. They love to nest on top of the electricity poles, though we have seen one on a crane and a few on old buildings. They are very clever the way that they can balance a large nest on top of a pole with no more than 150mm (6inch) diameter. Mostly they are in pairs with just a few already sitting on eggs by the looks of it. We did see one lone chap do some sort of dance, don’t know if it was meant to attract a mate, if so it didn’t work.
One last thing I will mention about Portugal before we leave there. They certainly know how to build dams. All over the country there are dams both large and small, a great many of them have hydro electric stations attached. Most of them at this time of year are well below full but should fill within the next couple of months if they get the usual winter/early spring rains, but that of course, is in the lap of the Gods, or perhaps being Portugal I should say the Virgin Mary as it seems to be her who is the subject of all their devotion..
Having crossed back into Spain we saw many huge orange groves, including large areas that have been planted within the last year or so, all on raised beds with drip irrigation. In the same area too are large place green houses. Many of these have strawberries both in the ground and hydroponic, other have some other fruit of vegetable I have not been able to get a good enough look at to recognize, and many have cherry trees that are in full bloom. Have seen these in the open too as well as those under plastic. We are fairly certain that these bright pink flowering trees are cherry as they are pruned differently to those that I know are almonds. With the wattles and gum trees in flower too the local bees must be working overtime.
© Lynette Regan 30th January 2008
We drove away from Lisbon over a 17k long bridge across the estuary of the Tejo river, on a sunny afternoon after visiting several large shopping centres on the outskirts of the city in the vain hope of finding some gas cylinders to fit our little gas stove. In no other countries in Europe have we had any real problems finding a Primus or Coleman cylinder, or some other brand with the same fitting but it seems that ‘camping gaz’ has the monopoly here in Portugal as we have not been able to find any other brand. One person had suggested a particular large store and we spent a good deal of time looking for it and eventually locating it only to find that we couldn’t get them there either.
Now we headed south east towards Evora. Soon we were in amongst the cork wood trees. Yes, I finally worked out what they look like. It wasn’t difficult as you easily see where the bark as been stripped and the new bark is growing. On the first lot we passed the new bark was very dark, almost black with a reddish tinge, whilst the older bark high up on the smaller limbs is gray. We got out and had a close look at these trees. It seems that they belong to the oak family and are very similar to the Ilex oak we have been seeing all over the Iberian peninsular. They have an acorn that is almost identical, and the leaf is just a little less holly like. Mature trees reach about 8m high and all different shapes. Apparently these trees have a different feeding system to most other trees so that stripping their bark does not kill them.
Some of the trees have been stripped only up to the first fork, but other have been stripped along the thicker branches too. Looking at the base we could see that the cork was a good 50mm (2inches) thicker where it had not been stripped. When we broke off a small piece of that old gray stuff we found it to be a neutral pinkish shade on the inside, not quite the same shade as you see in the tiles, but then it hasn’t yet been treated with anything.
In souvenir shops we have seem lovely handbags made out of cork but I wouldn’t have thought that they would last very long, but I could be wrong. They have a similar feel to suede.
The grass grows quite well under the trees and we have seen sheep, some with lambs, cattle, and goats grazing in shady pasture. At this time of year the temperature is quite pleasant, chilly in the evenings and mornings but not too hot during the day but in summer when the heat is blistering it must be very good for the animals to be able to graze in such a shaded area.
Evora is quite a pleasant rural town with an old walled city that predates Roman times. Right on top of the hill, stands the remains of a Roman temple from the 1st century AD dedicated to Jupiter or Diana, depending on which piece of literature you read. This temple would have commanded a view all around at the time it was built but now it’s almost surrounded by churches and convents. In Moorish times it was used for public floggings and executions, and later a slaughter house, so it has had a varied career. Fourteen columns still stand though they are looking the worse for wear: In a convent that stands right beside the temple we saw a beautiful doorway, it is in a double horseshoe shape with thin twisted columns, a beautiful piece of workmanship; it opens into a small room with vaulted ceilings.
In another square we saw a small renaissance fountain, and lo and behold, in an electrical shop there we found gas cylinders to fit our stove. A brand we’d not come across before but who cares. The old boy in the shop must have thought Christmas had come early when we bought 3 of them. He spoke quite good English which isn’t all that surprising really as this is a very popular tourist town, not far from the Al Garve. There were or course plenty of churches to visit but we had a day off from Churches. An old aqueducto built of stone leads into the city. When we went for a look we saw that many of the arches have been blocked it and turned into houses. In a building that is now used by the local town council the remains of an old Roman baths has been found so we wandered in for a look; a big round stone pool with a ledge all the way round for seating and the bases of some stone walls and arches.
Near the town of Santiago do Cacem there are some more Roman ruins. There was a settlement here hundreds of years before the Romans came about 100BC, some ancient artefacts have been found from that earlier period. Most of the ruins date from the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. At the highest point of the settlement is the Temple, probably dedicated to Venus, and partly rebuilt, below that is the remains of the Forum and the remains of dwellings below that. Then in a gully there were two bath complexes one built at a later time to the other but they are side by side and have a common drainage system. Some lovely brick archways still intact can be seen here. Also a small single arch bridge across the gully: This settlement also had a hippodrome; it was on the flat land almost 1k away. It’s the only place on the Iberian peninsular to have had one and here they used to race both 2 wheeled and 4 wheeled ‘briga’ (a kind of chariot), thus the name of the settlement, Mirobriga:
When I look at these ruins and see the drainage system and the pipes they used to carry water through the houses and other accomplishments of this ancient civilization I often wonder what happened that all this knowledge and technology became lost for about 1000 years. The castles built in the 12th century don’t have as good drainage systems and under floor heating is only now becoming more accepted except for places like Korea where it has been used for God knows how long continuously. The glass too is another thing; what we have now is not that much better than what the Romans made: In some things we really haven’t progressed much at all.
Along the way all through Portugal we have seen old windmills, all a similar round dumpy shape, painted white with a black roof, and with the frame for the sails but none with sails up and working. Here, just a short distance from the ruins we saw another, and although it didn’t have the sails unfurled they were there, just all rolled up. The elderly man who greeted us and showed us around said that it wasn’t working because there was no wind; perhaps it’s too calm at this time of year here but other places we have seen them there has been plenty of wind. This is certainly a working mill, it is used to grind maize now, for what purpose I can’t say but probably for stock feed I should think. We climbed up inside and saw the mechanism and the mill stones and even some bags of corn awaiting the wind that will provide the energy to grind it.
At Sines we reached the coast again; though the guide book says this is the ugliest town in Portugal because of the oil refineries we didn’t find it too back. It’s not a large town and it faces a nice south facing bay with a small port full of fishing boats and a large marina full of expensive pleasure craft. Like most of the better towns the houses are all white washed plaster with orange terra cotta roofs and they look quite pretty as they tumble down the hill sides towards the bright blue of the sea below, and a deep blue sky above. In most of the towns the streets and gardens are full of citrus trees loaded with ripe fruit. Mostly they are a small orange that are quite nice to eat but there are also some lemons too. We had picked and eaten a lot of oranges from those street trees.
Further south near Porto do Covo there are some lovely beaches but the surf in huge and the beach steeply shelving so I think it would be quite a dangerous place to take a dip. I did go for a paddle and found it a degree or two warmer that further north, still needs to get a couple more degrees warmer before it will seriously temp me in for a swim.
Heading towards the south western corner of the country we passed through an area of large vegetable farms with fields of cabbages, or something like a cabbage that doesn’t get a hard dense heart. We have seen a lot of them in the shops but I don’t know what they are called. Also large strawberry farms with berries growing in the fields and hydroponically in plastic green houses.
Also in this area in amongst the eucalypt forest there are wattle trees and many are just beginning to flower. Further north I had often seen the wattle but none in flower. Some of the eucalypts are heavily in bud too and I have seen a few with small white flowers. There are some very pale pink flowering fruit trees that I think might be pomegranate trees beginning to bloom and the white flowering deciduous trees that I think are probably almonds as I read that it flowers in January in this area.
As we neared the south the coast got very rugged with high cliffs and tiny coves with sandy beaches. Many of these coves had jagged sea stacks just separated from the cliffs and in one place we saw where the gaps between the stacks had been cemented and closed in to form, not so much a safe harbour but an area of calmer water at the bottom of a boat ramp so that the boats could be launched and retrieved easier and safer. All the small fishing boats were up on dry land well clear of the high tide.
On the most south westerly corner of Europe at Cabot Sao Vincente there is an old lighthouse, there was once a fort too but not any more. Whereas at Fortaleza just a few mile away there is some of the old fort built by Henry the Navigator in the 15th century still standing. This is the most western part of the Al Garve and we have hit the tourist areas and despite the fact that it is winter and there is only a tiny fraction of the number that you get in the summer there is still plenty of them. About 20 motorhomes were lined up in just one car park, God knows what it must be like in the summer when there is at least 10 times more tourists than now.
Lagos is rather a pleasant small town at this time of year with a population of around 20,000, but in summer that swells to a massive 200,000, and I just can’t imagine it. There are big blocks of apartments that are empty at this time of year. To wander around the narrow streets now is quite pleasant but I would not like to do so in the summer. We saw the old slave market building; it was used as such up till sometime in the 18th century I read. One of the main narrow streets was being dug up and we could see some old stone walls in the holes so we asked a girl we saw and she told us that the street was being dug to replace some pipes and that her group of archaeologists has been called in because ancient foundations had been found. Since then they have found some old Roman walls and medieval walls, Roman pottery and other bits and pieces. They think that one building they found is where the Romans used to make a fish paste.
On the hill top in Silves there is the lovely red stone walls of the old castle that was built by the Moors, the stone almost glows when seen from a distance with the light at the right angle; it has many towers: Almost nothing of the interior is left but it has had two Moorish palaces at different times and it had large cisterns for water and granaries. Some of the foundations of these things can still be seen. Possibly not for much longer though as there is a lot of construction going on inside the walls; not quite sure what they are building but the sign says something about improving tourist infrastructure, so I expect it’s an excuse to increase the entrance fee that is very reasonable at present. With 8000 visitors a day in the summer I expect the one toilet is a little overworked at times.
Sancho 1 besieged the castle in the 12th century: The occupants withstood the siege for several months until their water and grain ran out. Sancho there negotiated a surrender agreement but apparently his army didn’t honour it and most of the moors were killed. But it wasn’t for another 50 years or so, into the 13th century before the Christians again took control of this region.
In some of the hills here the wattles are almost in full bloom and between there yellow blossom and the smell of the eucalypt (gum) trees you would dam near think that you were in Australia; the clear blue skies and warm days only add to the picture. Have also seen silky oaks (grevillea robusta) and callistemons growing in various places.
Another rather nice town on the coast is Tavira. It also has an old castle, well, the outer walls of one anyway with a tower from which you can get a nice view over the town and along the salt marshes that are separated from the ocean by low lying sandy islands. It has an old medieval bridge that is not really as good as the old roman bridges we have seen. A tuna fishing fleet is based here too.
Just near the castle in the old water tower in the old town is a ‘camera obscura’ and we went and had a look. We had not been to one before though there used to be one at Picnic Point in Toowoomba, so I don’t know if you are familiar with how they work, I wasn’t. This one we visited is inside the old water tank and in the centre of the top is a lens and mirrors. The picture is projected in colour onto a large round disc in the centre of the room that we can move around so that as the camera moves around the 360˚ of the horizon we can move around inside and always see the picture from the bottom upward. The girl who was operating the camera was from Uruguay. As she moved it around she pointed out all the different places of interest around the town. We thought it was quite good.
These low lying off shore islands are nature reserves but that seems to mean very little as one we visited was very well populated. This was near Faro, and we could drive across the bridge to it though there wasn’t far you could drive once you got there. The car parks were nearly full at this time of year; don’t think you would ever find a parking spot in the summer. We walked along the boardwalk towards the eastern end of the island. It was a bit cool and breezy but pleasant and there were lots of people kite surfing up this end of the island so we went to watch them; they were all wearing wet suits, the water was dam cold.
All along the way we walked there were houses and shanties on small allotments. I doubt that there is any organised sanitation like sewerage and I saw no sign of septic systems. Nearly every one, tin shanty or smart house, had a satellite dish on the roof. Some had chickens, one had geese, most had cats and dogs too. The only way any nature was reserved was some fencing off of some of the sand dunes to let the grass grow. There was also a no fishing sign but we did see people who had collected buckets full of little shell fish.
I have now decided that it is only the almond trees that are in bloom. We stopped and looked at several and they seem to vary in shade from almost pure white through pale pink to a fairly bright pink. Perhaps they are slightly different species but all the flowers look the same shape and they have the most beautiful perfume.
Spring is in the air here and the storks are beginning to mate. They love to nest on top of the electricity poles, though we have seen one on a crane and a few on old buildings. They are very clever the way that they can balance a large nest on top of a pole with no more than 150mm (6inch) diameter. Mostly they are in pairs with just a few already sitting on eggs by the looks of it. We did see one lone chap do some sort of dance, don’t know if it was meant to attract a mate, if so it didn’t work.
One last thing I will mention about Portugal before we leave there. They certainly know how to build dams. All over the country there are dams both large and small, a great many of them have hydro electric stations attached. Most of them at this time of year are well below full but should fill within the next couple of months if they get the usual winter/early spring rains, but that of course, is in the lap of the Gods, or perhaps being Portugal I should say the Virgin Mary as it seems to be her who is the subject of all their devotion..
Having crossed back into Spain we saw many huge orange groves, including large areas that have been planted within the last year or so, all on raised beds with drip irrigation. In the same area too are large place green houses. Many of these have strawberries both in the ground and hydroponic, other have some other fruit of vegetable I have not been able to get a good enough look at to recognize, and many have cherry trees that are in full bloom. Have seen these in the open too as well as those under plastic. We are fairly certain that these bright pink flowering trees are cherry as they are pruned differently to those that I know are almonds. With the wattles and gum trees in flower too the local bees must be working overtime.
© Lynette Regan 30th January 2008
Episode 32
Episode 32
We drove away from Lisbon over a 17k long bridge across the estuary of the Tejo river, on a sunny afternoon after visiting several large shopping centres on the outskirts of the city in the vain hope of finding some gas cylinders to fit our little gas stove. In no other countries in Europe have we had any real problems finding a Primus or Coleman cylinder, or some other brand with the same fitting but it seems that ‘camping gaz’ has the monopoly here in Portugal as we have not been able to find any other brand. One person had suggested a particular large store and we spent a good deal of time looking for it and eventually locating it only to find that we couldn’t get them there either.
Now we headed south east towards Evora. Soon we were in amongst the cork wood trees. Yes, I finally worked out what they look like. It wasn’t difficult as you easily see where the bark as been stripped and the new bark is growing. On the first lot we passed the new bark was very dark, almost black with a reddish tinge, whilst the older bark high up on the smaller limbs is gray. We got out and had a close look at these trees. It seems that they belong to the oak family and are very similar to the Ilex oak we have been seeing all over the Iberian peninsular. They have an acorn that is almost identical, and the leaf is just a little less holly like. Mature trees reach about 8m high and all different shapes. Apparently these trees have a different feeding system to most other trees so that stripping their bark does not kill them.
Some of the trees have been stripped only up to the first fork, but other have been stripped along the thicker branches too. Looking at the base we could see that the cork was a good 50mm (2inches) thicker where it had not been stripped. When we broke off a small piece of that old gray stuff we found it to be a neutral pinkish shade on the inside, not quite the same shade as you see in the tiles, but then it hasn’t yet been treated with anything.
In souvenir shops we have seem lovely handbags made out of cork but I wouldn’t have thought that they would last very long, but I could be wrong. They have a similar feel to suede.
The grass grows quite well under the trees and we have seen sheep, some with lambs, cattle, and goats grazing in shady pasture. At this time of year the temperature is quite pleasant, chilly in the evenings and mornings but not too hot during the day but in summer when the heat is blistering it must be very good for the animals to be able to graze in such a shaded area.
Evora is quite a pleasant rural town with an old walled city that predates Roman times. Right on top of the hill, stands the remains of a Roman temple from the 1st century AD dedicated to Jupiter or Diana, depending on which piece of literature you read. This temple would have commanded a view all around at the time it was built but now it’s almost surrounded by churches and convents. In Moorish times it was used for public floggings and executions, and later a slaughter house, so it has had a varied career. Fourteen columns still stand though they are looking the worse for wear: In a convent that stands right beside the temple we saw a beautiful doorway, it is in a double horseshoe shape with thin twisted columns, a beautiful piece of workmanship; it opens into a small room with vaulted ceilings.
In another square we saw a small renaissance fountain, and lo and behold, in an electrical shop there we found gas cylinders to fit our stove. A brand we’d not come across before but who cares. The old boy in the shop must have thought Christmas had come early when we bought 3 of them. He spoke quite good English which isn’t all that surprising really as this is a very popular tourist town, not far from the Al Garve. There were or course plenty of churches to visit but we had a day off from Churches. An old aqueducto built of stone leads into the city. When we went for a look we saw that many of the arches have been blocked it and turned into houses. In a building that is now used by the local town council the remains of an old Roman baths has been found so we wandered in for a look; a big round stone pool with a ledge all the way round for seating and the bases of some stone walls and arches.
Near the town of Santiago do Cacem there are some more Roman ruins. There was a settlement here hundreds of years before the Romans came about 100BC, some ancient artefacts have been found from that earlier period. Most of the ruins date from the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. At the highest point of the settlement is the Temple, probably dedicated to Venus, and partly rebuilt, below that is the remains of the Forum and the remains of dwellings below that. Then in a gully there were two bath complexes one built at a later time to the other but they are side by side and have a common drainage system. Some lovely brick archways still intact can be seen here. Also a small single arch bridge across the gully: This settlement also had a hippodrome; it was on the flat land almost 1k away. It’s the only place on the Iberian peninsular to have had one and here they used to race both 2 wheeled and 4 wheeled ‘briga’ (a kind of chariot), thus the name of the settlement, Mirobriga:
When I look at these ruins and see the drainage system and the pipes they used to carry water through the houses and other accomplishments of this ancient civilization I often wonder what happened that all this knowledge and technology became lost for about 1000 years. The castles built in the 12th century don’t have as good drainage systems and under floor heating is only now becoming more accepted except for places like Korea where it has been used for God knows how long continuously. The glass too is another thing; what we have now is not that much better than what the Romans made: In some things we really haven’t progressed much at all.
Along the way all through Portugal we have seen old windmills, all a similar round dumpy shape, painted white with a black roof, and with the frame for the sails but none with sails up and working. Here, just a short distance from the ruins we saw another, and although it didn’t have the sails unfurled they were there, just all rolled up. The elderly man who greeted us and showed us around said that it wasn’t working because there was no wind; perhaps it’s too calm at this time of year here but other places we have seen them there has been plenty of wind. This is certainly a working mill, it is used to grind maize now, for what purpose I can’t say but probably for stock feed I should think. We climbed up inside and saw the mechanism and the mill stones and even some bags of corn awaiting the wind that will provide the energy to grind it.
At Sines we reached the coast again; though the guide book says this is the ugliest town in Portugal because of the oil refineries we didn’t find it too back. It’s not a large town and it faces a nice south facing bay with a small port full of fishing boats and a large marina full of expensive pleasure craft. Like most of the better towns the houses are all white washed plaster with orange terra cotta roofs and they look quite pretty as they tumble down the hill sides towards the bright blue of the sea below, and a deep blue sky above. In most of the towns the streets and gardens are full of citrus trees loaded with ripe fruit. Mostly they are a small orange that are quite nice to eat but there are also some lemons too. We had picked and eaten a lot of oranges from those street trees.
Further south near Porto do Covo there are some lovely beaches but the surf in huge and the beach steeply shelving so I think it would be quite a dangerous place to take a dip. I did go for a paddle and found it a degree or two warmer that further north, still needs to get a couple more degrees warmer before it will seriously temp me in for a swim.
Heading towards the south western corner of the country we passed through an area of large vegetable farms with fields of cabbages, or something like a cabbage that doesn’t get a hard dense heart. We have seen a lot of them in the shops but I don’t know what they are called. Also large strawberry farms with berries growing in the fields and hydroponically in plastic green houses.
Also in this area in amongst the eucalypt forest there are wattle trees and many are just beginning to flower. Further north I had often seen the wattle but none in flower. Some of the eucalypts are heavily in bud too and I have seen a few with small white flowers. There are some very pale pink flowering fruit trees that I think might be pomegranate trees beginning to bloom and the white flowering deciduous trees that I think are probably almonds as I read that it flowers in January in this area.
As we neared the south the coast got very rugged with high cliffs and tiny coves with sandy beaches. Many of these coves had jagged sea stacks just separated from the cliffs and in one place we saw where the gaps between the stacks had been cemented and closed in to form, not so much a safe harbour but an area of calmer water at the bottom of a boat ramp so that the boats could be launched and retrieved easier and safer. All the small fishing boats were up on dry land well clear of the high tide.
On the most south westerly corner of Europe at Cabot Sao Vincente there is an old lighthouse, there was once a fort too but not any more. Whereas at Fortaleza just a few mile away there is some of the old fort built by Henry the Navigator in the 15th century still standing. This is the most western part of the Al Garve and we have hit the tourist areas and despite the fact that it is winter and there is only a tiny fraction of the number that you get in the summer there is still plenty of them. About 20 motorhomes were lined up in just one car park, God knows what it must be like in the summer when there is at least 10 times more tourists than now.
Lagos is rather a pleasant small town at this time of year with a population of around 20,000, but in summer that swells to a massive 200,000, and I just can’t imagine it. There are big blocks of apartments that are empty at this time of year. To wander around the narrow streets now is quite pleasant but I would not like to do so in the summer. We saw the old slave market building; it was used as such up till sometime in the 18th century I read. One of the main narrow streets was being dug up and we could see some old stone walls in the holes so we asked a girl we saw and she told us that the street was being dug to replace some pipes and that her group of archaeologists has been called in because ancient foundations had been found. Since then they have found some old Roman walls and medieval walls, Roman pottery and other bits and pieces. They think that one building they found is where the Romans used to make a fish paste.
On the hill top in Silves there is the lovely red stone walls of the old castle that was built by the Moors, the stone almost glows when seen from a distance with the light at the right angle; it has many towers: Almost nothing of the interior is left but it has had two Moorish palaces at different times and it had large cisterns for water and granaries. Some of the foundations of these things can still be seen. Possibly not for much longer though as there is a lot of construction going on inside the walls; not quite sure what they are building but the sign says something about improving tourist infrastructure, so I expect it’s an excuse to increase the entrance fee that is very reasonable at present. With 8000 visitors a day in the summer I expect the one toilet is a little overworked at times.
Sancho 1 besieged the castle in the 12th century: The occupants withstood the siege for several months until their water and grain ran out. Sancho there negotiated a surrender agreement but apparently his army didn’t honour it and most of the moors were killed. But it wasn’t for another 50 years or so, into the 13th century before the Christians again took control of this region.
In some of the hills here the wattles are almost in full bloom and between there yellow blossom and the smell of the eucalypt (gum) trees you would dam near think that you were in Australia; the clear blue skies and warm days only add to the picture. Have also seen silky oaks (grevillea robusta) and callistemons growing in various places.
Another rather nice town on the coast is Tavira. It also has an old castle, well, the outer walls of one anyway with a tower from which you can get a nice view over the town and along the salt marshes that are separated from the ocean by low lying sandy islands. It has an old medieval bridge that is not really as good as the old roman bridges we have seen. A tuna fishing fleet is based here too.
Just near the castle in the old water tower in the old town is a ‘camera obscura’ and we went and had a look. We had not been to one before though there used to be one at Picnic Point in Toowoomba, so I don’t know if you are familiar with how they work, I wasn’t. This one we visited is inside the old water tank and in the centre of the top is a lens and mirrors. The picture is projected in colour onto a large round disc in the centre of the room that we can move around so that as the camera moves around the 360˚ of the horizon we can move around inside and always see the picture from the bottom upward. The girl who was operating the camera was from Uruguay. As she moved it around she pointed out all the different places of interest around the town. We thought it was quite good.
These low lying off shore islands are nature reserves but that seems to mean very little as one we visited was very well populated. This was near Faro, and we could drive across the bridge to it though there wasn’t far you could drive once you got there. The car parks were nearly full at this time of year; don’t think you would ever find a parking spot in the summer. We walked along the boardwalk towards the eastern end of the island. It was a bit cool and breezy but pleasant and there were lots of people kite surfing up this end of the island so we went to watch them; they were all wearing wet suits, the water was dam cold.
All along the way we walked there were houses and shanties on small allotments. I doubt that there is any organised sanitation like sewerage and I saw no sign of septic systems. Nearly every one, tin shanty or smart house, had a satellite dish on the roof. Some had chickens, one had geese, most had cats and dogs too. The only way any nature was reserved was some fencing off of some of the sand dunes to let the grass grow. There was also a no fishing sign but we did see people who had collected buckets full of little shell fish.
I have now decided that it is only the almond trees that are in bloom. We stopped and looked at several and they seem to vary in shade from almost pure white through pale pink to a fairly bright pink. Perhaps they are slightly different species but all the flowers look the same shape and they have the most beautiful perfume.
Spring is in the air here and the storks are beginning to mate. They love to nest on top of the electricity poles, though we have seen one on a crane and a few on old buildings. They are very clever the way that they can balance a large nest on top of a pole with no more than 150mm (6inch) diameter. Mostly they are in pairs with just a few already sitting on eggs by the looks of it. We did see one lone chap do some sort of dance, don’t know if it was meant to attract a mate, if so it didn’t work.
One last thing I will mention about Portugal before we leave there. They certainly know how to build dams. All over the country there are dams both large and small, a great many of them have hydro electric stations attached. Most of them at this time of year are well below full but should fill within the next couple of months if they get the usual winter/early spring rains, but that of course, is in the lap of the Gods, or perhaps being Portugal I should say the Virgin Mary as it seems to be her who is the subject of all their devotion..
Having crossed back into Spain we saw many huge orange groves, including large areas that have been planted within the last year or so, all on raised beds with drip irrigation. In the same area too are large place green houses. Many of these have strawberries both in the ground and hydroponic, other have some other fruit of vegetable I have not been able to get a good enough look at to recognize, and many have cherry trees that are in full bloom. Have seen these in the open too as well as those under plastic. We are fairly certain that these bright pink flowering trees are cherry as they are pruned differently to those that I know are almonds. With the wattles and gum trees in flower too the local bees must be working overtime.
© Lynette Regan 30th January 2008
We drove away from Lisbon over a 17k long bridge across the estuary of the Tejo river, on a sunny afternoon after visiting several large shopping centres on the outskirts of the city in the vain hope of finding some gas cylinders to fit our little gas stove. In no other countries in Europe have we had any real problems finding a Primus or Coleman cylinder, or some other brand with the same fitting but it seems that ‘camping gaz’ has the monopoly here in Portugal as we have not been able to find any other brand. One person had suggested a particular large store and we spent a good deal of time looking for it and eventually locating it only to find that we couldn’t get them there either.
Now we headed south east towards Evora. Soon we were in amongst the cork wood trees. Yes, I finally worked out what they look like. It wasn’t difficult as you easily see where the bark as been stripped and the new bark is growing. On the first lot we passed the new bark was very dark, almost black with a reddish tinge, whilst the older bark high up on the smaller limbs is gray. We got out and had a close look at these trees. It seems that they belong to the oak family and are very similar to the Ilex oak we have been seeing all over the Iberian peninsular. They have an acorn that is almost identical, and the leaf is just a little less holly like. Mature trees reach about 8m high and all different shapes. Apparently these trees have a different feeding system to most other trees so that stripping their bark does not kill them.
Some of the trees have been stripped only up to the first fork, but other have been stripped along the thicker branches too. Looking at the base we could see that the cork was a good 50mm (2inches) thicker where it had not been stripped. When we broke off a small piece of that old gray stuff we found it to be a neutral pinkish shade on the inside, not quite the same shade as you see in the tiles, but then it hasn’t yet been treated with anything.
In souvenir shops we have seem lovely handbags made out of cork but I wouldn’t have thought that they would last very long, but I could be wrong. They have a similar feel to suede.
The grass grows quite well under the trees and we have seen sheep, some with lambs, cattle, and goats grazing in shady pasture. At this time of year the temperature is quite pleasant, chilly in the evenings and mornings but not too hot during the day but in summer when the heat is blistering it must be very good for the animals to be able to graze in such a shaded area.
Evora is quite a pleasant rural town with an old walled city that predates Roman times. Right on top of the hill, stands the remains of a Roman temple from the 1st century AD dedicated to Jupiter or Diana, depending on which piece of literature you read. This temple would have commanded a view all around at the time it was built but now it’s almost surrounded by churches and convents. In Moorish times it was used for public floggings and executions, and later a slaughter house, so it has had a varied career. Fourteen columns still stand though they are looking the worse for wear: In a convent that stands right beside the temple we saw a beautiful doorway, it is in a double horseshoe shape with thin twisted columns, a beautiful piece of workmanship; it opens into a small room with vaulted ceilings.
In another square we saw a small renaissance fountain, and lo and behold, in an electrical shop there we found gas cylinders to fit our stove. A brand we’d not come across before but who cares. The old boy in the shop must have thought Christmas had come early when we bought 3 of them. He spoke quite good English which isn’t all that surprising really as this is a very popular tourist town, not far from the Al Garve. There were or course plenty of churches to visit but we had a day off from Churches. An old aqueducto built of stone leads into the city. When we went for a look we saw that many of the arches have been blocked it and turned into houses. In a building that is now used by the local town council the remains of an old Roman baths has been found so we wandered in for a look; a big round stone pool with a ledge all the way round for seating and the bases of some stone walls and arches.
Near the town of Santiago do Cacem there are some more Roman ruins. There was a settlement here hundreds of years before the Romans came about 100BC, some ancient artefacts have been found from that earlier period. Most of the ruins date from the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD. At the highest point of the settlement is the Temple, probably dedicated to Venus, and partly rebuilt, below that is the remains of the Forum and the remains of dwellings below that. Then in a gully there were two bath complexes one built at a later time to the other but they are side by side and have a common drainage system. Some lovely brick archways still intact can be seen here. Also a small single arch bridge across the gully: This settlement also had a hippodrome; it was on the flat land almost 1k away. It’s the only place on the Iberian peninsular to have had one and here they used to race both 2 wheeled and 4 wheeled ‘briga’ (a kind of chariot), thus the name of the settlement, Mirobriga:
When I look at these ruins and see the drainage system and the pipes they used to carry water through the houses and other accomplishments of this ancient civilization I often wonder what happened that all this knowledge and technology became lost for about 1000 years. The castles built in the 12th century don’t have as good drainage systems and under floor heating is only now becoming more accepted except for places like Korea where it has been used for God knows how long continuously. The glass too is another thing; what we have now is not that much better than what the Romans made: In some things we really haven’t progressed much at all.
Along the way all through Portugal we have seen old windmills, all a similar round dumpy shape, painted white with a black roof, and with the frame for the sails but none with sails up and working. Here, just a short distance from the ruins we saw another, and although it didn’t have the sails unfurled they were there, just all rolled up. The elderly man who greeted us and showed us around said that it wasn’t working because there was no wind; perhaps it’s too calm at this time of year here but other places we have seen them there has been plenty of wind. This is certainly a working mill, it is used to grind maize now, for what purpose I can’t say but probably for stock feed I should think. We climbed up inside and saw the mechanism and the mill stones and even some bags of corn awaiting the wind that will provide the energy to grind it.
At Sines we reached the coast again; though the guide book says this is the ugliest town in Portugal because of the oil refineries we didn’t find it too back. It’s not a large town and it faces a nice south facing bay with a small port full of fishing boats and a large marina full of expensive pleasure craft. Like most of the better towns the houses are all white washed plaster with orange terra cotta roofs and they look quite pretty as they tumble down the hill sides towards the bright blue of the sea below, and a deep blue sky above. In most of the towns the streets and gardens are full of citrus trees loaded with ripe fruit. Mostly they are a small orange that are quite nice to eat but there are also some lemons too. We had picked and eaten a lot of oranges from those street trees.
Further south near Porto do Covo there are some lovely beaches but the surf in huge and the beach steeply shelving so I think it would be quite a dangerous place to take a dip. I did go for a paddle and found it a degree or two warmer that further north, still needs to get a couple more degrees warmer before it will seriously temp me in for a swim.
Heading towards the south western corner of the country we passed through an area of large vegetable farms with fields of cabbages, or something like a cabbage that doesn’t get a hard dense heart. We have seen a lot of them in the shops but I don’t know what they are called. Also large strawberry farms with berries growing in the fields and hydroponically in plastic green houses.
Also in this area in amongst the eucalypt forest there are wattle trees and many are just beginning to flower. Further north I had often seen the wattle but none in flower. Some of the eucalypts are heavily in bud too and I have seen a few with small white flowers. There are some very pale pink flowering fruit trees that I think might be pomegranate trees beginning to bloom and the white flowering deciduous trees that I think are probably almonds as I read that it flowers in January in this area.
As we neared the south the coast got very rugged with high cliffs and tiny coves with sandy beaches. Many of these coves had jagged sea stacks just separated from the cliffs and in one place we saw where the gaps between the stacks had been cemented and closed in to form, not so much a safe harbour but an area of calmer water at the bottom of a boat ramp so that the boats could be launched and retrieved easier and safer. All the small fishing boats were up on dry land well clear of the high tide.
On the most south westerly corner of Europe at Cabot Sao Vincente there is an old lighthouse, there was once a fort too but not any more. Whereas at Fortaleza just a few mile away there is some of the old fort built by Henry the Navigator in the 15th century still standing. This is the most western part of the Al Garve and we have hit the tourist areas and despite the fact that it is winter and there is only a tiny fraction of the number that you get in the summer there is still plenty of them. About 20 motorhomes were lined up in just one car park, God knows what it must be like in the summer when there is at least 10 times more tourists than now.
Lagos is rather a pleasant small town at this time of year with a population of around 20,000, but in summer that swells to a massive 200,000, and I just can’t imagine it. There are big blocks of apartments that are empty at this time of year. To wander around the narrow streets now is quite pleasant but I would not like to do so in the summer. We saw the old slave market building; it was used as such up till sometime in the 18th century I read. One of the main narrow streets was being dug up and we could see some old stone walls in the holes so we asked a girl we saw and she told us that the street was being dug to replace some pipes and that her group of archaeologists has been called in because ancient foundations had been found. Since then they have found some old Roman walls and medieval walls, Roman pottery and other bits and pieces. They think that one building they found is where the Romans used to make a fish paste.
On the hill top in Silves there is the lovely red stone walls of the old castle that was built by the Moors, the stone almost glows when seen from a distance with the light at the right angle; it has many towers: Almost nothing of the interior is left but it has had two Moorish palaces at different times and it had large cisterns for water and granaries. Some of the foundations of these things can still be seen. Possibly not for much longer though as there is a lot of construction going on inside the walls; not quite sure what they are building but the sign says something about improving tourist infrastructure, so I expect it’s an excuse to increase the entrance fee that is very reasonable at present. With 8000 visitors a day in the summer I expect the one toilet is a little overworked at times.
Sancho 1 besieged the castle in the 12th century: The occupants withstood the siege for several months until their water and grain ran out. Sancho there negotiated a surrender agreement but apparently his army didn’t honour it and most of the moors were killed. But it wasn’t for another 50 years or so, into the 13th century before the Christians again took control of this region.
In some of the hills here the wattles are almost in full bloom and between there yellow blossom and the smell of the eucalypt (gum) trees you would dam near think that you were in Australia; the clear blue skies and warm days only add to the picture. Have also seen silky oaks (grevillea robusta) and callistemons growing in various places.
Another rather nice town on the coast is Tavira. It also has an old castle, well, the outer walls of one anyway with a tower from which you can get a nice view over the town and along the salt marshes that are separated from the ocean by low lying sandy islands. It has an old medieval bridge that is not really as good as the old roman bridges we have seen. A tuna fishing fleet is based here too.
Just near the castle in the old water tower in the old town is a ‘camera obscura’ and we went and had a look. We had not been to one before though there used to be one at Picnic Point in Toowoomba, so I don’t know if you are familiar with how they work, I wasn’t. This one we visited is inside the old water tank and in the centre of the top is a lens and mirrors. The picture is projected in colour onto a large round disc in the centre of the room that we can move around so that as the camera moves around the 360˚ of the horizon we can move around inside and always see the picture from the bottom upward. The girl who was operating the camera was from Uruguay. As she moved it around she pointed out all the different places of interest around the town. We thought it was quite good.
These low lying off shore islands are nature reserves but that seems to mean very little as one we visited was very well populated. This was near Faro, and we could drive across the bridge to it though there wasn’t far you could drive once you got there. The car parks were nearly full at this time of year; don’t think you would ever find a parking spot in the summer. We walked along the boardwalk towards the eastern end of the island. It was a bit cool and breezy but pleasant and there were lots of people kite surfing up this end of the island so we went to watch them; they were all wearing wet suits, the water was dam cold.
All along the way we walked there were houses and shanties on small allotments. I doubt that there is any organised sanitation like sewerage and I saw no sign of septic systems. Nearly every one, tin shanty or smart house, had a satellite dish on the roof. Some had chickens, one had geese, most had cats and dogs too. The only way any nature was reserved was some fencing off of some of the sand dunes to let the grass grow. There was also a no fishing sign but we did see people who had collected buckets full of little shell fish.
I have now decided that it is only the almond trees that are in bloom. We stopped and looked at several and they seem to vary in shade from almost pure white through pale pink to a fairly bright pink. Perhaps they are slightly different species but all the flowers look the same shape and they have the most beautiful perfume.
Spring is in the air here and the storks are beginning to mate. They love to nest on top of the electricity poles, though we have seen one on a crane and a few on old buildings. They are very clever the way that they can balance a large nest on top of a pole with no more than 150mm (6inch) diameter. Mostly they are in pairs with just a few already sitting on eggs by the looks of it. We did see one lone chap do some sort of dance, don’t know if it was meant to attract a mate, if so it didn’t work.
One last thing I will mention about Portugal before we leave there. They certainly know how to build dams. All over the country there are dams both large and small, a great many of them have hydro electric stations attached. Most of them at this time of year are well below full but should fill within the next couple of months if they get the usual winter/early spring rains, but that of course, is in the lap of the Gods, or perhaps being Portugal I should say the Virgin Mary as it seems to be her who is the subject of all their devotion..
Having crossed back into Spain we saw many huge orange groves, including large areas that have been planted within the last year or so, all on raised beds with drip irrigation. In the same area too are large place green houses. Many of these have strawberries both in the ground and hydroponic, other have some other fruit of vegetable I have not been able to get a good enough look at to recognize, and many have cherry trees that are in full bloom. Have seen these in the open too as well as those under plastic. We are fairly certain that these bright pink flowering trees are cherry as they are pruned differently to those that I know are almonds. With the wattles and gum trees in flower too the local bees must be working overtime.
© Lynette Regan 30th January 2008
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