Fistful of dollars

   

Tino, the delightful manager of a campsite in Las Alpujarras told us about an unspoilt area of southern Spain apparently known only to locals where the film A Fistful of Dollars and other spaghetti westerns were filmed.

So we backtracked to the Med to have a look, and it didn't disappoint - an unusual mixture of mainly arid desert, volcanic rock formations dropping into the sea, salt pans, old mining villages, dilapidated habitation, small upmarket holiday towns with accessible beaches, and some that need a boat to get to, and even a flamingo colony - this was Cabo da Gata, just east of Almeria.  We parked up on a beach road 20m from the Med, had an obligatory swim which was delightfully refreshing, and went to sleep listening to the waves.

Walking over lemons

  

It does my head in to see ripe lemons on the road and all over the pavement, squashed and marked, and obviously unwanted.  This happened in El Bosque, one of four main 'pueblo blancos' in the Grazelema Nature Park east of Seville, and famous for its cheeses.  Their goats cheese was delicious.

We'd hoped to locate the Griffon Educational Observatory set up by the chair of our Wiltshire Astronomical Society.  No luck, but we found the ideal wild camp on a mirador at over 3,000'.  Our cup of tea did taste good the following morning as we looked out over the park. And then on our way down to the picturesque village of Grazelema we saw some griffon vultures flying around a rock above us - three landed and kept a watch out.

We went back to El Bosque to celebrate being away for 8 weeks, (and surviving) at a delightful 'rural' hotel where we were practically the only guests.  The pool and a cool room with balcony had nothing to do with it!  In fact it prepared us wonderfully for the next two days spent with friends Alan and Liz at their 5* villa in Frigiliana.  Thank you both, it was so good to see you there with James and Esther.

Hello sailor!

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2000 miles from home and here we are in a marina on the banks of the Guadalquivir,  a bus ride out of Seville; the instructions for which told us to press a button and go find a sailor to open the security gate!

Plenty of life's goings on to watch when we aren't doing the tourist bit, including raptors flying into trees and various boat skills including skulling and general boat handling.  As we were about to leave, we were accosted by Diana, 80+ living on a boat in dry dock following the death of her husband 12 years ago.  She needed her flight bag weighing to check it was inside the 15kg limit.  Too heavy for her but it allowed Mike to play the English gent.

Oh, and the Alcazar didn't disappoint, nor did the Plaza d'Espana, a personal  recommendation from the lady in the Tourist Office.  This was an amazing space with tiled bridges over a canal surrounded by pictorial representations of Spain's provinces, again all tiled.  A long, footsore day, but worth it.

We're off south now to the Grazalema Natural Park en route to see friends holidaying near Nerja.  It's getting hotter - 36 degrees in Seville  and climbing..

Farewell Portugal

    

What a find!  An immaculately preserved hilltop castle near the Portuguese border, from which we had a 360 degree view into both Portugal and Spain.  Gate crashed a Fete de St Antoine soiree put on by the local Cultural Society and enjoyed their barbecued sardines and spatchcock chicken, followed by an overnight park up on a terrace with again wonderful panoramic view over the Plain of Portugal and an outside tap just right for a morning strip watch.  Marvao, what a great place, thanks Pete and Joy for the recommendation.

Must also mention Coimbra, a delightful city with its old town on a hill which we climbed twice to visit its university, the oldest in Europe and instrumental in the sharing of knowledge between East and West in the Middle Ages.  The decoration in the library has to be seen to be believed.  We found some genuine Coimbra Fado music which some local musicians are trying to revive - it's sung by men when they want to impress their girlfriends.  Catch it on radio if you can.  

Next stop Spain.

The perfect place

           

We've come over 1000 miles to fetch up in a part of Portugal we couldn't have imagined.  Serendipity we're calling it because we were going east after Belmonte (which was literally an overnight stop) towards the Portuguese Spanish border BUT we'd seen some signs to the Estrela Valley and thought it needed further exploration.  

The first campsite was a no no, and how lucky we were.  This one has been wonderful - right by a flowing river, with a weir to mask all other noise bar the water.  What a place to rest and reflect by! This has been particularly relevant as our dear friend David Reeves died recently.

The owners are lovely Dutch people who invited us to a local market on Sunday.  Small by French standards but not tourist-driven.  In fact some visitors might have been off put by the livestock being sold; from adult chickens and ducks to one day old chicks and little ducklings, partridge, pheasant, etc.  (Not so nice were the canaries and other finches which are still kept in cages). All this next door to a huge undercover barbecue where separate stall holders were busy cooking chicken to eat!  

I couldn't blame Mike for succumbing as we've mostly been having veggie meals.  Not difficult with a tiny, but packed to the rafters, mini supermarket just outside the campsite.  Their motto seemed to be "If we don't have it you don't need it."

We have enjoyed two or three river walks which gave us great views over the Estrela Valley and Mike has actually swum in the river, which he says was so cold his marriage equipment nearly disappeared!

We've booked to hear some live Fado music so are leaving for Coimbra tomorrow.  And then we will be heading east, where the next blog will come from.