A Weekend of Hurricanes and Virgins

Joaquín is going to fuck up your weekend, my friend told me in a Facebook message. Who is this Joaquín and what has he got to do with my weekend, I wondered.

Joaquín turned out to be a hurricane set to tear through Andalusia last bank holiday weekend, when everyone had made travel plans. Including me. Sigh.

Well, a little wind and rain wasn’t going to deter us, and so my pal Noelia and I embarked on the five-hour drive down south on Friday evening to spend the weekend with some friends who had shamelessly abandoned us in Toledo and moved to Carmona, a small town about 30 minutes east of Seville.

In the end, Joaquín was very considerate, unleashing his unholy fury in the dead of Saturday night while we slept off our dinner.

However, despite being spared a torrential downpour in the daytime, it wasn’t the best weather for taking photos. But I shall post a few of them anyway. Coz my mum likes them…

A handful of shots of Seville:

Noelia just making sure I didn’t miss anything.

Seville is obsessed with virgins…

…and toreros

Seville is a stunner of a city, even on a gloomy day. Oh, and the food! But here’s the one thing I didn’t like: The town centre is thronging with hundreds of  horse drawn carriages, waiting to take tourists around. Nothing wrong with that per se, but at least one quarter of the horses I saw – though scrupulously clean and brushed up to the hilt –  were way too thin, too old and/or clearly unwell. Spain loves bureaucracy – so why is there no veterinary inspection service making sure that the only animals put to work were those that are fit and healthy??? I found this really quite distressing.

Get it sorted, Seville!

And a few shots of Carmona:

Carmona bar, just about to open…

More virgins!

Forget chastity belts… how about chastity windows?! This one belongs to a convent, of course.

There’s also maids! There’s cakes in the back of that car, I could smell them…

Talking of which:

Some Middle-Eastern-inspired treats. That big bulbous chocolate thing on the left, filled with marshmallow and Nutella(!), was scoffed by me. And no, I didn’t share.

A traditional Spanish dessert called “leche frita” (fried milk), which is a bit like a semi-solid chunk of custard. Looks better than it tastes, though the sugar/cinnamon coating makes it somewhat enjoyable.

Three Countries in Five Days

After nearly three months of nothing but Toledo (except for the delightful little day trip to Cuenca) I was starting to go a bit stir crazy. The only thing that kept sane was an upcoming trip, which my friend Noelia had organised: Three nights at her friend’s place in Badajoz, Extremadura, just a handful of miles from the Portuguese border. From there, we would invade the neighbouring country and stuff ourselves silly with all the glorious Portuguese food we could cram down our gullets. Then, it was onwards, across the entire country and down to Andalucía for a couple of days, following a kind invitation from one of Noelia’s workmates, who had bequeathed us a lovely flat overlooking the beach.

All you all ready and comfortable? Let’s get started 🙂

Badajoz has some picturesque public gardens…

…and glorious views. The town itself has a very southern Spanish flair, although it’s not much more south than Toledo. The Portuguese influence is keenly felt in the architecture, the colours and on restaurant menus. Salt cod and custard tarts galore!

Moving on to Portugal…

Évora’s party piece: A Roman temple from the 1st century

Lots of crumbling gems to discover…

…as well as some modern art.
Noelia (left), and our hosts Gracia (right) and Lua (centre).

One of Évora’s most glamorous residents turning his back on me

The Almendres Cromlech, a few miles from Évora city. A megalithic complex erected 8,000 years ago, and pretty well preserved. We just made it in time for sundown.

We’re in Elvas now, another historic town settled since the year dot.
Just don’t ask me what that thing in the middle is supposed to signify…

Like any Portuguese town worth its salt, Elvas has a castle…

…impossibly steep, cobbled streets…

…and plenty of tiles. Everywhere.

 

And, of course, FOOD! Here we are, waiting for ours. The desserts at that place were to die for.

For one last look at Portugal, how about this majestic cork oak? The souvenir shops are full of cork products. You can even send postcards made of cork.

Cádiz Province, Andalucía, here we come!

BEACH BEACH BEACH!!!

I was rather taken with that cheery parasol 🙂

Did I mention the beach…?

Noelia with our generous host and indefatigable tour guide, Paco

A cute frog fountain in Tarifa

 

Gibraltar, the third “country” visited on our trip. We spent a morning there, during which I made a beeline to M&S, heaping as many packs of hot cross buns as I could carry into my basket, as well as several boxes of walnut whip. None of which survives.

Now there’s just one thing missing, one VERY IMPORTANT thing:

 

Cuenca, Cuenca On The Wall…

There seems to be a long-held rivalry over which city is the most beautiful, Toledo or Cuenca. I have learnt to stay well clear of these disputes, especially if my kindly chauffeur happens to be a born-and-bred Toledan, and there’s no humanely dignified way of getting back home to Toledo on public transport.

Instead, I just enjoy the view…

Cuenca’s city walls are a natural granite formation

 

Eva posing for Maria. Precariously perched in the background on the left are the famous “hanging houses”, dating back to the 15th century.

 

 

Salt cod and roast garlic, all mashed up. (Mental note: Next time, cancel all subsequent social engagements…)

 

Cheeeezzzz…cake 🙂

Look Up Look Down: Salamanca Cathedral

A couple of months back, when my friend Noelia and I spent the weekend in Salamanca visiting friends, we trudged all the way up to the top of Salamanca cathedral. The neverending and, at times, devilishly narrow staircases were regulated by a traffic light system to avoid collisions. To my great surprise, everybody seemed to heed the green and red lights. Which proves that the Spanish can follow rules after all 😉

I thought  these pics would make the perfect contribution to travelwithintent’s weekly Look Up Look Down photo challenge.

View of Salamanca from the top of the cathedral

View of Salamanca cathedral from the Roman Bridge

Salamanca’s Plaza Mayor – By Day and By Night

Even if you happen to turn up on a dank day, Salamanca’s Plaza Mayor still emanates the kind of majestic splendour you’d expect from the heart of an historic Spanish town 🙂

These three bods there are my pals 😉

Sunshine! That’s what we ordered 🙂

For a more contemporary view of Salamanca, click here.

Contemporary Salamanca

Salamanca is an arresting historic city, declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1988, and, as you’d expect, replete with ancient buildings oozing with imposing beauty. But the city also has a modern face intermingled with its classic red sandstone glory. I took these pictures while strolling about the old town.

A mural above the entrance to an underground car park

Salamanca Catering & Hoteliery School (I think…?)

This lovely piece of wrought ironwork belongs to Casa Lis, the city’s Art Nouveau Museum

Some funky posters gracing the inside of Salamanca’s 15th-century Casa de las Conchas (Shell House).

A colourful mural. Not sure what it’s supposed to be… but who cares 😉

The shading provided by these moody rainclouds and the angle of the evening sun makes it seem like the street lamps are lit, but they aren’t.

Someone’s very intent on keeping folk out. The sign reads “Dangerous dogs, do not touch the fence – a message reinforced by this vivid pictorial representation of a bull being chased through the Tormes river, with Salamanca cathedral serving as the backdrop.

Salamanca: Of Frogs and Astronauts

I do love quirky things. Some of you may have noticed. And Salamanca has quirkiness by the bucket load.

Just to set the scene: Most of the town’s historic sandstone buildings are embellished with amazingly elaborate carvings. We’re talking stuff like this:

It’s one of the portals of the New Cathedral. “New”, in this case, refers to 1513. (That’s when they started building it.)

As you can imagine, regular renovations of these facades are necessary to maintain their splendour. But it’s not all saints, angels and glowering gargoyles.

How about a bare-arsed, ice-cream-eating dragon? Doesn’t look in the least bit vanilla to me…

Yup, it’s an astronaut. He may have missed the launch when he joined the ensemble in 1992, but he looks happy enough.

Salamanca also has a frog obsession. There’s one hidden in the masonry of this portal belonging to the University of Salamanca:

During daylight hours, come rain or shine, you will find a conglomeration of tourists outside, squinting their little eyes out. Spotting the frog is meant to bring good luck. What, you can’t see it??? Let me help you… [And one of these days, I’ll learn to take a straight photo…]

Look at the grey part of the pillar and you’ll see three skulls facing down. The frog is on top of the skull furthest to the left, i.e, in the centre of the picture.

That frog has spawned copious offspring leaping about in hundreds of Salamancan shop windows.
This lot here seems to be keeping our astronaut good company 🙂

I had to crane my neck a bit to take most of these pics, so I’m linking this to travelwithintent’s weekly Look Up, Look Down photo challenge 🙂

 

 

Salamanca – Food First!

As I’ve mentioned in a previous post, I spent last weekend in Salamanca, a town with more history than you can shake a stick at. There will be photos of stunning buildings etc. in due course, but – and this will surprise no one(!) – I’m putting the food pics up first:

Let’s start with a round of pinchos, which is essentially the same as tapas.

The one in the middle is called “jeta”. It’s a colloquial word for face (as in “mug”). As for the dis itself, it’s pork snout, oink! 🙂

But what Salamanca is most famous for in the food stakes is this:

Jamón!!!

And here’s the nice man cutting some for us 🙂 Pricey stuff, but so worth it…

This burger was divine…

Nice wine display 🙂

Who’d turn down such an evocative invite for afternoon coffee?

Not me!

Chochos Tipicos de Salamanca
“Chocho” has two meanings: sweets/candy and… erm… fanny (beaver, if you’re American).

Castellar De La Frontera – Pretty Doors, Pretty Views

This is the penultimate picture post from my Andalucía trip a month ago. Perched high up on a hilltop in Cádiz Province, you’ll find the whitewashed village of Castellar De La Frontera. The drive up the narrow road with its hairpin curves was a bit nerve wracking, to say the least, but it was definitely worth it for all the charming quaintness awaiting us.

The doors quite took my fancy. Maria’s sister was kind enough to pose for this shot 🙂

 

A man and his eagle

A very tired pair of donkeys

Just Passing By Ávila…

My friend Noelia and I have just spent a lovely weekend in Salamanca, visiting friends, who not only showed us their splendid town, also fed us very well 🙂

The drive from Toledo to Salamanca is exceptionally scenic, and while I sort through my zillions of photos, I’ll leave you with a couple of shots I took, in passing, of the ancient city of Ávila, which has existed since at least the 5th century BC. It is famous, amongst other things, for its medieval town walls.

Those walls aren’t easy to overlook!

Reservoir lake just south of Ávila. The landscape is green and covered in granite builders of all sizes

I’ve been to Ávila once before, and it is certainly worth a visit, but you’ve got to come prepared… it’s just about the coldest place on Earth. My ears nearly froze off.