Spain 2016 - Castro Marim Castle

When we had been to the market at Castro Marim last week, I had been interested in the 2 castles above the village. From the internet (what did we ever do without it - up to date guidebooks, I guess) we learned that the oldest one is open to the public and the "newer" one, not always.

We parked where the market had been and Mum, Nicky and I followed these signs through the narrow streets.

Then there is a rough road and wooden stairs up to the castle entrance.

Looking down at the parking lot full of caravans from all over the UK and Northern Europe, European "snowbirds".

Across the village to the other fortification.

The building in the foreground is where we bought our tickets (E1.10) and then there is a chapel but it had nothing in it.

There is very little in the way of signage and most of the area inside the walls is set up ready for the medieval fair that is held here during the summer. There is a small museum area (where the washrooms are) with artifacts found here from as far back as the iron age and evidence of Roman, Greek, Phoenician, Carthaginian and Arab occupation.  Wars with the Moors and Castelians resulted in the castle being added to and improved primarily in the 1200s. Really the high point of the visit is being able to walk around the castle walls and look at the views in all directions.

Mum in the stocks.

The Guardiana Bridge with a huge pile of salt in front.

Salt flats, olive groves and in the distance, windmills.

A ruined building in the centre and poles erected for the medieval fair. There was an earthquake in 1755 that ruined many buildings  and Portugal has not been able to reconstruct a lot of the archaeological sites.

There is evidence of ongoing excavation and restoration.

One of the almond trees in blossom inside the castle walls.

The dome of the village church.

The church clock, through an orange tree in the village square.

We walked back down to find Dad and have coffee in the village square.

OK, it was coffee and wine.

Its a pretty square (although not square shaped) with the church at one end, town hall on one side and this cafe.

Mum "doing a Heather" (my niece likes to pose)

Castle wall and church at the far end of the village square.

Stork sculpture beside the cafe.

Real storks nesting on the chimney of the grocery store near the parking lot.

We drove home, starving as it was about 3, and had a quickly made lunch of gazpacho (from a carton) and bread and cheese. Then Nicky and I headed down to the beach to read as it was sunny and quite warm.

Not warm enough for shorts but warm enough for sandals.

Then we joined Mum and Dad on the deck of the Sonrisa beach bar before heading back to the apartment.

Spain 2016 - Donana and Palacio del Acebron

Not far down the road from El Rocio we drove through the gates into Danana which is a huge nature reserve. We drove for a while through a sandy, pine forest and then came to a parking lot and a sign for a palace. Well we had to investigate.

The gates and driveway to the Palacio del Acebron

We walked up the driveway.

It's quite impressive.

Nicola wanted her picture taken with the rather weather worn lion.

The door was locked but, according to the sign, it should be open in about 10 minutes so we wandered down to a path and pond that we could see from the palace.

Glossy Ibis roosting in bushes on the other side of the pond.

There were also a flock of Night Herons in the same area, all with their heads tucked down, facing away from us so their 2 white head feathers showed.

Mum decided to walk back to the car to keep Dad company and Nicola and I went into the palace, when it was opened up. It was not actually a palace but a hunting lodge. There are a number of them in Donana as the area was originally used by the large landowners, for hunting parties. This one was completed in 1967 but was fashioned to look much older.

The dining room with its huge table. We could just imagine the huge parties.

A party painted on the ceiling.

There were displays and information about the original inhabitants of the area, the wealthy land owners, the farmers who leased the land and the various ways they made a living; salt, farming, bee keeping, fishing, charcoal making, poaching.

A stuffed Lynx. There are still supposed to be wild Lynx in the park but they are pretty rare.

Another painted ceiling.

There were stairs up onto the roof and great views across the parks canopy of pines.

While we were up there we saw 5 birds up high, circling. We were able to get a pretty good look at them in the binoculars and have since identified them as Griffon Vultures.

Nicky, up ahead, walking back out the driveway.

Spain 2016 - El Rocio

We got up and got going this morning as we had some driving to do. On the highway it was about an hour to the turnoff to Donana (pronounced don-ya-na). We went into a community that Dad thought we could use as a place to catch the bus to Seville but the lovely lady in the tourist info (who spoke as much English as I spoke Spanish, many gestures) recommended we go to the next community and take the train - mas rapido. So we headed to that community and found the train station. There the clerk spoke excellent English and we got the times and cost and will probably take that option on Monday.
Drove on down to El Rocio. This is a bizarre little community. The story is that a shepherd found a statue of the Virgin Mary in a tree and decided to take it back to his village. He stopped for the night and in the morning the statue was gone - back to the tree he had found her in. So, of course, you build a church there. Every year there is a pilgrimage Romeria del Rocio to this place (El Rocio) from all over Spain and the statue of the Virgin is carried through the streets to each of the houses of the Brotherhoods. Each town or village in Spain has a house in this community that is closed up for the rest of the year. They come across the Donana marshes in traditional costume, on horseback and in ox carts. It draws hundreds of thousands to participate and watch. There's a lot of drinking and revelry. Part pilgrimage, part party!

The streets are sand and wide, room for lots of horses and wagons and people but now, just tourists.

We stopped at a restaurant that Mum and Dad have been to before and had lunch then Nic and I explored while Mum and Dad drove down to the lagoon to birdwatch.

The house for the brotherhood from the town of Gines.

The houses often have bell towers, wrought iron balconies, ornate wooden and iron doors, hitching posts for the horses and ...

various depictions of the Virgin in her robes...

Particularly interesting to Nicola and I, was this house (two sisters). We found out on the internet that its a town.

Fabulous Spanish architecture everywhere, I plan on coming back to sketch some.

Walking across one of the sand streets we saw this in the sand;

A game invented in Canada, in Spanish, on a street in Spain.

Nicola was particularly interested in the village dogs. Here a very friendly long haired dachshund.

Stores selling flamenco costumes and traditional riding costumes.

I loved the little girls flamenco shoes and the big girls leather boots.

The church is very pretty with its ..

shell shaped entrance.

Inside everyone was taking pictures, so we did too, until an announcement was made that it is prohibited and then we saw a small sign near the altar that said that. Sorry.

One of those forbidden shots.

Another

Understandably (given all the carrying around that is done) she looks a little worried.

This interesting building had candles to be burned and ...

another interesting statue.

Next to the church is a huge expanse of sand and pictures show it chock full of people during the festivities and then there is a lagoon with lots of bird life.

A Glossy Ibis

A Shoveler.

Next we drove down to Donana but that is for the next blog post.

Spain 2016 - Tapas and Museum of the brotherhoods.

After Casa Grande, Nicky and I continued to explore the Ayamonte streets.

An open door and lovely tile risers.

Gleaming tile top to the steeple.

I had been looking for the "museum of the brotherhoods", having found an article on the internet about it. I think the brotherhoods are something like unions and there is competition among them to carry the statue of the Virgin in the Easter procession through the streets (we are hoping to see this). This is the courtyard of the building but the museum was closed.

This church is next door so we wandered in to take a look.

Inside looked like marble but on closer examination it was painted to look like marble.

To the right of the altar was a door marked museo and a donation box with 1 Euro marked on it. I put in a Euro and the lights came on beyond the door. It was a room with the articles used during the Easter procession.

The silver gleamed.

There was a mannequin with the costume used when carrying the virgin in the procession.

There was also a huge silver, bed like, "litter" that is used to carry the statue of the virgin but the lights went out before I got a picture of it. 1 Euro doesn't buy a lot of electricity I guess. We wandered some more and found the main square, Paseo de la Ribera, and then found a tapas bar near the church.

Tortilla de patatas, basically cooked potatoes, diced and then baked with eggs, served with mayonnaise.

Huevo Grande frites which is a bit like a Scotch Egg, served with french fries and mayonnaise.

Stuffed squid with fries. There was a Spanish menu and an English menu so we did know what we were ordering.

These mushrooms were grilled with garlic (lots) and butter in the caps and a sprinkle of sea salt. They were absolutely fabulous.

I had a vino tinto and a cafe con leche and Nicky had 2 cafe con leches. We sat and enjoyed the local people sitting around us eating lunch (we checked out what they were eating too). The four helpings of tapas were more than enough food for us.
We continued to wander through the streets for a while and then drove home.