Folks in Spain Part 3: Jerez

After we left Granada we headed west looking for more fun and adventure. On the recommendation of Roman, who worked at the molino with us, we went to the village of Setenil de las Bodega. Setenil is famous for being built into the cliff sides of a gorge formed by the the Río Trejo.

This is kind of the main tourist drag with a few shops and loads of restaurants. 

Hmmm... Are they related?

We're looking over the wall into the stream bed below. There were some guys clearing trees, and using a crane to hoist the remains out of the gorge. We wished we'd had such tools for clearing the firebreaks at the molino! :-)

Some of the streets even run under the cliff sides! 

Here's a view of Setenil from an overlook above village. You can see the church atop a knoll, and if you look closely in the bottom of the picture you can see more buildings set into the cliff and under the overhang. What a neat place!

We left Setenil and wandered toward a place called Grazelama. Grazelama has the distinction of being the wettest village in all of Spain, and on this day it was true to form! It is indeed a beautiful green place for a reason! 

We stopped on the pass west of Grazelama ...

For the outrageously beautiful scenery at the overlook. Loads of walking trails criss-cross this area, and we hope to return someday to explore them!

We followed the A382 for a while, and then wound our way to Arcos de la Frontera where we got out for a leg-stretch. The weather had cleared up nicely by then and the temperature was perfect!

Arcos is another fortress town, taken from the Visgoths by the Muslims in 711. It's easy to see why people  built on these steep hilltops - easy to defend! It was conquered by the Catholics early on in the 1200's. It then formed part of the frontier (hence the name, Arcos de Frontera).

We drove most of the day and finally landed at our target, the lovely hilltop village of Medina Sidonia. Medina Sidonia is home to a 13th century fortress, which is now largely in ruins. 

The village was at one time fortified and the remains of some of these walls can still be seen- for example behind the Iglesia Mayor shown above. 

The village also boasts ruins of Roman streets and the remains of a sophisticated subterranean sewer system dating to the 1st century AD. Fascinating! Here's daD in the sewer. 

dA boyZ having quality time while planning our upcoming ferries and taxi journies to Fès...

Melinda went for a sunrise walk and snapped these lovely pictures. 

Here is the historic Arab gate of Medina Sidonia, Puerta de la Pastora, dating to the 10th century:

This 3,000 year-old village, like other villages we visited here, has witnessed many different cultures come and go, each leaving their mark. It is fascinating to discover how these historical influences meld together to form a unique entity. Andalucía truly is magical- a place where villages have Catholic Churches with elements of Muslim mosques, where unearthed Roman ruins are preserved & incorporated into new town structures, and where ancient whitewashed stone buildings whisper the their history on narrow, winding streets.

And! Like most places we've been, Medina Sidonia has its own flavor of The Dog Sign!

We took a day trip from Sidonia to the town of Jerez de la Frontera. In Spanish, Jerez is pronounced "her-eth" and is the word that means sherry (both words coming from the Arabic name for the city Sheris). It's worth mentioning that the Moors of Medieval Spain, despite the Muslim restriction of the use of alcohol, did create and partake in such fermented drinks - as they were considered medicinal. 

This southwest corner of Spain is the sherry region, and in order for the beverage to be called sherry legally it has to come from here. There are quite a few bodegas (wineries), and we strongly believe that we should intimately experience the cultural heritage of the places we visit so, of course, we toured a bodega!

We went to Gonzalez Byass (creators of the famed 'Tio Pepe'), one of the largest bodegas, and engaged ourselves for several hours wandering their yards with a guide, taking in the wonderful smells of the cask rooms, and generally having a grand time with each other. The tour was a bit touristy, but it simply added to the experience and we were able to enjoy and see the humor in it. 

Tio Pepe (Uncle Joe) whose real name was Josè Ángel de la Peña, was the maternal uncle of Don Manuel María González Ángel, who founded the bodega in 1835. Manuel María was a commercial clerk in Cadíz, and saw large amounts of wine being exported from the quayside. He petitioned his uncle, Tio Pepe, for funds to start a bodega. 

In 1844 a butt (cask) of sherry was sent to England, but the agent in England didn't think the bland-looking wine would go anywhere at all. Meanwhile, a butt had also been sent to America where it was instantly loved. It didn't take too long for the English attitude to turn around, and before long the export business was booming. The rest is, they say, history!

Tio Pepe is home to the largest wind-vane in the whole world, if you can believe it! 

As part of the tour we went for a train ride to a vineyard. Here we are in the train....

And here's the "train"!

And the "vineyard"!

It was a dressed-up pickup truck that was pulling the train cars, and they dressed it up really nicely. We hopped off and on the train at different parts of the bodega, which was nice because the entire place was huge! Acres and acres of big old stone buildings housing the sherry casks, and lots of displays for us to look at to learn about making sherry. 

One of the more interesting places was the cask rooms where celebrities have signed casks. 

This cask is signed by Paco de Lucia, who is one of the most famous flamenco guitarists. Melinda wanted her photo in front of this cask because he's pretty much a guitar hero! You can see some excellent footage here:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ToaqW28CV6o

Other casks were signed by famous athletes, politicians, and famous actors. There were seven huge casks that were signed by the Queen and six of her children, too! Rumor has it the Queen can stop by any time she wants and have a taste of sherry from her own cask. 

Within the bodega the streets are covered by nets, and ancient huge grape vines grow up over the street. We'd love to be here in the full summer when the fines are filled in and the streets are all shady!

This is the original room where Manuel María and Tio Pepe would host clients for tastings. The dust is pretty thick! They haven't disturbed anything since Manuel María's death.

We posed for pictures next to the famous Tio Pepe world-traveller...

And daD was feeling a little shy!  

At the end of the tour we had our tasting of four pours of different sherrys and some tapas alongside. We generally favored the heavier, sweeter sherrys, but they all have their finer points and all are good in their own regard. 

We had to stop for a picture of Sherry under the Sherry sign! (moM's name is Sherry, in case you didn't catch that.) So here she is! Sherry of the Frontier!

We headed south from Medina Sidonia to the Atlantic coast town of Vejer de la Frontera, and got a little beach time! 

"Wooo!" moM looks like her toes are a little cold! daD's looking a little shocked, too!

Family photo! The weather was perfect, the scenery was beyond compare, and the company was lovely. What a fabulous trip this is!

And now a special treat! TWO SIGNS!

Still can't explain to you why we have a fascination with these signs. They're all different: some of them are quite comical, others are very matter-of-fact. The guy in the blue sign above looks a bit crude, and even looks like he's going to bare-hand the wee stack of billiard balls left behind by the pooch. And the fellow on the white sign has quite a flair and panache, and his dog is so elegantly poised, as if for an exhibition dog show where points are awarded for proper posture while .... Okay, we'll stop. 

We continued onwards to Algeciras where we dropped off the rental car, and got a hotel room for the night. The next morning we hopped on a bus to Tarifa, about 1/2 hour west, for the ferry terminal. 

Here's a view looking straight south from Spain. The blue mountains in the distance are the Rif mountains of Morocco. That's where we're going next! 

And here's how we're getting there!

Stay tuned for the next post .... Where we visit exotic Morocco!!

Folks In Spain Part 2: To Granada We Go

After we left Gaucín we drove eastward along coast for a while, then turned up into the mountains. The roads were super twisty, windy, turny, curvy, bendy, and everything but straight! It's a lot of fun (well, exhausting too!) to drive roads like that, and the scenery was utterly fantastic. 

We finally ended up in a wee village called El Borge, and found the most unique gem of a hotel, restaurant and museum (yes all three tied into one) called Posada Del Bandolero. Of course we stayed the night! This charming and somewhat quirky place is named after the bandoleros who lived in the mountains, and is dedicated to one particularly bad dude who was born in the very same building. His name was Luis Muñoz Garcia, and he was known as "El Bizco de El Borge" (the Cross-Eyed of El Borge).

The staff at the hotel were very kind and enthusiastic to share its history. According to the hotel manager, Fransicso, El Bizco was indeed cross-eyed, and a deadly shot! Legend has it, Luis fell in love with a local woman... but she was already married. He challenged the husband to a duel, and, for better or for worse, Luis won the duel. He went on the lam and lived in caves in the mountians, and all the while the police were looking for him. 

Over time, Luis took up the cause of the poor, and would rob rich people and distribute the take to those who were less fortunate. This helped the poor, but also helped to protect him because he became a local hero and people wouldn't turn him in. Finally, after a gun battle in which he killed seven policeman, he was captured. The police killed him by poisoning him... A rather dreadful end. 

The hotel has a fantastic restaurant, as well. Here is a wee pic of the menu:

With some slightly crossed-up translations! You can order titbits, if you like!

Here's moM on the terrace of our room at the Posada. We had a great view of the street of the pueblo blanco, and could hear all the sounds of the village. There were a few boys playing football, and a couple girls playing, too. They smiled and called out "Yanquis"! Melinda pulled out the baby guitar and practiced some flamenco and.....

thE boyS hung out on the terrace. A perfect evening!

We also found the future home of our music school and coffee shop. It's in better shape than the one we found on the way to Ronda! There's only one large hole in the roof of this place, whereas the other place had no roof at all! 

Anyway, we'll keep you updated on the progress of the remodel.

After leaving El Borge, we headed east to Granada and after another long day of mountain driving, we stopped at a wee village called Frigliana for coffee. Poor moM by this point was tired of walking up and down and up and down hills in white villages, so we bought her a gin & tonic. It didn't make her feel any better about the hills, but a gin & tonic never hurts anyway, right? (And now we owe only 999 more. :-)

This is the manhole cover for the storm drain system in Frigliana. Very nicely designed! We figured you would want to know about them, you're welcome. 

moM and kiD hanging out in Frigliana. 

We stopped in an historic church next to the sunny square where we procured moM's gin & tonic,  This one had some rather stylized sculptures, including this pretty cool-looking Jesus. Peace, ✌

There also was a glass case containing masks of Jeaus and the apostles (we were a little creeped out by the eyeless heads in a glass case, honestly). Spanish Catholics celebrate with quite a number of processions and festivals, and these masks are probably worn for such events. 

From Frigliana we went north and east to Granada - the first major destination on our Spanish tour with the parents. Here's a shot of Granada from high in the hill overlooking the city. 

Central in the picture above is the massive Granada Cathedral, also called the 'Cathedral of the Incarnation', which was built in the early 1500's. Its lavish appearance reflects its national significance. The concept of the incarnation features prominently in catholic art and architecture in this part of Spain. According to one of our tour guides this because the conquering Catholics wanted to celebrate their domination of the Moors - who accept that Jesus Christ was a prophet, but believe the incarnation to be impossible.

La Catedràl de la Incarnacíon is one of the largest cathedrals in Spain. Next door, in La Capilla Real, are buried the Catholic monarchs who united Spain, in the1400's- Ferdinand & Isabel, as well as their daughter, the famed Juana la Loca. Juana, a well-educated Queen, earned the name 'La Loca' when refused to bury her husband, Philip the Handsome, and subsequently had his corpse brought with her wherever she traveled. She didn't travel light. 

Granada is one of many hotspots of flamenco music and dance. Although the exact origins of Flamenco are unknown, it can certainly be said that it is a fusion of gitano (gypsies), Jewish, Morisco and Spanish influences. It has four key components - Cante (singing), Toque (guitar), Baile (dance), and Jaleo ("hell-raising" which includes handclapping, foot stomping, shouts). Consequently, wherever there is a concentration of flamenco music there will also be a number of luthiers building really, really nice guitars.

The luthier, Ayran, was very kind and friendly, and offered a guitar for Melinda to try on. 

You can tell by the grin on her face that she's enjoying it! The rest of us did, too, and listened gratefully while she serenaded us with some of the flamenco tunes she's been learning. 

Granada is home to several different ethnic neighborhoods, including one called the Albycin. The Albycin is the historic Moorish/Morisco district. We visited the ruins of a 13th century Arab bath (hammam) that was covered until relatively recently, essentially hidden by a house that had been built over it. The other Arab baths in the Albycin were all destroyed when the Catholics evicted the Muslims from Spain in 1492, so this one is a real treasure. 

Here we are standing in what would have been the "warm" room of the hammam. The holes in the ceiling are intentional, and let in quite a lot of light. When this bath house was in use they would have also served as vents to help regulate the temperature in the room. Here is a diagram from a brochure to give you an idea of how it functions:

This next picture won't get a whole lot of explanation...

Except to say that he said he didn't inhale! (Yeah! Sure!)

Seriously, though, we did smoke a hookah. Now, before you get too alarmed by that, let's explain that the material that is smoked is some kind of a pressed cake of apple stuff. There's no tobacco, there's no weed, and there's no other "questionable" substance that is smoked. Honest! Really!

We didn't know it at the time, but the market streets in the Albycin are almost exactly like the streets in the old cities in Morocco. It makes sense, since it reflects a common ancestry. We were a bit overwhelmed by some of the tight and narrow streets in the Albycin... But the streets in Morocco, we would later find out, were even more crazy!

We took moM and daD out for a Flamenco show in the Albycin one night. That was super fun!

The male dancer was superb! And quite a different style of dance from the female...

One of the highlights of the trip to Granada was the visit to the Alhambra. daD hired a guide who spent over three hours with us telling about the history, the significance of particular rooms and fountains, and gave great insight into how the Alhambra fits into Spanish history. 

The Alhambra was nearly destroyed when Napolean's army was defeated and left Spain. The entire area was rigged with explosives, and one French soldier cut the fuse before it reached the main charge. Thanks to that one guy, the Alhambra wasn't destroyed. 

Over the decades, the Alhambra fell into disrepair as it wasn't officially looked after. Squatters moved in and large parts of the Alhambra were occupied by homeless people. Some of the decorative wood that had survived the centuries was then burned as firewood. A few new homes were built inside the palace grounds. The families who own those homes still live there today. 

Washington Irving, the American ambassador to Spain who was staying in Granada, actually spent some time living among the homeless at the Alhambra. His book "Tales of the Alhambra" is still a popular read today, and accurately describes many of the details of the Alhambra. It's definitely on our reading list!

In the 1970s the Spanish government took over the grounds and started a massive project to preserve and restore the Alhambra - this work continues today. 

In the Nasrid palaces, the plaster work is beyond description. It's hand molded and carved in-place on the walls and ceilings, and is incredibly intricate. The plaster often spells out a verse from the Quran, or expresses praise of Allah, or is a part of a poem. As it was essentially in ruins for a long time much of what is seen in the Alhambra today is reconstructed, based on scholarly analysis and historical records.

Here is the reflecting pool at the Sultan's throne room. 

Notice the plaster work, above, and the tile work below. Again, we didn't know it at the time, but we would see zellij (Arab tile work) like this all over Morocco. It's beautiful! 

At first glance one might think the tile work is too busy, but when it's repeated over a large enough area it becomes quite calming and mesmerizing. 

Above is a beautiful side room to the Sultan's chamber. 

And that's part of the ceiling. 

This courtyard featured the fountain of lions, which had been a gift from the Jewish people to the Royal Muslim (Nasrid) family. There are twelve lions around the fountain, and each has a waterspout in its mouth. The lions represented the 12 Jewish tribes. The fountain was completely operational when Alhambra was occupied, and was gravity fed from springs on the hills above the palace. The water spouts changed on the hour so that only one lion was spouting at any time. 

More incredible plaster and tile work. 

Another beautiful view of the courtyard with the fountain of lions  

We also went to Generalife, which was the Nasrid family's garden and "summer home." It's located directly next to the Alhambra, and is famous for the huge and intricate gardens.

Water featured prominently in the gardens of Generalife, with many fountains of different styles. The fountains that are low to the ground are generally Moorish fountains because they were gravity-fed from springs. The fountains that are higher are generally "Catholic fountains" and are powered. (Naturally after the Catholics evicted the Moors from Spain, they did a bit of remodelling to make the place their own!)

Looking at the Alhambra from the terrace of the Generalife. Historically, the royal family would spend the day at the Generalife, but for security concerns they would return each night to the palace by a guarded road and bridge. Can't be too careful right?

Whew! After all this touring we were HUNGRY! In the land of carnivores we found this gem:

A VEGAN restaurant! Alas, we didn't eat their 'cuz moM and daD wanted meat. We had heard veganism was taking Spain by storm (45,000 vegans now inhabit Spain, according to a newspaper article) but this was pretty much the only sign of vegan existence that we saw during our stay in southern Spain. 

As mentioned, Granada is made up of several neighborhoods. We'd already been to the Albycin, which was the Moorish area. And the wee apartment we stayed in was located in the Jewish neighborhood. Next we visited Sacramonte, which was the gitano (gypsy) district. 

Sacramonte is built into the hillside, literally. Many of the homes and shops are actually caves, either naturally occurring, manmade, or a combination there of. We went to a museum that showed what life here in caves was like in the past. Caves were used for everything, including workshops, living, and even stables for livestock and working animals!

And...

Caves were used for flamenco! We treated moM and daD to a flamenco show in a cave, and it was fantastic. 

We loved Granada. It was a big city, but the twisty streets in the Albycin felt like the small white villages we had visited in other parts of Andalucía. And the Alhambra was spectacular. Alas, it was time to move on- we packed up the wagon and headed west.