Saturday, 3 October

The day starts excitingly for us as Australia’s biggest Football match, the Australian Football League Grand Final – the logical equivalent of the USA’s Super Bowl, is taking place. Furthermore, the Editor’s team is playing and early on takes a big lead against a team they lost to 3 weeks ago in an earlier final. Update: We Won, easily. Three GF victories in a row!

Any way, on with the show. It is not as an aggressive day today in terms of activities so we are able to relax a bit more in the morning. We have our last breakfast down in the catacombs and then pack our bags and have them delivered to the lobby as we check out today to go to our next destination. We all meet in the village square to wait for our bus.

We drive through the hills and see some impressive countryside.

We then drive to Grazalema where in the first weekend of October, the residents reconstruct the life and times of The Tempranillo.

Click to view The extraordinary story of Robin Hood of Andalusia

This link shows the story of last year’s festival but looking at the crowds and traffic control I would guess that this year’s will be even bigger.

You can see in that photo a stage where re-enactments of the history are played. The size of that crowd was much to thick for me to penetrate so most of the following pictures are from Julie who, of course, went everywhere.

Thanks Julie for all the great photos. It really showed what Grazalema and this festival was all about. Of course, viewers could not miss the dazzling array of period costumes in those photos. I refer you again to the link above for details of the rich history of Grazalema.

An way, it is time for lunch. The group meets up and finds our way through the crowds to our restaurant.

Most did not order the fish as Frank was to be cooking it that night. However, it was easily the best of the mains as the Pork and, especially, the Venison were very disappointing, tough as old boots. Maybe the biggest meal disappointment on the trip.

We hop onto our bus to drive to our accommodation which is “{The Lodge” outside of Ronda. There is not enough room for the whole group so some of the group stay in the sister property Hotel la fuente de la Figuera.

The Lodge is another 15 minutes along the back road, passing through some small villages along the way.

We are greeted by Pom our Host who offers us celebratory arrival drinks before going to our rooms, very civilised.

Turns out that Julie and I have been given the honeymoon suite.

As mentioned before, Frank is cooking dinner for tonight for the group.

We are joined by the Hotel people of the group.

Thanks, Frank. That was great. The Hotel people jump on the bus to go back while we “Lodgers” crash out. A bigger day to come tomorrow.

Thursday, 1 October

Any way, on with the show. It is time for breakfast and we can see its location from our balcony, it is way down at the bottom of the building. So we traipse up and down stairs to reach it. OK, we sit outside in a patio and the weather is great. Our first stop is a town called Barbate. I have extracted the following discussion of Vejer and Barbate from the net.

http://www.villamiramarspain.com/vejer-and-barbate/4533038758

Vejer is a walled village perched high on a mountain top overlooking the wetlands and is one of the so-called “Pueblos Blancos” or “white villages” dating back to the time of the Moors. It is about a 20 minute drive from Miramar and has the remains of a castle, a beautiful square and a network of narrow, cobbled, sloping streets which are best explored by foot. Almost everywhere you will see the Moorish influence.

Barbate is closer to Miramar and is the port in to which the fishing boats bring the bi-annual catch (in the spring and autumn) of the tuna (each tuna weighs upwards of 200 kg) before they are sent all over the world. With the method of catching the tuna unchanged over 3000 years it is certainly not to be missed. Barbate also hosts an excellent daily market. Further round the coast it is possible to visit Cape Trafalgar to see where Admiral Lord Nelson in 1805 won the Battle of Trafalgar.

Our first stop in Barbate is the aforementioned daily market where we are joined by a special friend – a charming expatriate local chef,
Annie B, whom I mentioned in yesterday’s Post, with whom we’ll be cooking tonight at her house. Check out her website which is very good.

http://www.anniebspain.com/

One of the fish mongers was a very outgoing lady in a pink top, quite a sales person.

We bought a fair bit of our fish for tonight at her shop – a great sales pitch.

As an aside, after a while I found a chair and took a seat, a common theme throughout the trip. The pink Lady went off and came back with her lunch – NOT fish. She came over to me with her Jamon sandwich and told me in Spanish that I really should try Jamon – I did not know how to tell her that we had done that already.

We then leave Annie and go in the bus to a local Tuna factory. We visit one of the last remaining salazon factories in the country where we’ll see how tuna was salted, cured and processed in Roman times.

We are to be given a demonstration of the cutting up of a Blue Fin Tuna. The do Yellow Fin as well, but the Blue Fin is more popular and expensive.

We continue our tour.

We also went near a room where they smoke some of the Tuna, and Mussels too, but were not allowed in. We are then treated to a tasting of some of the Tuna products.

At the end of the tour we are each given a generous present of a Herpac “Lunch pail” which contain several cans and bottles of Tuna products. A very good tour.

https://www.herpac.com/en/

We then get on the bus to head not far away for lunch to a restaurant that specialises in – Tuna.

As I look back on this meal I am amazed at how good it was, given there was no meat. It clearly was a highlight and I had forgotten about it almost.

El Campero Tuna restaurant

We drive back to Vejer to rest up for our dinner tonight, at least I rested.

The group sets out to walk through the cobblestone lanes of the village to Annie B’s house.

Annie’s house is quite large with multiple levels. We start out at a lower level.

We then proceed to the top of the house which is an outdoor patios where the meal will be served.

Wow, that was the end of that, quite stunning. Thanks to Annie, her staff and Frank of course.

We walk back to the Hotel. Of course we were not smart enough to go to bed. We joined Frank at the bar for a drink.

The bar is only about 10 meters away but we have to walk all the way to the bottom of the building and then all the way up to the top to get there. Of course when we were finished we had to reverse the process. Any way, the end of a monster day!!!

Wednesday, 30 September, 2015

Today we leave Seville and go into the mountains. Our bus picks us up after breakfast. Our first stop is in a town called Jerez de la Frontera where we go to a Sherry winery Bodegas Tradición. Their website is quite illuminating.

Sherry Bodega in Jerez

http://www.bodegastradicion.es/index.php/en/#

It is explained to us that this winery does not grow or crush any grapes. Instead, they buy in pressed grape juices and the skill of the wine maker is what makes their Sherry. It is considered a small Bodegas.

After the tour of the facilities they provide us with a generous tasting of some of their Sherries. Some in the group don’t care for Sherry and I can’t say it is on my normal purchase list, but if it is a good one I will try it. These were not bad. (As an aside a couple of years ago Frank put on a special lunch with impressive Sherries at Movida Next Door for International Sherry Day. Sadly, this year is conflicts with Spring Carnival so no go).

The Bodegas is also famous for its art collections from a range of well known artists from over time e.g. Zurbarán, Velázquez, Hiepes, El Labrador, Valdés Leal, Goya, Maella, Lucas Velázquez, Madrazo, Lucas Villamil, Carlos de Haes…and some others.

Again I refer you to the website:

http://www.bodegastradicion.es/index.php/en/art

I finish the examination of the artwork and sit down with a bit of Sherry. Julie comes to take pictures of me and then a number of the others in the group do the same – I went viral.

One other arty thing that the Bodegas does is to put on special exhibitions. Here is a photo from one of the slightly grotesque range:

We get back on the bus and head to a seaside, Atlantic Ocean, town of Sanlucar de Barrameda. Our first stop is a market primarily featuring seafood.

We then go off looking for a couple of Tapas bars.

As one can see, out the front is quite crowded. I went inside with the group and it was worse. So I wandered back outside in the hope that some tables would clear. A very young girl, like 8YO, approached and I did not know what to expect. She asked if we would like a table for a large group. Well of course I said yes and went in and asked Frank to have a look. They set up a row of tables, and chairs, in the lane way to the other side of the restaurant. Very comfortable and very nice.

The kitchen was just on the other side of us and when they would finish a dish they would yell out to us and the guys would go in to grab our food.

Good stuff. We get on the bus and drive down to the sea shore and select one of several Tapas bars that are side by side. We aren’t as lucky with the tables this time, we manage to get a few small ones but the chairs / stools were limited.

It is time to go to our final destination for the day – continue on to the whitewashed village of Vejer de la Frontera. Note: that there are a large number of “white villages” all over Southern Spain. One of the reasons was they were whitewashed to kill the Plague.

Our Hotel, La Botica, is in a series of very old buildings. It is an absolute rabbit warren with lots of passages and stairs. We love it. See the following for a range of pictures.

https://www.wotif.com/Vejer-De-La-Frontera-Hotels-La-Botica.h2530032.Hotel-Information?chkin=15%2F10%2F2015&chkout=16%2F10%2F2015

We have a balcony, not quite private as others can use it too, with a great view of the house on the hill – F.W. Dixon – and the sites around. Naturally, I decide to have a rest and, even more, naturally Julie goes for a prance around the village. The following are some of her photos.

That night we had been scheduled to dine at the “Best Steakhouse in Andalucía” but it is apparently closed for the summer (September?). Instead we go to a Moroccan restaurant, El Jardin del Califa, which is actually right next to the Hotel. For more details about this restaurant and others in Vejer, please refer to the website

http://www.anniebspain.com/vejer-de-la-frontera/restaurants/

We will talk a lot more about Annie B in tomorrow’s post. In Annie’s discussion of El Jardin del Califa is a photo of the owner. He joins us and gives us some background about the buildings we are in and the establishment of the restaurant. It is attached to the Hotel – we enter through the restuarant and then depart straight into the Hotel at the end. We are having the famous Mezze.

So we trudge out down and up stairs to our room to crash. An amazing day, I suspect tomorrow will not be quiet either.

Tuesday, 29 September, 2015

We start out the day after brekkie with a trip to a Jamon factory.

We learn later that there are around 1 million hams hanging in the factory. At a rough average price of e400 per ham, that is quite a business.

Before the tour of the factory, we drive out to one of the farms where the pigs are raised – on acorn to provide the special flavour. There is a fair walk from the bus drop off to the farm and there are three fords of a stream which lead to wet feet etc. It turns out that there were bridges that we mostly missed.

We walk up the hill to another field where several pigs are living and roaming.

We walk back to the bus with this time all the group walking over the bridges to miss the fords.

When the tour is over we get rid of our sterile clobber and go to a tasting area.

The tour and tasting ends and we thank our host. We go outside and there are a whole bunch of vintage Jaguars.

We drive to another nearby town for a Jamon lunch.

We jump back onto the bus to go back to Seville. We have an interesting night in front of us.

At the break, Anna and Julie are taught Flamenco moves

We then went out for a dinner, as if we really needed it.

Well, that is the end of Day 3. It was packed with activities and food. It took me several days to finish this post and still 11+ days of Posts to go.