Guests settled in for their long break, that Winter sun still shining in the bluest of skies, we decided this week to incorporate a bit of a walk into the weekly shop.
A month of feeling under the other sort of weather has left my ass a bit - well, a lot - lardy, too much sitting around, snotting and sneezing and feeling sorry for myself.
The grocery shop here in the Alpujarras is a bit of a marathon, but a nice one, twisting mountain roads and hairpin bends, stunning views and virtually no traffic takes us to Berja - actually on much reflection one of our favourite Spanish towns.
It's history is water - everywhere - you can follow the route of the water there, or the tapas route if something stronger is your preferred poison. The Erotic Tapas festival is soon, next month I think. The mind boggles.
The town is stuffed with interesting architecture, I love the old Reja (ironwork balconies) On a sad note, there's a bar devoted to a shrine of the mad dictators and henchmen of the civil war - complete with framed pictures and candles - bizarre, eh?
A friendly tourist office is more 21st century than the ancient tower it's located in - here's an article, one I made earlier! - from Spain Holiday if you want to read more about Berja.
Anyway, just outside town, about 3km, sits the whole point of our planned walk, or scramble, really.
Villavieja - Old Town - is an archaeological site, sitting gracefully above a tasteless new housing estate, and you can walk all over it or tramp up to the castle ruins. Parts of the old muralla - wall - are still there, the ground is littered with Roman pottery. The Amphitheatre is still there, and from the top you can see for miles, even Cerrajón, otherwise known as Murtas mountain, back at home. Easy to see why Villavieja was built for defence.
We were treated to 20º degrees down there on Tuesday, some of the mountain layers were peeled off as we stood at the top and took in the fresh air. If you blot out the housing estate and the greenhouses, you can almost imagine that you are back in Roman times...
All in all, a Bonum Cursum!
A month of feeling under the other sort of weather has left my ass a bit - well, a lot - lardy, too much sitting around, snotting and sneezing and feeling sorry for myself.
The grocery shop here in the Alpujarras is a bit of a marathon, but a nice one, twisting mountain roads and hairpin bends, stunning views and virtually no traffic takes us to Berja - actually on much reflection one of our favourite Spanish towns.
It's history is water - everywhere - you can follow the route of the water there, or the tapas route if something stronger is your preferred poison. The Erotic Tapas festival is soon, next month I think. The mind boggles.
The town is stuffed with interesting architecture, I love the old Reja (ironwork balconies) On a sad note, there's a bar devoted to a shrine of the mad dictators and henchmen of the civil war - complete with framed pictures and candles - bizarre, eh?
A friendly tourist office is more 21st century than the ancient tower it's located in - here's an article, one I made earlier! - from Spain Holiday if you want to read more about Berja.
Anyway, just outside town, about 3km, sits the whole point of our planned walk, or scramble, really.
Villavieja - Old Town - is an archaeological site, sitting gracefully above a tasteless new housing estate, and you can walk all over it or tramp up to the castle ruins. Parts of the old muralla - wall - are still there, the ground is littered with Roman pottery. The Amphitheatre is still there, and from the top you can see for miles, even Cerrajón, otherwise known as Murtas mountain, back at home. Easy to see why Villavieja was built for defence.
We were treated to 20º degrees down there on Tuesday, some of the mountain layers were peeled off as we stood at the top and took in the fresh air. If you blot out the housing estate and the greenhouses, you can almost imagine that you are back in Roman times...
All in all, a Bonum Cursum!
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