ADIOS CONIL

Hola,

When a waiter slaps you on the back and gives an Hispanic chuckle having ordered a specific dish, there are 3 possible explanations. He is congratulating you on your impressive Spanish (very unlikely), you have ordered the chef's speciality (hopefully), that your choice is a brave one. Yes, it was the last explanation. What turned up was a tapa of caracoles in their shells served in a soup bowl and eaten by hand. For 1.5 euros, 150 of the little critters were floating in a thin, murky brown sauce which tasted as it looked. My love of the French escargots knows no bounds but these were small (like winkles) and tasted of (if anything) the earth. Pauline and I tried and managed to get through about half (fortunately we had other dishes to eat) and were thankful only that we had not ordered the full 8 euro racion which would have meant about 800 of the buggers to dispose of!  Bring on the sea anenomes!

After Jerez, we drove our rental car took us to the Roman remains at Bolonia. As you can see below they were pretty impressive. Of course, the innovations and technology of the Romans are many,

although their introduction of plastic bucket seats is less well known.

It was a fascinating site, still being dug and well worth the morning spent.

Plenty of birds are on migration during April and these storks are examples. 

We will be hoping to see more birds at our next destination, Cabo de Gata where we have just arrived. It is a national park bordering the sea and at first sight is a fairly bleak landscape. It is not surprising that it has been the location of many movies such as Lawrence of Arabia and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. A few pictures next week will give you an idea.

Adios

J&P

JEREZ

Hola,

And thank you for reading and all your comments.

You're right 'Little Sis' - although Barry was fine until the conversation changed to matters of chemical engineering. I think he must have introduced the subject himself as nobody else was likely to bring it up. Barry had an inexhaustible supply of hazardous waste anecdotes, sadly none of them interesting or amusing. It almost forced me into the line dancing camp - but not quite!

We struggled, as Jude and Andy guessed, to say anything positive about Cadiz. It was, believe it or not, a European city of culture in 2012. However, as the current phrase goes, it left no legacy. Culture lasted only 12 months. On the other hand Jerez was a different kettle of pescado altogether. We rented a car and parked in the modern bit highlighted by the Minotaur sculpture below.

Walking into the old town a well dressed old gentleman engaged us in conversation and presented Pauline with a flower from the bunch he was carrying. The old town had a vibrant market, the caracoles were still alive and crawling in the vendors' trays and the pedestrianised part was truly free of vehicles. Our first stop was the Gonzalez Byass bodega below.

They produce Tio Pepe amongst many others and we had an interesting tour of the grounds with, of course, tastings and tapas afterwards. We had some generous samples of Tio Pepe, Croft Original and two others we had not encountered - Alfonso, a very tasty amber coloured dry sherry and the spectacularly good dark and sweet Solera 1847. Neither of us are lovers of sweet wines but this was sensational. A bottle was bought and is stored for our return.

A visit to the Alcazar followed, good views as below,

including a view of Tio Pepe weathervane, apparently the biggest in the world.

The cathedral looked good from outside but apparently was not much to view inside. Below is a view of the cathedral with the uncle (Tio Pepe) of the founder of Gonzalez Byass standing in front.

We concluded with a very cheap deal of a large beer and tapas for a mere 2.50 Euros each. There is a lot more exploring here to do and next visit we may well camp just outside and have a few more days.

Below shows us both together with Cape Trafalgar and lighthouse in the background. We drove to this spot because we had failed to reach it on one of our epic coastal walks. It was within sight but we had almost been cut off by the tide. We couldn't see if we had more rivers to cross before we got there but we did know if we did not turn back, a high tide would mean we couldn't have returned. The path signposts were non-existent and on previous experience could not have been trusted. Our hike in the other direction had led us to a sheer drop off the cliff edge where the rocks had eroded. So we turned round and walked the 4 hours back without reaching our destination.

And finally. We have had some great food but last weekend we opted for a starter of deep fried sea-anenomes. (Well, I opted, Pauline wanted the shrimp fritters.) The batter and form was like an Indian pakora but there the similarity ended. As you sliced them in half it was like something that might have been served at the 'Restaurant at the End of the Universe', or something Doctor Who might have investigated. The inside was fluorescent green and the contents sort of drifted slowly across the plate, seemingly expanding in size as it went. Fortunately it tasted (marginally) better than it looked, but I wasn't quite sure at the end whether I was more frightened of the food or of Pauline's scathing stare - should have had the shrimp fritters!

Bueno Appetito,

J&P

AROUND THE SITE

Buenos Tardes,

A midweek update. We thought Cadiz deserved another chance in the sun and it did look a whole lot better. Main square and town hall below are typically Spanish.

A view through to Cathedral Square: 

and the flamenco school and museum (closed pm) were all very well but for a city as ancient as Cadiz, in the very place where Sir Francis Drake singed Ashley Giles's beard (UK readers only) I think so much more could be done.  

As you can see below we have what is a huge beach all to ourselves. This is largely because we are out of season. 

When we arrived at our campsite at the end of March it was probably 60% full. And mostly Brits. We were told by Barry and his wife who greeted us as soon as we arrived (which is very unusual) as we are a bit stand-offish as a race. Barry also explained that we were just too late for most of the organised entertainment as the Brits tend to come for 3 winter months and leave around Easter. What we had missed included 'progressive whist' (it advertised as arrive 5 minutes early to learn - so it sounds a bit like bridge for the senile) and line dancing. Now the day after we arrived Barry very kindly invited us and 4 others to his leaving do. It was also the farewell night for the line dancers. Barry and his mates however, were in line dancing denial. They were the rebels, though we're not talking James Dean, as at least 2 of the rebels were too infirm to dance if they had wanted to. 

I had always thought line dancing was dosi-dos and a whooping and a hollering. But no. Here,at least, and for 3 hours, whipped up into no frenzy at all were a dozen or so Brits of late middle-age dancing very slowly in a line. I have tried very hard to think of anything more mind-numbingly boring. A season ticket for Stoke City or an afternoon of French euro-pop is the nearest I can come up with.

Barry has now departed leaving us only with his life story. Anything you now need to know about hazardous waste or chemical spillages (and how to ask).

Our van above, shaded from the now hot sun. Another post at the weekend, all being well with news of our Jerez trip and some weird food.

Buenos Noces

J&P

CONIL AND CADIZ

Buenos Dias,

Early post from us this week.

Bull tartare is a meal too far even for me, Andy & Jude. But I did enjoy a toro stew. The weather is improving but the rain of March has provided us with a wonderful array of wild flowers along the cliff walk.

Cadiz is not one of the most exciting cities in Spain. Even for museum/galleryites like us, the main museum is an underwhelming collection of not very interesting artefacts and pictures: the second museum, unless you have a specialist interest in the Cadiz Constitution (1820-23) you may be wise give it a miss.

There are a lot of narrow passageways, a cathedral (under repair), a few churches and a pleasant walk along the city walls but not a lot to detain us.

Conil is a very Spanish resort. Lots of good restaurants (great seafood and fish: still waiting to try sea anenomes), more bars per square metre than I have ever seen (and I've seen a few), loads of posh hotels and a variety of rooms and villas to let. Outside of the campsite, tourists are nearly all Spanish. Few people speak English and most menus are monolingual. Although the tourist office speak English, none of their pamphlets have been translated.

The old town winds it way up narrow streets from the seafront,

but there is not much to do in the town other than eat and drink. There are a lot of interesting (though desperately signposted) coastal walks to attempt along with a few cycle paths. It is currently caracoles season in Conil which I intend to enjoy and report on next week along with a view on the sherry bodegas of Jerez to which Pauline in particular is looking forward. I may throw in a quick midweek post if the mood takes as internet access is a bit sporadic so I may take advantage if all is working.
Hope all is well back in the UK (and elsewhere).

Adios
J&P

A LOAD OF BULL

Hola,

A busy week with very mixed weather which is changing for the better today.
Dogs are strictly forbidden on the beach at Conil:

 

but goats, of course, are welcome.
The bull run at Vejer was immensely popular, particularly with the young men of the town displaying their machismo. It is a very local, boozy celebration, thousand attend but is certainly not to everyone's taste.

There are brightly coloured bands parading before the bull is released.

It is very much like the Pamplona run but without the international element. Lunch can then be taken in a very pretty village square:

before the afternoon bull is released about 4pm.

It is in truth a rather unedifying spectacle, undoubtedly dangerous (we saw a couple of lads charged and flicked upside down) but lacking the tradition, colour, drama and showmanship of a professional bullfight. It is essentially tormenting dumb animals until they are exhausted and an opportunity for equally dumb young men to show off. The 2 bulls are killed during the week and eaten at a local town festival the next weekend.
Whilst I could not condone the practice, with youth unemployment in Spain running at over 55%, it may be a way for the government to reduce the numbers!
Next week a report on Cadiz and Conil withg a few sunny pictures.
Adios
J&P