Travelling to France from Spain

Saturday June 7th 2008

Through Spain to France

And so the six week block of breaks in Spain has come to an end. A major learning experience throughout, but the feedback we received was generally very favourable and offers a lot of promise for the future.


The courtyard at the hacienda - another sunny day

A pause while packing the land rover for the journey

The hacienda from the path up the mountain

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But our tentative planning for 2009 has suggested that the two venues per country idea is not a necessary part of what we are about and so may well be dropped. And if that is the case, then we will definitely be basing the future Spanish breaks at the "Moorish Farmhouse" rather than here at the hacienda

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The main question for the journey was whether I would have time to get to the Chateau de Rodie and then back to Toulouse for my flight. It was about 1400 km from the hacienda to the chateau and that increasingly seemed to be too challenging in the time I had available. But for the first day of the journey, I did keep an open mind on this question. This early part of the journey took me to Cordoba, then Madrid and at that point a decision had to be made.

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Nigel had mentioned that they had travelled to France across the Pyrenees through a long tunnel that came out near Lourdes. He had said this was a really great drive and I had begun to think more about this as I headed towards Madrid. And then as I looked at my map and plotted a possible route I noticed that the route close to Lourdes would also mean travelling close to la Mongie and the Col de Tourmalet, key features of recent Tour de France races. So maybe if I did abandon the plan to reach the chateau, I could go and visit these places instead. At Madrid, therefore, I turned right and headed towards Zaragoza, reaching there at around 9:30 in the evening after a day's drive of over 1,000km. Never has an Express Holiday Inn being more welcoming!

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I slept for close to 10 hours straight through and was on the road again by 8:30 the next morning, heading towards Huesca and the Pyrennees. Around 10:00, I had a quick chat to Linda, stopping with the foothills of the Pyrennees in the distance (cloud hugging the tops, but definitely some snow still there)

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Stopped for a call home - mountains topped with cloud and snow in the distance

North of Huesca towards Sabinanigo, I stopped briefly by a river where there was the most incredible noise coming from a collection of toads living in the rivers margins.

"Toad river" - looked an ideal trout water but I didn't spot any fish. It might run dry of course each year.

At Toad river I turned right again and headed towards Boltana on an incredibly scenic road that stayed close to the Rio Guarex and features some amazing waterfalls, and fields of wild flowers.

The Pyrennes getting steadily closer

Cyclists in front of a beautiful (and incredibly isolated) house on the way to Boltana

One highlight of this backroads route was the occasional totally unspoilt village that I came across, the best being perhaps Campodarbe.

Campodarbe

The descent towards Boltana - another hairpined road.

Boltana in the distance.

Poppies in a field close to Boltana

First sign to France - maybe 40km from the border

One of my better photos - poppies and mountains on the way to the border

As I approached the border, it was more and more clear that there were huge banks of clouds stuck on the mountains. As I passed through the tunnel to France, the weather was noticeably different on the French side. Low cloud, much cooler.

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At Arreau, I turned off the main road and started the ascent that would ultimate get to La Mongie and the Col du Tourmalet. First pass was the Col D'Aspin, also a famous cycling pass. There were loads of cyclists making the 12km ascent from Arreau, with helpful signs every km telling them the average gradient of the next section - not information I would have wanted to know in the circumstances. The top of the Col D'Aspin was really cold - most people huddled in coats. Well done to the two cyclists who got to the top just as I was there.

Down the other side and a stop in a little village for some food at a spot obviously used by cyclists for the start of their ascents from this side. A "plat du jour" meals of steak, chips and salad followed by ice cream. Not bad for 8 euros.

As I approached La Mongie, the weather got much worse and visibility really dropped. There were banks of snow on the sides of the road as I came up the Tourmalet, indeed I barely realised I was there when I got to the top the cloud was so thick. So a bit disappointing that this wasn't better.

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And from there it was a drop down towards Lannemezan and the motorway to Toulouse. Still 150km to go to Toulouse at this point and I was very glad that I had decided to not try and make it to the Chateau. Instead the car is now parked up at Toulouse airport for a couple of weeks. I was in bags of time for my flight - perhaps 3 hours early - only to find that it was delayed 2 hours. I arrived at Gatwick just after 1:00am just missing the coach to Oxford and had to wait for the 3:00am departure instead. So I arrived in Oxford just after 5:00am and ready for a really good rest. Emma was home for a couple of days before her exams start and so I did see her for the first time in nearly two months, which was really nice.

Spain week six, day five

Wednesday June 4th 2008

Hacienda, Villamartin, Spain

It is really hot today and we basically have a day out in the sun. - such a shame it wasn't like this throughout the time here, it would have made such a difference. Lots of reading done - I have started re-reading a biography of Martin Heidegger that I first read a couple of years ago and am also re-reading Lucy Edge's "Yoga school dropout", one of the funniest books about yoga in India. I very nearly went in the pool at one point too.

Two yoga sessions today again and the classes are really beginning to loosen Julia's shoulder - it's so amazing the impact of concerted efforts is on something like this.

A beautiful sunset tonight across the plains from the main terrace

Spain week six, day four

Tuesday June 3rd 2008

Hacienda, Villamartin, Spain

Yoga first thing after a day off for the Seville trip. Zoe participates, but Nigel thinks better of it. He remains more of a Pilates man! Shortly after, my modem seems to stop working and that is why so much of this blog is being uploaded a week or so later now we are back in the UK!

Then off to Ronda for another day out. The weather has now been really good for a few days in a row and the photos are so much better than my previous visit with Fiona


The north entrance to Ronda's bullring - the oldest in Spain

The view towards the Grazalema National park from near to the New Bridge

Looking down on a cafe overlooking the river gorge

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Nigel has a relative who they think used to work at one of the cafes that is adjacent to the New Bridge, and so we settled in the first one we came to and had some tapas to set us up for the walking round. But it turned out this probably wasn't the cafe he had worked at

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Looking back at the cafe we ate at close to the edge of the gorge by the New Bridge

A famous Ronda walkway starts in front of the building above and travels round to the left.

As we made our way up the main street we passed a museum that Fiona and I had somehow missed on our epic trip round Ronda last week. This was a shame as its main current feature was about the Spanish Inquisition and that would have been really good to see I thought.

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There were also several art gallaries that we also didn't find last time and we would have enjoyed. One had lots of oil painted copies of famous works which were very interesting.

Restaurants in a back street

Julia and Zoe outside one of the best looking houses in Ronda

By mid afternoon, we were due another stop for a drink and a snack. Julia and Zoe each ordered lemon juice and received a glass made up of just the squeezed juice from several lemons - a quite extraordinary drink. Nice cakes to go with drinks as well

Last picture of the New Bridge for this visit - still haven't made it to the floor of the gorge for the classic views.

Bullfighting postcards - odd how these events feature in the sports section of tv news each night.

Back for paella night at the hacienda - always one of my favourite dishes, both to cook and eat. It was warm enough to sit outside reading this evening before dinner. I have just finished Naomi Wolf's "Promiscuities", a book I had intended to just dip into but then found far more interesting that I had expected.

Spain week six, day three

Monday June 2nd 2008

Hacienda, Villamartin, Spain

A day out in Seville today - my first proper visit if you discount the trip a week or so ago when I took Jonathan to the station and collected Eve. Today we are returning Eve to the airport and then carrying on for a day's sight seeing.

It is about 12:30 when we arrive in the city centre and our first is finding somwhere to park. This was a good example of where having Nigel and Zoe with us really helped as they could make more sense of the parking meters. The confusing thing is that the siesta period from 2:00 till 5:00 is free, so if we could find a meter that we could stay at this 2:00, we would then have parking till 5:00 for free - which should be enough time for us. So we are sorted eventually and parked up near the Plaza de Espana and associated gardens.

On the way towards the centre I was disappointed to find that the battery on my camera had just about run out and so I only have one picture from today's trip. But oddly enough, this did mean that I looked at the city sights rather differently. Rather than focusing on taking pictures, I found myself looking much closer at things than I might have done normally. An interesting experience, though I would have preferred some pictures - Seville is just so beautiful. Maybe Linda and myself should return there at some point for a few days.

The park we passed on the way to the city centre - today's only picture of Seville

So we walked towards the cathedral and Alcazar (leaving a visit till later), before heading off through a shopping area and looping round towards the bullring. Then, as shops started closing for Siestas, Nigel asked someone local where a good place to eat might me and we ended up in a spot well off the beaten track. Nigel is quite a connoisseur of Spanish dining being a great fan of tapas and other food. So he was very happy to have found a new spot well away from the major tourist areas.

From here we made our way back to the Alcazar only to find that it wasn't open on Mondays. Fiona would never have made this mistake! So instead we visited the cathedral (the largest of its type in the world) including the Girolda tower, from where there are some great views of the city. Unusually, there aren't steps up the tower, instead there is a sloping ramp the whole way up.

Finally, as we worked our way back to the car, we went round the Plaza de Espana and gardens - one of Seville's absolute highlights.

Back by early evening and then a trip out to Villamartin for dinner. The only place open is a tapas bar but this proves to be a real find and Nigel is completely in his element as he orders around a dozen portions of various things. And it proves to be an absolute bargain at less than 10 euros per person, including drinks. I can tell Nigel was very impressed!

Spain Week six, day two

Sunday June 1st 2008

Hacienda, Villamartin, Spain

Fiona's departure this morning - back to Seville to drop in her car, then onward to Cordoba for a few more day's sight seeing. She has been a lot of fun to have here this week and seems to have had a really good time. We have had loads of chats about all sorts of stuff - mainly art, which Fiona is passionately interested in. She is planning to try and develop a business that will involve her interest in art and I can only wish her well with this.

A day in at the hacienda today. Some sun but the breeze makes the best sunbathing spot to be the inner courtyard. Nigel and Zoe arrived for a few day's visit this afternoon. They used to live near where Julia is based in Cheshire and it turns out that they have quite a few friends in common. So they were able to have a good chat about everyone they knew there.

Eve's last night with us as well today. Tomorrow we are all going to have a day out in Seville dropping Eve back at the airport on the way. Weather forecast is finally good as well for the next few days.

Spain week six, day one

Saturday May 31st 2008

Hacienda, Villamartin, Spain

Early away this morning down to Malaga airport to pick up a new guest, Julia. The drive down took me passed Ronda and down to the coast at San Pedro. This is a quite spectacular drive and one that I really enjoyed. Some of my favourite music on the ipod, amazing views, etc. I even stopped for 15 minutes on one viewpoint and called Linda to say how nice the drive was and how it would have been really nice if she had been with me to share it. Our current time apart is the longest we have ever had at 3 weeks and I am certainly starting to really miss her.

The pick-up goes fine, though I do feel a bit of a twit holding a sign up for Julia - I've never done that before and might, in future, work out how to do a nicer WBB sign. We have a good drive back the same way I came down and realised, much to my surprise, that one of the things we could see in the far distance was actually Gibralter. I had thought it would have been much further away.

It is sunny enought for Fiona to be sunbathing when we got back. Bit of a breeze though.

We have an extra yoga class tonight as Fiona had missed one or two on our travels and so a first class for Julia. She has a very tight left shoulder, probably from carrying a laptop around at work, but this should perk up over the week.

A call to Linda tonight and news that my mum isn't very well. She has been short of breath lately and had a really bad experience while out with one of her friends. So she is going for a heart test in a few days time and has to take it very easy for now.

Spain week five, day seven

Friday May 30th 2008

Hacienda, Villamartin, Spain

A thunder storm first thing this morning for several hours and the possibility that we wouldn't be able to go out anywhere today. But we decided to take a chance on going to Jerez - if nothing else we could visit our nearest hypermarket and re-stock with some of the things we can't buy locally.

But as we passed Arcos, the weather started to improve and was fine by the time we got to Jerez. So another decent sight seeing day was in order. Fiona had her trusty guidebook to hand and a good plan for the day.


Sherry barrels and blue-flowered Jacaranda trees

The facade of a building that featured Julius Caesar on the left and Hercules on the right - I forget what it was

The main entrance to the Cathedral

A statue of the founder of the Tio Pepe sherry bodegas in front of the cathedral

View of the Tio Pepe bodegas with the cathedral behind

The only disappointment on today's itinerary was that the Alcazar was closed for some work of some sort and doesn't re-open until next week. But we enjoyed the cathedral, had a delicious plate of seafood in one of the squares and another good day out.

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I did get a parking ticket though, and the instructions on how to pay were really complex even though they were translated into English. It would seem I could pay a charge at the ticket machine and enclose the ticket for this in a little envelope into a letter box below the machine. I have no idea if I did this correctly or not.

Spain week five, days five and six

Wednesday May 28th and Thursday May 29th 2008

Hacienda, Villamartin, Spain

Two more days sightseeing in the local villages. Our Wednesday trip is to Arcos, a medium sized town about 35km west of the hacienda and marking the boundary of the "white villages" area. I had passed by it last weekend on the way to Jerez and some of last week's group went there one afternoon. Like so many of these villages, it is perched on the apex of a hill, with a clearly defined centre arranged around the church. We parked at the bottom of the hill and made slow progress up through the streets till we came to the main square. This had a church that was being refurbished and a "mirador" or viewing point with some very dramatic views over the valley below.


The church in the main square that is currently being refurbished

We missed the Tourist Office being open by ten minutes but have discovered that The Rough Guide to Andalucia is actually very good, even including some maps of the white villages. So after a spot of lunch outside a bar, we are off down the south side of the town towards the bigger church.

More narrow streets through the town

Throughout all the white villages, you come across ceramic tiles painted with religious pictures, usually of the Virgin Mary. This was one of the most elaborate.

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There were several art gallaries in the town which we had a quick wander round - original oil paintings costing about Euros 40 but usually rather garish colours. But some were much better and I was definitely tempted by one or two.
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We eventually made our way round to the main church which was notable for containing a couple of the most unpleasant religious displays that I have ever seen. Under each of the small alters around the main alter was a glass case containing the dessicated remains of a saint who was said to have died in the third century. These had been recovered from a crypt somewhere many years ago and were dessicated rather than decomposed - a sign, apparently, of their purity. They were dress in some sort of outfit and their glass box was filled with all sorts of bits and bobs. Apparently, the display of corpses of saints is quite common in Spain (and indeed in other Catholic countries).

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The main entrance to the church - suitably ornate

The lower class case containing the desicated corpse of a Saint - the head is towards the left, garlanded in flowers!

Later on, back at the hacienda, the puppies were out again. Getting bigger by the day, though still rather wobbly!

My favourite puppy - one of the two white ones

Our Thursday trip is to Zahara, perhaps the most photogenic of the white villages, perched on a hill above a reservoir and with a ruined castle at the top of the town. As usual, we arrived in the early afternoon just as the siesta was starting and we had another walk up through the streets from the car park. We are certainly feeling that this is providing another decent work out to go with the yoga each day.

A street in Zahara on the way to the main square and cobbled centre street

Zahara's beautiful main church - close in to the rock face above on which the castle sits

Village rooftops on the way up towards the castle

Poppies on the side of the path up to the castle - the main church behind

As we came up to the top of the hill with the castle on, one of the local vultures was just make a turn over the castle and I was able to get the closest view I have had of one so far. Luckily the camera was at full zoom already. At its closest it was maybe 20 yards away. These birds are just an amazing size - maybe 8 foot wingspan. We saw another half dozen today in the far distance.

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Slighly enlarged picture of the vulture that flew past just as I reached the castle

Another staue of Mary, against a wall of ivy, close to the church

We spent about four hours in the town in the end and this is definitely one of the highlights of the local area.

Tonight we decided to watch a movie on Fiona's Apple - the first tv anyone has watched for some while. Our selected movie was "Juno" which I thought was really good. I think the screenplay may have won an Oscar - I wouldn't be surprised if it did. And a great soundtrack - Cat Power, Sonic Youth, Mo Tucker, etc. I loved the final scene when the two lovers were playing their guitars together. Very moving film I thought.

Spain week five, day four

Tuesday May 27th 2008

Hacienda, Villamartin, Spain

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For our last yoga classes before our rest day, we always try to make things a little harder, so people can feel the work they have done throughout the day and then really benefit from the rest day. So lots of strong standing poses, balancing poses, lots of down dogs, and so on.

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At lunchtime, far in the distance way beyond Villamartin, a thunder storm gradually rolled in. We estimated that it was perhaps 25 miles away, but it was enough to persuade us that this afternoon's trip out should be to Ronda rather than Arcos or Jerez. As we drove down, we spotted the turning for one of the prehistoric cave sites in the area. This is privately owned and getting the chance to go round it can be a bit hit and miss, but this is something we'd like to try to see.

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The rain has caught up with us by the time we reached Ronda, though no lightning and thunder. Walking down past the famous bull fighting ring (the first in Spain and the "spiritual home" of bullfighting), our first stop was the "new bridge" which connects the newer part of Ronda to the original white village. This is quite a short bridge but it is over 100m high and the sides of the cliffs are virtually vertical. With the bit of rain that had fallen, none of us were keen to go near the railings to get the most extreme pictures!

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We continued down towards the Mondragon Palace. This was the residential palace of the Moorish kings which, on the conquest of Ronda by the Christians, was given to a Captain Mondragon. It is now the Municipal Archaelogical museum and, given its relatively small size, it is actually a really good museum, mixing Arab and renaissance history with prehistoric and roman elements. And all housed in a typically beautiful Moorish palace. There was even a music trio (piano, violin and cello) who were really excellent. In all, we spent about two hours there, it was that good.

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The inner courtyard by the main entrance

Fiona in the stone-age exhibition

The second courtyard

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The gardens from the second courtyard

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The second courtyard

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Tiling on the courtyard floors

Detail from one of the courtyard doors

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From the museum we made our way around the edge of the town to the main square, dominated by the unusual Church of Santa Maria. This was originally the mosque of the town and the bell tower is a Mudejar tower built on the foundations of a minaret and then topped off with a renaissance belfry. The church itself is a mix of Moorish, renaissance, baroque and even gothic. One of our guidebooks described the inside as dull, but we were very impressed.

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The standard elaborate main alter, common to many Spanish churches

Some of the religious statues are stunningly beautiful

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Downstairs in the crypt was an exhibition of illuminated manuscripts. I am a huge fan of these and the examples were really impressive. One was the "book of hours" belonging to King Philip. They certainly knew how to make books in those days.

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Just one of about 30 illuminated manuscripts.

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A beautiful wooden statue included in the manuscript exhibition.

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Another stunning alter display

By now we had massively exceeded the time we had expected to spend in Ronda. The caves would have to wait for another trip. Instead we walked to the far end of the town to see the original town gates and then back around the top of town. We had hoped to find the ancient Arab baths but took a wrong turn somewhere and ended up back at the New Bridge. But by now it was mid evening and many places would be shutting. So we strolled back along the Carrera Espinel, one of the main shopping roads.

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Last picture I took from the New Bridge. 8:30 in the evening and just beginning to get dark. The last sun of the day is shining in exactly the right place for the picture. The drop behind the buildings is over 100m to the river below.

So we missed tonight's scheduled yoga / pilates. But we probably walked enough miles to make up for it. A great day out despite the bit of rain.