Tuesday
The rain
has cleared overnight and the temperature has dropped. We pack up and leave
Castro suites in Osuna where we were really most comfortable. Our first stop
today is after just 20 minutes by car, in Estepa. It’s easy to find parking in a
side street and we walk up the hill towards the Conjunto Monumental. Once
again, it’s all closed, because it’s not the weekend, because it’s low season.
The area is till nice from the outside, the Alcazaba, the churches, the
mirador, a friendly lady in the tourist office who puts up with my halting
attempts at Spanish. The air is sparkling fresh and cold but the sun on the
southeast side is already soothing.
We head down to the centre of the town,
looking in at another Casino, modern this time, and then wander into the church
of the Assuncion. Estepa has 9 churches and with a Bono costing 3 euros you can
visit all of them, as a matter of fact some are closed, some are free anyway
and the main two interesting ones are the churches of the Carmen and the
Assuncion. We don’t mind paying 3 euros, the money is for the local Caritas
anyway. The Assuncion church has a stunning painted vault over the altar as
well as a beautiful camarin which has been lovingly restored.
We are
lucky in the church of Carmen because the custodian is a very knowledgeable and
friendly lady called Carmen who tells us something of the history and main
points of interest of the church, bringing it to life: the Carmen shown
without the child and dressed in brown, the elaborate wrought iron pulpit, the
statue of the ‘good’ Judas, patron saint of lost Causes. She is very kind and
helpful and I’m sure we will remember this church more than many others because of meeting her.
It's
getting on for twelve when we head back to the car. Our next stop is Antequera,
where Casa Meson Diego conveniently now has a Cerveceria on the outskirts. It
opens at 12.30 but even at 12.45 we are a little too early for tapas but we make
good use of the time with canas and olives. Then it’s time for tapas. In the
end we pay just 9,20 euros for 3 canas, 4 tapas of Boqueron in vinaigre, adobo,
merluza al limon and crocchetta di marisco, one black coffee and one caffè con
leche. Wow!
We are now
ready to face el Torcal, another of the places we dreamed of during the Covid
years and when for other reasons, we couldn’t make it back to Andalucia. The
weather is splendid, absolutely clear blue sky, sun, wind which ripples the
fields of still green wheat as we drive up through Boca la asno.
We are
surprised to see a lot of cars parked up at the Visitor’s centres. We remember
our cold excursions to el Torcal before and this time we are well wrapped up to
face a wind chill factor of well below zero. Well, on paper, because actually
except for one point it’s not too bad at all. Not even the wind can blow in
all directions and in a few places where it’s sheltered, it is very
pleasant.
After a
false turn after the first few hundred meters we get back on track on what
used to be the red trail and head towards the sombrero. This is the path we took on our second visit to Torcal in 2018. We only meet another
couple and this time manage to spot four ammonites. It’s a real success to
reach the sombrero considering all that has happened in the intervening almost
6 years. It means something more than just taking a photo of the sombrero. We walk slowly, the environment is just so
spectacular and it’s the first time we’ve seen it on such a beautiful day and
it’s about 5 o’clock by the time we get back to the car.
Nevertheless,
a fantastic day.
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