To Villanueva de Algaidas. 24 k

Antequera to Villanueva de Algaidas. 24 k. About 7 hours. Dang, I am slow! Wow!   

 

Waymark so we're obvious. 

 

 

 

 

Thistles were blooming and farmers were harvesting fava beans. 

 

 

Soon, I saw the sign to Cartaojal. 

 

 

  This 24 k stretch took me from 7:15 this morning until now, 2:45 pm. I took about 1/2 hour rest midway in Cartaojal, where there was both a lovely little plaza by the church as well as a bar.   

  The path today varied between paved road and dirt road and for me, it was really hard on my feet. The climbing wasn't bad,,but there was a very short steep descent toward the end that was pretty hard on my knees. The first half was through pretty farmland The second half through more olives than I knew existed.     

 

 

I loved this field of wild mustard. 

 

 

In Cartaujal, the lady at the bar filled my water bottle. I only saw one fountain in that village at the very end, but wasn't sure if the water was potable. This next photo is of the fountain you reach a few kilometers before Vilkanueva. The water here was good and cold. 

 

A pleasant walk.    A few notes. Coming down off the hill it's impossible to see Villanueva until you pass the cement plant or whatever the big plant is on the right. You are going to go all the way around to the right side of that hill, so don't panic. Also, as far as way taking it was pretty darned good. There were two questionable places. One was a stupid rock with a yellow arrow pointing to a stream or creek bed. After checking to see where it went, I ignored it and continued on the main track and soon saw a regular waymark. I did pass that stream bed again, so I suppose if a person wanted to they could follow it, but it wouldn't be much of a shortcut. 

Second. Toward the end of the second half you are walking on a regular track and suddenly there are tree trunks painted yellow like pillars off to the right.    Ooooooookay. Turn right. Soon, you see more way marking and soon are on a diet track following yellow gas line signs.    Then, out of the blue, off to the right, it looks like a bunch of drunks went nuts with a can of yellow paint. They seemed to be indicating a path to the right again. However, it just didn't feel right, because I had seen the village straight ahead and these yellow try keep trees were heading back toward the mountain side.    Luckily, there was a farmer in the field who told me to stay on the path straight ahead to Villanueva. So I did. I wish my Spanish was good enough to ask what in the heck those yellow trucked trees were about, but I was just happy to be headed to the village.    For me this was a difficult 24 k but I realize I am not in great shape. Tomorrow I think I will go as far as Cuevas only. Otherwise the next day will not be manageable for me. But. Need to sit down and study the notes.  

 

The Spirit of the Camino?

   

Well, I just had my second negative pilgrim experience in two days - are people just grouchy because of the rain?  Or is the Camino getting too crowded?   Yesterday it was the older gentleman pilgrim who hated all French pilgrims. We listened to his vitriolic mumbling until I finally escaped. Then the Albergue only had room for 4 pilgrims and there were 8 of us, so I got a hotel which unfortunately had highly perfumed sheets. My MCS kicked up some dust and I had to be inventive with covering the bed. Luckily there was a pile of older blankets I used to mask out the fragrance which was so strong my eyes and throat burned. Do people really sleep in this cloud of chemical?   Today, I was looking for the way out of the village for tomorrow's exit. I had dropped by the Albergue to see how many pilgrims were there and to ask the priest the way out, but he was not there. I asked a Dutch pilgrim and she indicated we must walk back the way we came.   That didn't seem right and so I checked at the T.I. where the nice lady drew me an excellent map. I followed the map and voila! There was the route. I took a photo of the waymark.   I went back to the Albergue to tell them I found the way and was met by a French man who informed me he had walked the Camino five times, that I was wrong, that Americans were ruining the Camino (even though he had walked five times), that there were more Americans than any other nationality on the Camino, and that we always thought we were right!   Well,shut my mouth!  :eek:   I showed him the photo of the waymark and tried to explain but he loudly talked over me and said we Americans were ruining the spirit of the Camino.   Yikes. This will be a person I share the next few nights with?   I think it may be time for me to retire. :(   Maybe I'm just old and tired but I find myself more and more just wanting to be alone.    It was otherwise a great day. Antequera is a beautiful town. :) I'll post more photos on my next blog post.   Hoping to make Villanueva Algoidas tomorrow. Annie        

Antequera - Lunch and Dolmens

Lunch was Menu del Dia at a busy little place called La Alcazaba.  Price was €8,50 for two courses, dessert, bread, and tea.  First I had 'porra,' a local specialty. It is served iced cold like gazpacho but is thick like a pudding. It was topped with tuna, boiled egg, tomato, and ham and it was delicious!  

 

Second course was lomo in wine with potatoes. 

Also quite tasty. 

One thing I notice in Spain is that I do not have to season or add salt to my food. 

The Spanish seem to live salt as much as I!

 

 

Getting to the dolmens, for which this village is known, was simple. 

I walked straight down Calle Belen which was a also known as Carerra de Madre Carmen. 

It curved around to the right at the bottom of the hill and there were the dolmens on the left,

In a filed surrounded by an iron gate. 

 

 

They really were quite impressive and I believe they are the largest in Europe. 

 

 

The mounds are covered with flowers. 

 

 

The stones are just massive. 

 

The Menga Dolmen is famous for its significant geographical location - on the summer solstice, 21 June, the morning sun shines over the peak of the Peña de los Enamorados and straight along the dolmen's entrance corridor. This very exact positioning would have had mystical importance for the prehistoric tribes who built the dolmen thousands of years ago.

 

 

Inside you can see the black ceiling. 

Though these were supposedly originally burial mounds, 

I bet they made a fine shelter for some people in years past. 

The small dolmen

 Inside this one is a functioning well. 

 

 

 

 

On my way back I saw again the waymark for the Camino Mozarabe. 

 

More tomorrow

 

Annie

 

 

 

 

 

Antequera - a White on Blue Village

View from museum door

 

 

City view

 

 

Terrace

 

Street view

 

         

Castle wall

 

Arch of the Giants

 

 

Santa Maria la Mayor Royal Collegiate Church

 

I spent €1,50 to see the inside of the pretty much empty church. I also heard the castle was empty so I did not pay to go inside. Unless you are fascinated with the architecture, it's probably not going to be too interesting inside. 

The outside, however, was beautiful and impressive. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This Tarascan, or Serpent Lady, was worth the €1,50 to see

 

 

 

 

 

Antequera

San Sebastián Church had a beautiful altar    

 

 

The statues in Spanish churches are often life sized and are made to evoke emotion in a population, many of whom could not read. 

 

 

 

 

Next, I made a stop at the museum. 

Price was €3 and after a comical interaction with the receptionist

who insisted the ASEOS were only for customers,

(I had asked for una SELLO)

I finally made my way in. 

I was the only patron that morning. 

 

 

Some of my favorite pieces :

 

 

 

The Young Man Who Illuminates Us is a bronze statue, life sized, found in 1952 in Antequera. 

It is from the 1st Century. 

 

 

Jose Maria Fernandez painted this picture of his daughter, Dolores, with a china doll. 

The doll was on display. 

 

 I liked his drawings of a satyr and of a priest the moment he was touched by death. 

 

 

This statue of the sleeping child Jesus by Diega Marquez y Viega made me chuckle. 

 

 

 

Next blog post will be a few photos of the white city.