St John's Eve and the Sisters of.... Gonzalo.
As I stare at the road ahead I wonder if what we have here is the old road, next to the old N-4, what we are on, next to the new N-4. Whatever it may be we will head north for a date with two sisters. Dos Hermanas was founded in 1248 by Ferdinand III of Castile in honour of the two sisters of his commander, Gonzalo Nazareno - Elvira and Estefania. Today it has 142,000 people living it, making it the 48th most populated city in Spain - and all that while being jolly close to Seville. Most of this growth his occurred in the last 80 years. It - or should itbe they - bumbled along around 5000 in the mid nineteenth century, got to 11000 in the 1920s, managed 21,000 by 1950 and then continued to zoom up to 128,000 by 2011. Peak growth was in the 1970s and 80s where -in each decade - the place increased by about 45%. Temperature wise we are heading towards peak hot - next month to be exact. Currently the average is 24oC, with average maximums being 31oC and a mer...