The Road from Santiago

  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...

  Restaurante Moral No Ni Na is our first port of call, mostly for the name, but 4.4 stars from 660 reviews helps.  https://noninarestaurante.es/   I am struggling to find prices on the website so maybe we better just look - albeit 80 people reported a 10-20 euro spend.  Let us go for the key review words. Russian Salad  Maria.  5 months ago. ‘The food was delicious. And excellent value for money. We ordered the potato salad, which was amazing! As was the presa (stuffed with peppers and served with Pedro Ximénez sauce). The crispy prawns and cuttlefish were also very good. Definitely worth repeating.’ Efficient Waiters.  Francisco 11 months ago. Great atmosphere, very efficient and friendly waiters. There were six of us eating at a busy time, but the quality of the food and the speed of service still impressed us. Excellent value for money. We had the set menu for €12. Highly recommended. Snails Rica A year ago.   ‘The snails are delicious, and so...

  We are heading towards Los Palacios y Villafranca. It has over 38,000 inhabitants, making it a reasonably sized town. The place had a small Arab Castle in it when Ferdinand III of Castile took the place in the 13th century. It became less militarised there after Pedro the Cruel ordered the building of a palace on the remains of the old castle in the 14th century and used the place as a hunting lodge. In the 15th century the Dukes of Arcos took the place over and developed the settlement. The town bumbled along at around 5000 people from 1860 to 1900, then doubled over the next forty years. It trebled from 11000 to 33000 by 2001 and continued up to the present level in the 2020s.  In 2007 it was a PSOE stronghold but the United Left took the greatest share of the vote in 2011 and have dominated since. In 2023 they got 49.23% of the vote., the PP 29.51% and the PSOE 14.54%. First thing we meet is a town swimming pool. This Piscina is a 12.30 - 7 sort of place, 12-8 at weekends...

  We are heading, mostly north west, but first we are going to the ghost village of El Torbiscal. In the 1940s it was decided to develop the area and in the next decade the architect Antonio Delgado Roig. Delgado Roig was born in  Seville in 1902. Apart from architecture he was a bit keen on Sevillian regionalism - although the Civil War put that to an end. El Torbiscal was a model community, designed at the heart of a thousand hectares of dryland and 1600 hectares of irrigated lands.  The village was designed for 200 permanent employees, with space for 200 more as needed. The village had a school, medical service, company store, swimming pool and centres of entertainment.   At its height wheat, barely, corn, sugar beets and cotton were grown, along with beef and dairy cattle. The rise of the village was matched with its dramatic fall. In 2000 120 people lived there. A year later forty had left.  In the next ten years a further 66 left, leaving only 14 in 2011....