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Conspicuous and harsh-looking

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The Roman City building game, Caesar 3, was old and simple and somewhat fun.  Building statues which slowed down Barbarian attacks as they stopped to vandalise them was always fun.  They didn’t do hills but they did so slabs of rocky looking unpassable terrain.  The result was you built your city in odd shapes around these. This is what today feels like. The Sierra de Callosa looms round the way we go. The Sierra de Callosa is important enough to get its own wiki page in 10 languages. Apparently it is 4.6km long and the highest point is Aguila - which is 572m above sea level.  Wiki gets a bit personal describing it in this way.  ‘ These conspicuous and harsh-looking massive limestone mountains rise abruptly from the low Segura River Valley floor and have some very steep cliffs. There is very little vegetation on the arid mountain slopes and both physically and geologically the Sierra de Callosa is similar to the Sierra de Orihuela range located only 2.6 km to th...
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Concrete castles and aged furniture

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  Happy New Year! Right, we’ve got that over and done with, let’s head to Cox. Cox has about 7600 people living in it and has lot of orchards around it. It has a hill with a castle and people have thought it was a jolly good place to hang out since the Copper Age.   Diverse Romans, Eastern Romans, Visigoths and Arabs turned up.  Eventually they were replaced by James I and his Argonese hordes.  It was doing alright till the 17th century, when the Moriscos were expelled in 1609 and the plague depleted the population.  Eventually Castilians arrived to fill the gaps.  We have entered a paradise of things to review as we head down the high street.    The Hotel Versalles gets 3.9 stars from people and three for facilities.  R Skelson liked the place.  ‘Please stay here it is without question the best hotel I’ve ever stayed in and I’ve stayed in 5 star all over the world, the owners are so friendly the service brilliant. Rooms clean bathrooms...
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There'll be a welcome in the islands

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  Welcome to March.  Also welcome to a day without a house, shack or wayside cafe.  We begin the day, alongside the main road.  Google will have us scrambling up the embankment, nipping over the barrier and so across the way and out among the olive trees. Today is the Dia de les Illes Balears.  This day was picked because on 1st March 1983 the Statue of Autonomy was published.  It became a non-working day in 1999.  I’m sure they are up to larks over the sea. It is Saint David’s day.  Last year the Welsh migrant community came together at the Plaza de la Mezquita in Benalmadena to, to quote Euroweekly, ‘ to eat and drink Welsh cuisine, sing, dance, and celebrate the ex-pat Welsh community’. This is what I have found out about St David in Spain.  The websearch answering to the call did offer me a fair bit of St David’s as a Pilgrim Route; the Camino de Santiago and ‘Napoleon Crossing the Alps’.  Hum Ho. Not much going on. Not a lot to look...
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The right red grapes of luck - with disappointing park gates

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  We are walking through one of those areas where we are between reviewable villages and similar factories.  We are going down backstreets with only olive trees in pots and palm trees to act as our muse.  A single thing is near us, an open air gym.  Luis was not happy.  Three months ago he wrote ‘It's fine, but it's a shame the back door doesn't leave open. It's a huge pain to always have to go through the entire park to get to the monkey bars.’ Towards the end of the day we will pass Escobas Artesanas SL.  They seem to make brushes of the put a witch on them and fly to a sabbat sort of thing.  Marcial gave five stars and no words. I m assuming you have been busy since last time we talked about New Years so let us do so again - in case you forgot. Firstly, have grapes at the ready.  You need 12 of them.  When the clock chimes midnight eat one grape per chime and then try to be the first to eat them.  This will bring luck - although I hav...
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Roads, bar and rails

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  We need to find a way across the AP-7 so we are heading north, under the railway, and towards a roundabout. The High Speed Rail Network is 3973km long, making it second, only to China.  The whole thing kicked off in the early 90s, linking the Expo at Seville, with Cordoba, Puertollano and Ciudad Real.  The connection with the Levante began in 2010, with the line from Madrid to Valencia.  In 2013 they went to Alicante, Elche in 2021 and so on to Murcia. On the roundabout is the Bar Rocio.  Two days ago Juan gave three stars and no words.  Two months ago Rudi gave four stars and said ‘Busy bar, but delicious tapas’  Two years ago Ana opined ‘A traditional bar with simple but delicious dishes. Everything we tried was delicious: gazpacho, beans, tuna, pork loin, and Calatrava bread. The only drawback is the noise, but that's not the restaurant's fault, but the customers'. We'll be back.’ Under the railway we go.    We will pass the BR Fresh Veg...
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