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A bad day for authors but better news for the lovers of cow milk

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  We are wandering along the road, between two railway lines, a bit distant from us, with rivers and drainage ditches.  There is not enough for a full day and too much for five things - so we will have three and some reviews. We are going to La Mancha and we will do Don Quixote in depth but let’s do Cervantes other book - Novelas ejemplares. Exemplary Novels was written between 1590 and 1612 and published in Madrid in 1613.  The author begins with a modest little foreword ‘ My genius and my inclination prompt me to this kind of writing; the more so as I consider (and with truth) that I am the first who has written novels in the Spanish language, though many have hitherto appeared among us, all of them translated from foreign authors. But these are my own, neither imitated nor stolen from anyone; my genius has engendered them, my pen has brought them forth, and they are growing up in the arms of the press ‘ I will quote wiki and move on ‘ The novellas are usually grouped ...
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Remember the Alamo and Kevin

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  And so we head towards civilisation and by that I mean somewhere Google reviews have reached - which is much the same thing if you squint. First to the Venta El Alamo.  Can we call this a roadhouse? It must be the Spanish equivalent. It is one of those places with a tiled floor, solid wooden furniture and big windows to show how sunny it is out of the shade.   The menu [from February] includes Bacalao frito con pisto comes in three sizes and ranges in price from 5 to 10 euros. Menu del dia will be included in the photo. The reviews [276] are moding to five and meaning to 3.7. Mostly fours and fives but the ones drag it down.  I think it is time to go for four and two among the recent reviews. The last two reviews, 2 weeks and 4 weeks ago are four stars. Jose said ‘Good Breakfast’ and Loli said ‘ Everything is great and the treatment is good. ’   Seven months ago Jose - a different one - gave a single star.  Judge for yourself. ‘ It's a disgrace. The ...
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Five things in the wide open spaces

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  It is another day of sweeping landscapes, much given to agriculture, a quick revisit to the canal and, well, five things about Spain. The Spanish built two dreadnought battleships of the Espana class - being the Alfonso XIII - later the Espana - and Jaime I. The ships were 16,500 tons loaded, had 8 inch and 20 4 inch guns and a crew of 854.  The Espana was in commission from 1913 to 1937 - when it was sunk by a Fascist mine off Santander.  The Jaime I  was launched in 1914.  In June 1937 she was sunk by an accidental internal explosion, was refloated and then, on mature consideration, broken up for scrap. Real Club Recreativo de Huelva are accounted the oldest football team in Spain. British employees of the Rio Tinto Company begun to have kick abouts and things developed into the formation of the club in December 1889.  The club have not, it is fair to say, a shooting star of the Spanish permanent. They made the Primera in 1978-9 and 2002-3. They had the...
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Noble Pineapples and the chemical art

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  It is a bit of a day of sweeping vastness. We will pass some electricity works, look at them, and then do five things. PFV Envatios is a solar power plant.  It has nine reviews. It gets 4.3 stars and few words.  Rafael gave it one star.   A different Rafael gave it four and the only two words ‘Great, good.’ Down the road is Acceso PFV Envatios Enel Green Power. Google says it is a warehouse. It has 2 reviews and 2 stars. Victor gave 3. Jose gave 1. Neither say why. The Medieval Pandemic of the Black Death killed 60-65% of the population. Alfonso XI of Castile died in the middle of his war against Andalusia. Navarre was badly hit, especially as it was recovering a severe famine.  Princess Joan of England was en route to marry Prince Peter of Castile when she caught the pestilence and died. Pineapple-gate.  In 2024 a craze hit Spain after the supermarket chain, Mercadona, claimed that people could find romance in their stores between 7pm and 8pm.  To q...
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My Carmona

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  We are off to Carmona and why not. It has History, rather a lot of it and is just another of those Spanish towns with a past that you have never heard of but rather feel you should have. History wise Carmona has the usual Paleolithics, Neolithics and all that crowd/  The Phoenicians arrived and replaced the circular huts with rectangular ones.  The name Carmona comes from the Semitic root words Kar [city] and Hammon [a sun-god].  So, welcome to the city of Hammon. The Romans came, hung around and from the end of the 3rd century started to go away - well, the urban centre went into decline.   Very briefly it was part of the Byzantine Empire and then became one of the first capitals of Muslim Spain.   Castilian expansion came to Carmona in 1247, when Rodrigo Gonzalez Giron, Steward to Ferdinand III, accepted the surrender of the town.  We are going to head into town. The Teatro Cerezo is just a step or two of our path so let us sidle up and look a...
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