The Road from Santiago

  It is a bit of a five things sort of a day.  We will do a lot of rising and falling and will go from 257m above sea level to 799m. The countryside is beautiful and we are going off piste so strap in and prepare for knowledge that, in some odd moments, you may find useful. |Spain has won 55 gold, 77 silver and 63 bronze medals at the Olympics. They first appeared in 1900. They next appeared in 1920 and took part in all games except the 1936 ones, when they held their own, untainted by the Nazis. Spain’s most successful sport is Sailing in terms of gold [14]. In terms of total medals is canoeing [23]. The Anjanas is a mythological creature akin to the nymphs of Ancient Greece. They are described as extremely beautiful beings with long flowing hair that they comb daily for long hours. Anjanas clothe themselves with dresses made up of stars or stardust and wear fabulous pearls. They are known to wear floral crowns and walk with floral staffs. Depending on which region of Spain t...

  This was one of those days when I was wondering if I should brush down the Boys’ Book of Interesting Facts and look at the national consumption of cabbage or how it was possible for Rayo Vallecano to win any match of Association Football with that ownership model.   Then the town of Adamuz appeared from out of nowhere, so we will go there instead. Adamuz apparently comes from the Arabic word, Damus, meaning cave, corner or reservoir. A nearby cave contained stuff from the early Copper Age.  What the Corner contained History did not report. Roman era headstones have been found and in 1566 Philip II sold the place to the Marquis of El Carpio. While forgotten in much of the English Speaking World, Adamuz is known in Spain for the derailment of two high-speed passenger trains on 18th January 2026.  At 19.43 the Malaga-Madrid train was passing through when its rear three carriages derailed and fell onto the southbound track.  At which point a four-car Renfe Madrid ...

  Happy St James the Greater day.  St James led a reasonably quiet life as far as historical noise is concerned until he began to follow Jesus.  Sometime in the early Medieval sources decided that he had it that he actually came to Spain and was killed for his pains in 44CE.  Thus we have our patron saint’s day and next year is one of the special ones. Ahead of us is the municipality of Villafranca de Cordoba.  Almost 5000 people felt this was the place to live, Francisco Palomares Sanchez was just the right chap to have as mayor and Saint Isidore the Farmer would do as patron saint.   It has its usual prehistoric dwellers, Romans and the like. Pedro I of Castile moved new people in the 14th century.  From 1842 about 3-5,000 people made it home. It has been a PSOE stronghold since 1983 but between 1979 and 1983 the Communists held sway. Let us wander through the town and to the Bar Restaurante Parque de las Cespedillas. It gets 4.3 stars and will do yo...

  We are out and about and following the CO-3103 into hillsides which have photos from mostly cooler times of the year.  We aren’t near too many things today so we will deal with them and then move on to food. Castillo de Kant-Hisn is a little away from the Guadalquivir.   Acisclo does a neat job of summary and gives us our title today. ‘ The Muslim castle known as Los Torreones sits atop a rise overlooking a ford of the Guadalquivir River, between the municipality of Villafranca, to which it belongs, and the city of Córdoba, in the province of Córdoba.  This site is an archaeological complex that corresponds to a large settlement where some remains of protohistoric fortifications are preserved, and upon which an Arab fortress was built in the late 11th century. Remains dating back to the Bronze Age have been found at this site. Some walls and two towers are still standing, as well as a rectangular cistern. It was built with ashlar masonry and rammed earth. It is in ...