The Road from Santiago

  We are heading for Estepona - another of those names which you recognise in the common place of ‘places in Spain’ but one I, and I expect I am not alone, would not be able to say exactly where it is. Estepona proudly claims over 325 days of sunshine a year - and as I am writing this on a foggy day - that sounds rather attractive.  Apparently someone in Disney thought this might be a good place for Eurodisney - until someone pointed out Paris was a bit more easy to get to for the wider European market. Fast forward back in time, apparently micro- and mega- liths have been found in the area; the Romans had a town which was done for by a 4th century seaquake. It has a battle, in 1342. The Fleet of Aragon, commanded by Pere de Montcada, took on the Moroccan navy commanded by someone whose name I know not. It appears the Aragonese came out and won the day, sinking 4 galleys and driving two ashore. In 1457 the Castilians, led by Henry IV, took the place. A church was built over th...

We are heading towards Gibraltar - we’ll arrive in nine days.  Gib is famous for many things, and in recent times, the Neanderthal presence. Our kissing cousins, and not just kissing, seem to have evolved about 400,000 years ago and died out about 40,000 BC.  The thing is, with these chaps is that new stuff is coming up about them all the time. There are about 15 Neanderthal sites in Spain, probably more by the time you read this. The main three areas are the Cantabrian mountains, eastern Mediterranean coast and Andalusia. All sorts of evidence remains, including footprints - which may be from 275,000 years old - which were found near Huelva. Recently a report has come out about the Des-Cubierta Cave. Neanderthals placed the top part of 35 animals including 28 bovines, 5 deer and two rhinos.  Why only the top of crania was placed is not yet known. We are off to the beach.  Playa de Guadalmina.  It has a 3rd century Roman ruin and a 16th century tower and 3.9 sta...

We are in the golf, in not the gulf, today - in fact we are in the Urbanizacion Alhambra del Golf, which is near the Urbanizacion Biarritz Golf and the Urbanizacion Atalaya del Golf.  You may detect a theme. Let us run with it, or at least amble. Golf seems to arrived in Spain in the late nineteenth century, probably, like football brought by British workers and visitors. The Real Club de Golf de Las Palmas, founded in 1891,is reckoned to be the oldest club in the country. From that point on courses appeared in Cantabria, Madrid and the Costa del Sol. In 1921 the Open de Espana was held for the first time in Las Palmas. In 19054 a second club, in Madrid, was opened. By that time five other clubs had been developed in the Canary Islands, Huelva, La Puerta de Hierro, San Sebastian and Neguri. The winner of the tournament was Frenchman Arnaud Massy.  M. Massy is the only Frenchmen only to have won any four of the men’s major championships. He married Janet Henderson [of North Ber...