The wrongness of tomatoes

 We are going to have a day in Antequera.  We had one. We turned up with no expectations and left in the Neolithic.  Actually, we seemed to have missed most of the shopping area as I remember not many shops.  We went to the market, which was fairly standard, the museum, where Martin did some drawing, a small restaurant for Menu del dia and then discovered the tombs.





Well, the municipality has almost 42,000 people living in it.    I’m going to quote wiki here ‘The nearby natural reserve of El Torcal, famous for its unstable limestone rocks, forms one of the most important karst landscapes in Europe.’  I have visions of limestone that is easily depressed by events. Anyway, apart from chaps with stone and bronze, various Iberians, Phoenicians and Greeks turned up abd the Carthaginians, Romans and Visigoths followed.  The Castillians besieged the place in 1410 and when they took it 2500 locals left and northerners were brought in to replace them.




The economy of Antequera was historically olives, grain and wood, with a bit of furniture on the side. In the nineteenth century it became a centre for the manufacture of flannels, paper, leather, silk and soap and was shipping marble out.  Sugar came here in 1890. 




We’ll skirt round the edge of the town and go past the car park where the market was and into the Jardines de El Mapa. Angeles sums it up with ‘Beautifully maintained gardens. Ancient trees. A green oasis in the heart of Antequera.’ 



Back into town, past the highly thought of Puerta de Estepa.  I feel Jennifer was four starry nine years ago and I feel not ultimately in the vibe. ‘Only a reconstruction, but very attractive.’  Next to it is the Plaza de Toros de Toros.  It gets 4.3 stars so let’s go top to bottom.   Gordon said ‘Fantastic historic building in the centre of Antequera. The acoustics are amazing. If you go to the centre of the bull ring and clap 👏 your hands the sound reverberates around the venue. I thought they still do bull fights here but not sure. Worth visiting for the history.’    Zoe reckoned ‘Lovely pretty area until we came across this bullfighting ring that is still active certain times of the year.This has put me off ever coming here again.A blood sport that should be outdated and banned 👎😡 …’




 We will wander past the Museo de la Ciudad de Antequera.  A rather neat little museum with some nice pictures.   https://museoantequera.es/  Two months a go Marouscka said ‘A fantastic and surprising museum. A very interesting and extensive collection. Beautifully displayed, with English explanations.’   Jose added ‘The Antequera City Museum is housed in the former 18th-century Najera Palace, located in the heart of Antequera. The museum is quite comprehensive, with three floors showcasing Roman archaeological artifacts, a collection of classical and modernist paintings by local Antequera artists, and a highlight: a well-preserved Roman bronze ephebe discovered in a farmhouse in the Antequera plain. A must-see if you're visiting Antequera, it's free and lasts approximately one hour.’






We are going to end at the Alcazaba.  As always a slightly windy road.  This fort was erected on Roman ruins in the 11th century.  Giulia wrote ‘What a wonderful discovery! We stopped here by chance, but this Alcazaba is definitely worth a visit! It's not very touristy, and the ticket price for the cathedral and entrance fee is 8 euros. There was an Indiana Jones exhibition in the cathedral.’    Rogier, at roughly the same time was clearly moved, but not in a good way, of not having a bleaker guide. ‘Left with mixed feelings. On the one hand, the fort is authentic and not overrun by tourists. But the audio tour gave such a blatantly one-sided version of its history that it made me nauseous. It invoked me to read "Shadows of the pomegranate tree" which tells a much richer (if darker) version of the history of this region.’   Anyway, I looked up the book https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shadows_of_the_Pomegranate_Tree   I am particularly taken by the wiki author’s most nerdy point.   ‘Towards the end of Chapter 12, Yazid ate a salad of "radishes, onions, and tomatoes". However, the tomato originated in western South America and Central America It would not have been available in the Granada area at the time of the story.’



So, we end the day.  Tomorrow we head for Malaga.
















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