Arcos

We again breakfasted in the hotel balcony, with the wonderful rural view. Later today than yesterday and with a lovely cool breeze.

Though we have been staying in Arcos de la Frontera we had not really had a good look around. Today is the day Arcos. Into aimless wandering mode we got!

The old Arabic Alcazaba is now a private home and we could not get in. Right at the top of town, it made me wonder what even villain has bought it.

The two biggish churches were quite extraordinary for the amazing altar pieces, many altar pieces each, with way over the top gilt and detail. Obviously the artists commissioned to do them were given the quite clear instructions to throw everything in... if it is in the bible, it should be in this altar piece. Marjan was quite taken with what appeared to be Virgin Mary in a sun-hat. Very topical and local.... might be worth a sun-safe ad?

Lots of amazingly narrow streets. Here are a couple of shots of the main thoroughfare through the old town.

We found this amazingly quirky, kitsch Belen. Belen is Bethlehem in Spanish and stands for a nativity scene. Well this one had been done up by a local religious club who had commissioned some real artists for the figurines. Every 6 minutes it cycled through as a night scene. It had several nativity scenes. The local bloke who was minding it was very proud of the work that had been done over 8 years to create it. We enjoyed it so much I left a couple of euros donation.

Went into one of the old palaces, that is now a 'local art' museum. It was a really pretty building, with a couple of glorious internal patios. Patios of course are the heart of Andaluz architecture. In the bottom section, which was once the Guardia Civil stables, we ran into Curro. Curro works here a bit. He has to so that he can get his unemployment benefits ….. a sort of work for the dole. If he had asked I would have paid Curro to leave us alone. He insisted on 'interpreting' the paintings for us, pointing out where they were set, where a new petrol station had been built, where he and his family had a dip in the river etc etc etc..... Eventually Marjan went to the toilet to escape, I let him latch on to a new couple wandering about. He was nice enough, but I did not really need someone to tell me that a painting was of Arcos on a stormy day..... my artistic sensibilities are not THAT atrophied.

More wandering, with views over the other side of the hill, and then back up the hill for some lunch........ we did the three course Menu Del Dia thing for 9.50 euros. It included a jug of sangria, so we were a little torpid by the end of lunch. …....

...and also after a nap.......

At least by the time for the picnic with a view, we were OK.