Wednesday 11 March 2015

Yesterday was a scorcher – so hot that even sitting out in the sun had to be limited! Our activity was limited to refilling the spare water bottles, just in case we lost access to the tap after they cordoned off part of the parking area, we’re told, for two festivals. As it turned out nobody actually used the area all the time we were there.

Today, although it promised to be as warm as yesterday, we had arranged to go for a walk into town with Barry, a guy we’d run into previously, to see if we could find the market or other places of interest. First off was to get a new data sim card, because the UK one we were using was turning out to be VERY expensive. After a couple of attempts we got a reasonably priced Orange card, which we can recharge if necessary.

Then head up the hill. No sign of the market but we did find the castle and as it was offering special rates for pensioners…….! Unlike National Trust in the UK, old buildings here tend to be either left as they are or repaired to be as close as possible to the original as had happened here. Although they’d done a very good job, really it detracted from the character and despite plenty of information, it was just “interesting”. There were some good views from the top of the tower though.

Castle at Sanlucar de Barrameda

Overlooking the town

Palace - we couldn't get access for some reason

A quiet square

From there, lunch was calling so we descended back into the town and chose a restaurant in one of the small squares to refresh ourselves. Don’t know if something got lost in translation but Bren got her chicken and chips, Terry got a beautiful pork kebab while Barry ended up with cod tapas – it was actually quite nice – whilst being "entertained" by several street artistes who thought they could play/sing and the odd street trader. It’s sad to say that there were street beggars almost everywhere as well.

After killing an hour or so there we returned to the van for a bit more sun and then a bit of planning as we intend to move on tomorrow. We found Sanlucar de Barrameda a lovely little spot, not the least bit touristy. We’ll be back and will also recommend it.