Pics: Villa Buenvino with Bucky, a wonderful blue bee!, bell tower of Aracena
Slept in until 9:30! Down for breakfast. Delicious homemade yogurt, dark-yolked eggs, bacon and several jams - great! Open and shut rain. We set off to explore the town of Aracena.
The streets are fairly wide, by Spanish standards, and we found parking without any problem. We hiked up the hill in the center of town to see the castle ruins and cathedral, dating from the 13th century: originally a mosque, overlaid with Catholicism. It started to pour and we huddled under an archway for a while before starting down the now slippery marble cobblestones of the streets.
Aracena is a very pretty white-washed town with flower-filled window boxes. We wondered through town, found an ATM and got a beer and sandwich at a little café. Looked at a mushroom exhibit in the Museo del Jamón (ham museum) and then drove out of town as it started to rain again. We drove a back road to the town of Alájar which we attempted to explore but found ourselves in a maze of tiny streets that ended in a pile of bricks. Fortunately the traffic was nonexistent on a Sunday, so with the help of the GPS we backtracked and got out of town!
We drove back to Buenvino and were greeted by the dogs.
Bob birded from our third story window getting, among others, The Nuthatch, a life bird. I tried our exotic shower again, using what I call, the Rain Forest mode: torrential vertical warm water, great for washing ones hair! At eight we went downstairs for tapas by the fireplace: ham, olives, mini bread sticks. I made us drinks, and Bucky flung her pebble at us demanding that we throw it for her, which, of course, we did!
At nine we were called into dinner. The room was completely dark except for six candles. We were served a wonderful potato/egg/onion/ham Portuguese dish for a first course. Then Sam brought in quail stuffed with foie gras, potatoes with mint and broccoli. Just amazing! And then Jeanne served chocolate soufflés! Too much. She teaches a cooking class- what fun it would btrails around here.e to stay here eating and cooking!! To bed to try and sleep off all this food. If it’s sunny tomorrow we will try one of the many hiking trails around here.
The streets are fairly wide, by Spanish standards, and we found parking without any problem. We hiked up the hill in the center of town to see the castle ruins and cathedral, dating from the 13th century: originally a mosque, overlaid with Catholicism. It started to pour and we huddled under an archway for a while before starting down the now slippery marble cobblestones of the streets.
Aracena is a very pretty white-washed town with flower-filled window boxes. We wondered through town, found an ATM and got a beer and sandwich at a little café. Looked at a mushroom exhibit in the Museo del Jamón (ham museum) and then drove out of town as it started to rain again. We drove a back road to the town of Alájar which we attempted to explore but found ourselves in a maze of tiny streets that ended in a pile of bricks. Fortunately the traffic was nonexistent on a Sunday, so with the help of the GPS we backtracked and got out of town!
We drove back to Buenvino and were greeted by the dogs.
Bob birded from our third story window getting, among others, The Nuthatch, a life bird. I tried our exotic shower again, using what I call, the Rain Forest mode: torrential vertical warm water, great for washing ones hair! At eight we went downstairs for tapas by the fireplace: ham, olives, mini bread sticks. I made us drinks, and Bucky flung her pebble at us demanding that we throw it for her, which, of course, we did!
At nine we were called into dinner. The room was completely dark except for six candles. We were served a wonderful potato/egg/onion/ham Portuguese dish for a first course. Then Sam brought in quail stuffed with foie gras, potatoes with mint and broccoli. Just amazing! And then Jeanne served chocolate soufflés! Too much. She teaches a cooking class- what fun it would btrails around here.e to stay here eating and cooking!! To bed to try and sleep off all this food. If it’s sunny tomorrow we will try one of the many hiking trails around here.
KATY ZAPPALA -
ReplyDeleteYou ate a QUAIL? My FAVORITE bird? What we feed by the dozen in our back yard? HOW COULD YOU?
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Sounds like an amazing meal that they prepared for you. And, another life bird - excellent. How many is RRZ up to?
ReplyDeletexoxo
HH