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| Arcos de la Frontera |
The last three days of our tour in southern Spain went by in a whirlwind. We drove from Ronda to Seville through Grazalema and Arcos de la Frontera, two of the white villages of this mountain region. Arcos is one of many villages with 'de la frontera' added to its name as one by one they were captured by the Christians kings and so became part of a new frontier between Christian and Moslem Spain. As in North Africa, the houses are still white washed annually to keep out the heat -- a lasting legacy of the Moors. They are really lovely to see, though not all that easy to reach, especially in a large motor coach.
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| Skyline of Seville |
After our arrival in Seville, we attended a concert of cinematic music at the Teatro de la Maestranza de Sevilla, starting with Ben-Hur and ending with Star Wars. Kynan Johns, an Australian, was the guest conductor and most of the musicians were very young. It was a diverse group as well. We all got a kick out of the woman playing the kettle drums and the lovely young woman who played first violin.
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| Plaza de Espagne |
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| Tile detail, Plaza de Espagne |
I was so happy to see Seville again. I love the skyline -- interesting domes and spires poking up here and there. It was wonderful to walk through the narrow streets of the old quarter and revisit the magnificent Plaza de Espagne, which was designed for a World's Fair in the late 1920s.
The tile work is particularly impressive, reflecting a long Moorish tradition.
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| Tony (right) and our Chef Making Paella |
In the evening, we took a cooking class at Padre Lazama's Cooking School, a sort of Fare Start on steroids started by a Catholic priest to help delinquent youth and now many, many others. Our main accomplishment was two enormous dishes of paella. I was quick to join Tony Geist's team as I'd watched him make paella before we left the States and it was absolutely delicious. We also tasted a flight of Andalusian wines with our meal: a decent white, a wonderful red, a sherry I'd never heard of called Olorrosso (utterly fabulous) and a lighter, sweeter sherry.
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| Wines of Andalusia |
On Saturday, the day of the Corpus Christi celebration in Spain, we took a river excursion all the way to Sanlúcar on the Atlantic coast where we enjoyed a fabulous seafood lunch/dinner at a restaurant called Bigote. I found a new Spanish wine there, Barbadillo -- utterly delicious and perfect with fish. I'm told it is occasionally available at Trader Joe's.
And all of a sudden, we were back in Seville, full of good food and wine, utterly exhausted and saying our goodbyes to each other and to Spain. It was a wonderful trip, full of truly unique experiences and I just loved it.
