Adios Olvera

Our time in Olvera is coming to an end a week early. We were always going to finish up our month in Spain by visiting Granada a few days before flying out of Malaga, but because I now have to visit the Australian Embassy for some notary things, we're leaving 8 days early and will have a look around Madrid as well. Then back to Granada for a quick visit before saying "Adios, Spain".
It has been fun and at least we get to finish off 2012 in Olvera and take part in the grape swallowing tradition with each toll of the bell at midnight on NYE. You might be interested to know that we'll be eating our grapes from a can! Yep, who knew grapes came in lots of 12 in a can, they must be made especially for NYE? You can buy fresh grapes but they must be out of season because they look like crap. So tinned grapes it is for us tomorrow night.
At the moment, I'm typing this in Zahara de la Sierra, a small pueblo blanco near Olvera. We went for a drive on Sunday and loved the village so much that we decided to stay for the night and enjoy a bit more of the great atmosphere we found in the main town square and surrounding streets.  This place also has the added attraction of a massive lake which I'm sure would be well used in the summer, but for us now, makes a beautiful view out of our hotel window.
We'll be back in Olvera for a tidy up before NYE tomorrow, then we hit the road again on new years day. Apparently it's only a short drive to Granada so we'll probably make it by lunch. We have plans to visit the Alhambra Palace, etc the next day before catching the train to Madrid that night. It's only four and a half hours apparently, thanks to the new bullet trains.
Will post some new years eve pics soon, but in the meantime, here are some from Zahara de la Sierra.
Happy new year everyone.

I love Seville

Seville was calling us for a visit so just before xmas we headed west and made it there by simply following our noses. That, and the very few signs that the Spanish deem sufficient to find a new town or city.

Seville is really charming. The city centre is pedestrianised and apart from a slow moving tram and a few horses and carriages,  only people, music, food and entertainment fill the void - and fill it they do. With every turn there's something new (or old) to gaze upon.

Just as in Malaga, Georgie and I toured the city in one of the open top double decker buses to get a feel for the place and then hopped on and off at the places that interested us. Georgia spied a xmas fair in a park the first time around so we weren't allowed to get off the bus until that stop appeared again. Just like the ekka (but a quarter of the price) she relished playing the games, eating caravan food and riding the ferris wheel. Culture, hey? That's why we came to Europe! There's a pic below of her holding a prize; a 1000 piece jigsaw for picking the floating ducks - you know the sort. I think only 986 pieces made it out of the hotel when we left though, the other bits are probably in the hotel vacuum cleaner by now.

Our other modes of transport included a river cruise, horse and carrriage and the gold ol' shanks pony. We got our moneys worth, that's for sure.

Unlike Olvera, Seville doesn't stop for siesta between 2 and 5 pm so we were able to see and do quite a bit - and even managed to fit some xmas shopping in, even though I'd sworn we were going to give xmas a miss this year. The good thing about xmas in Spain is that there isn't a santa in sight, only festive lights lining the street and a happy, holiday atmosphere without the cries of "sale, sale sale - buy buy buy" from every street corner. My only complaint is the fairy floss carts on most street corners, they were really hard to avoid!

Walking with pockets full of olives.

One of the highlights of being in Olvera is being able to walk and ride on the Via Verde, a disused railway track that has been converted to allow people to walk, cycle or horse ride through the "green way". It travels from Olvera for 36 km through a series of tunnels and olive groves amidst rolling green hills and the occasional building ruin. All very picturesque, and on a sunny day, an extremely pleasant pass time judging by the number of people that get out there.

Georgie and I first went walking along it and were mesmerised by the olive trees dripping with plump, ripe olives yet to be harvested. She soon had pockets full of them and amused herself by seeing how far they'd fly through the air while a serious wish was made.  The second time we visited the via verde, either there had been a lot of children doing the same thing or the farmers had finally managed to harvest their olives and put them to a greater use than wishes.

The second time we went we decided to go bike riding but made the mistake of leaving to early in the day and despite it being warm and sunny while standing still, the wind chill factor was too much for Georgia. Whinge, whinge...you get the picture.  We eventually made it back to the beginning and ended up hiring a tandem bike, which was a lot of fun, but more so for the person on the back who got to sit and admire the view, even though they were meant to be pedalling. Nope, it wasn't me. Everything was going along smoothly until Georgie's shoelace got caught in the chain, causing us to tip 90 degrees left while in the middle of a pitch black tunnel. A few choice words later and we were back on the bike.  That was a about a week ago....and today when we were again at the via verde office buying a poster of one of the tunnels, we even managed to laugh about it. Just like childbirth, the memory fades.

Some pics from before...

Most of the pictures from the last post wouldn't publish, so here they are now.  Below are some of our home and street in Olvera, plus some pretty fantastic pastries from a pastry shop that is far too close to us! See the metal girders in our street? They're there to stop the wall of a house collapsing into the street. What can you expect when a 400 year old wall gets full of water. Our house is tall and narrow and is made of 3 levels, the first starts with a very steep staircase up to a small lounge then a hallway leads off to 2 bedrooms and a bathroom towards a small dining area and a tiny kitchen. One of the bedrooms has a door that leads up to a sunroom and patio from which there is a fabulous view of the church and castle directly above. Its a bit of a rabbit warren and quite dark on the lower level so we like to hang out up in the top room the most where the sun streams in. The upstairs also has a bathroom with washing machine, although no hot water seems to be plumbed to it. Unlike our houses at home, the rooms are tiny and doors need to be shut to keep the temperature the way you want it in whatever room you happen to be in. Apparently its a normal sized house for a village but It'd be pretty crowded with a large Spanish family living in it. Still, I guess its what they're used to, unlike Aussies that like wide, open spaces.