Zafra

POSTCARD SCRIBBLES:

Hola from Zafra!

Well, we drove back into Seville on Monday night in high spirits, and made a short rest-stop at Casa De Us, to pick up forgotten essentials, have a cold shower and a siesta before setting off again, this time north along the ‘Ruta de la Plata’ (Silver route) towards Zafra. We’re trying to travel as much at night as possible, as Rita, stately and elegant as she is, is somewhat antiquated, and doesn’t have any form of air conditioning... an essential attribute for 40˚ day-time driving.

We drove for about 120 km until we came to a lake, half way up the map to Zafra, on the edge of a village called Calera de Leon. We parked in a dusty field, set up camp, and were rewarded for our efforts the following morning when we woke up and saw this:

The only souls in site were a couple of guys that had pulled up in a Land Rover to go fishing, a herd of ginger cows, and their friendly aged herdsman, who greeted the two tousled sleepy forms that stumbled out of the van with a cheery ‘Buenas dias!’.

We seriously need to learn to pack up camp more quickly in the mornings, as by the time we made it to Zafra, the sun was already high in the sky and we were very quickly sizzled to a crisp, as we explored the city’s compact walled-in centre.

Whitewashed houses, and columned squares, after Sevilla, Zafra was a little disappointing. Picturesque in its own right, and with narrow winding streets, it unfortunately lacks something. Perhaps it is the commercial street that runs through the centre of it, chock-a-block with the typical high street shops found in any town.

It was also unfortunately tinted somewhat by the disastrous attempted siesta, where M, Güini and I were literally boiled in the tin can that is Rita.

On a positive note, the solomillo iberico we tried in the bar ‘Comeero’ behind the bull ring, was absolutely mouth watering, and there was a very interesting plaque in one of the squares that talked about a tour of the local vineyards... enough to tempt me back for another (cooler) visit in the future, methinks!

N Xxx