Rio Tinto the real McCoy

The Rio Tinto Landscape.

It was intriguing to learn that Rio Tinto is a river about 60kms from where we have been domiciled for the last fortnight here in Spain. I did know RT was a world wide

A Wasteland.

mining company of  significant size and also had a not so shiny reputation, as many other mining operations, mining in general being a dirty industry best carried out in some one else's backyard, if possible or at best in less populated areas of 3rd world countries.
So with a little more research we discovered this company was formed by a British partnership, later with the Rothschilds taking full control in the late 1800s. Spain was mining for copper from this area, as had all comers over the last 5000 years (a section in the museum on

No Paddling Please.

the Romans & mining). It is hugely rich in minerals, to the extent that the RT river has always run orange, is highly toxic and populated only with "extremophile anaerobic bacteria". The subsurface rocks on the river bed contain iron and sulfide minerals on which the bacteria feed.

Still Beautiful.

Interestingly NASA run a lab in the area trying to determine what similar lifeforms may have existed on Mars, similar in geology to this area
Only a mining Company that had poisoned thousands of people, made villages uninhabitable, left mountains of toxic waste through out many countries, etc. would have the gall to then turn around and make a tourist attraction of said poisoned land.
And indeed they haven't, but a local trust has, as a monument to what I don't know, but it is a testimony to how to get things wrong, albeit dating back to a time when it

Rusting Hulks.A train enthusiasts dream.

didn't matter so much. As pointed out in the English blurb to accompany the train ride through the old tailing's, is the quote " from an ecological point of view this area is totally unrecoverable" and its no surprise as you travel on the train..... this is the most poisonous environment we've seen, like the worst areas of Rotorua's Hells Gate, kms of sulphurous stinking coloured wasteland, a salutary lesson on mans ability to shite in his own nest, still though a sight to behold, for whatever reason. The train trip on the restored  tracks was accompanied  by the  loudest sound  system imaginable and even with tissues

Notice the Haze!

wedged into my ears was  soooooo loud. In Spanish of course but an informative English translation was given to read.  The museum was really well set out but was a huge disappointment as there was virtually no English, just lots of great exhibits, photos and models but hardly a skerrick of English, some have said a way of getting back at the English for munting the country, or perhaps it may be too scathing of the English owners practises, point taken perhaps....!!!!Watch for my review on "Trip Advisor" which incidentally is a helpful resource..

NASA think this may be like Mars was.

We came away from there both suffering dull headaches possibly from the sulphurous heaps of ore, or more likely dehydration, in a confused frame of mind re

Giant Collapsing Slag Mountains.

whether this quest for minerals was worth the pillage of our earth, but also cognisant of the fact that this dirty industry supports the world in its present guise!!!!
Another strange phenomena we witnessed over that day and to a lesser extent the previous day was a light brown haze at times limiting vision to little over a km and at best 5kms, largely ignored, the people we asked simply referred to it as clouds!!  It turned to be dust haze out of north Africa, the Saharan Desert. It cleared by day 3 leaving a very fine dust on everything ,not gritty, and not causing any particular difficulties for the population that we could determine. We were the only ones that seemed to notice it.

Isla Chrisina. Delightful.

We trundled on to Portugal via a beach resort called Isla Christina, a new town with little history but lovely beaches and only a few tourists wintering over from Northern Europe and UK. Lots of Germans & Dutch. As our Swedish neighbour pointed out if there are Dutch staying, it must be a good deal!

San Luca, Seville and around (7th to 21st February)

Plaza de Espana - built for the 1929 Expo 

We have just completed another happy experience through HelpX with our wonderful host Sandie, able to check out the local town of San Luca an unremarkable town of a few thousand people which services a rural community, within

Our home at San Luca

commuting distance to Seville a 40 min train ride away.
Sandie has an acre of rural living with a finca that has had some reno work done and a stand alone cottage, built  when they first came  here several years ago, which is where we stay. Sandie is a English tutor at an academy and is also studying a business degree so has limited time to do the section tidying required. She recently had trees dropped then roots pulled and we have spent our fortnight here burning roots, strimming long grass, tidying, in short odd jobbing and believe we have made a difference for Sandy. We also took Luna,

Bill's first job -
get the hot water working

the very placid golden lab, for walks around the local park (Verde Corridor) and neighbourhood.
We ventured into Seville via train twice, again trains cheap and regular. Seville is historic for many reasons and we were able to sample a small part of whats on offer here.
Cristóbal Colón (Christopher Columbus) is one of the characters that gets a lot of exposure here in Sevilla, though having just trawled through his life and times

CC's mortal remains (well some of them)

he probably gets exposure in many cities. However his remains are buried here, well , there are some bones here, as elsewhere. One thing for sure was CC was responsible for instigating trade with the Americas, and here in Sevilla there is the Kings tobacco factory, for the King had sole rights to market tobacco throughout Europe for some time. Actually Spain in many ways was the Great Super Power of its time, a time when the UK was still very much in the dark ages.

Out the front of Plaza de Espana

We walked around the city to get an idea of what we wanted to do next week when we would return. A cloudy overcast day, but able to wander in awe,  visiting a few monuments including the Cathedral where said CC is said to have his remains, certainly some bits of him anyway.
We returned the following week, after waking to a real frost, the first we've experienced down here, followed by beautiful blue skies but a bitter wind.
We did a walking tour of many of the City's monuments with our guide Rafael, who spoke good English with humour, making the 3 hours of history very interesting and

Inside the Gothic Cathedral

informative. This method of touching a cities history is great as have now done several walking tours of the cities we have visited. They are "Free" but are encouraged to make a donation commiserate with what you think is the value.
We liked Sevilla and believe it would be a truly memorable visit in summer, with its lovely parks  and  gardens, at this time of year looking a little tired awaiting some spring flush to leaf the place up. However we did enjoy, and though not likely to be back we can safely recommend it to any traveller who wants a place

Metropol Parasol
Great views of Seville from the top

that ticks most of the boxes.
Next day as the beautiful weather continued (no wind thankfully) we drove 40 mins further inland to the historic Roman city of Italica, founded in 206 BC as an important cultural place for the Romans along side the always bigger Sevilla. Two  Roman Emperors Trajan & Hadrian were born at Italica and as a result when they duly became Emperors the city was much gifted from distant Rome. It boasted the 3rd biggest amphitheatre in the empire seating 25000 people, with a town of only 8000!! But as all things are inevitable, the shifting river, & siltation from deforestation,(yes even way back then) the nearby city

Italica's Amphitheatre

of Sevilla rose in prominence with the need for commerce to stay in touch with said river, Italica slowly  fell into disuse by about 200 AD, and by 400 AD largely forgotten except as a rich resource of stone and marble. The ignominy of it being the marble imported from Greece often being ground into limestone to be burned for cement.
Ironically one of the great saviours of what is now left, a Cisterian monk from the nearby  Monastery in much later times, who did valuable work in recording historic locations etc. as  we now have, but not before the monastery itself purloined some lovely marble columns and capitals to mount crucifix's on in the church

Mosaic Flooring
Amazingly intricate

grounds.
 Also made clear was the attempts through recent times the (1800's) by well known archaeologists who came and organised big private digs and cataloguing of valuable information but often purloining the most valuable sculptures and monuments gifting them to their own countries and into private collections. These days there is little digging going on as there is enough of  the town dug up to keep all parties happy and huge areas mapped for future digs as expertise, funds, and interest dictate.

Existing and unrevealed
ruins of Italica

Italica's amphi theatre  and mosaics in situ are amazing as is the theatre, sadly though this last sight is the other end of the now occupying village and its opening hours very  curtailed, we were unable to visit that apart from looking through the security mesh.
We have been intrigued by the orange trees lining streets in many many areas, through out Spain and wondered why they weren't eaten as the streets are littered with the ripe fruit. Sandie exclaimed that they were Sevilla Oranges as if that explained all. So we picked a couple and they looked lovely,juicy, ripe but tasted like the sourest grapefruit you have ever tried. Suitable

Seville Orange Trees

only for marmalade and with a real health warning if you're on any meds, beware. Sandie gave us some homemade marmalade and it was very nice, thank goodness for sugar.

An interesting Solar Installation was about a Km up the road from us which was the first thing we saw as we arrived here. It is a parabolic reflector array and sunlight is focused from over a thousand of mirrors tracking the sun , focusing the light into towers that have a liquid that is super heated, driving turbines to generate

The solar installation up the road

substantial amounts of power. The company Abengoa has two of these and photovoltaic cells at this location producing up to 300 megawatts on a good day. impressive to say the least. Until 2014 this was the largest plant in the world, however the USA now boasting a bigger plant. We were able to wander up to the security fence, as the mirrors tracked the sun, hearing the mirrors creak as they hydraulically shifted every few minutes. The towers could be seen for many Km's and were an unearthly sight with light being shone up from the ground mirrors

Light receiving tower in action
With camera filter on full

and the glowing iridescent towers capturing this light, quite surreal
We stayed on with Sandie finishing some tasks with our planned departure on the following Monday. We enjoyed a lovely BBQ there with some of Sandie's colleague's from the English Language Academy, mostly British Expats teaching the Spanish, there being a strong demand for English, so necessary in the world of business.

Bill & Luna out for a ride/walk
along the Verde Corridor

We are moving into Portugal by the end of the week after a few days on a lovely Atlantic beach.
More to come...........

Heading to Seville via Granada and Iznajar

Looking across the gardens back to the Partal Palace

"Granada will live again the glories of yesterday" remember that song. ???

Looking across to the Palaces

At 750m. Granada is certainly cooler than where we were at Alora. It sits on the foot of the Sierra Nevada which is  the highest mountain range in Espania & a ski resort with a summit of 3478m. This being an hour from the Mediterranean and an hour from ski fields, is well placed for the tourist of any persuasion, sporty, cultured, or indeed people just like us.
.

Granada from Alcazaba watch tower

Granada has proved an interestingly beautiful city, mired in Moorish influence to this day, preserving its history to the delight of eastern and western tourists alike.
The big draw card here which we've mentioned before in relation to Spain is the Moorish occupation from 7th till the 14th  century. The Arabs left their mark in a complex of palaces and fortifications which though were modified  once the catholics wrested power back, still hold their Moorish architecture and decorations.  The Alhambra (which they started building late into the 13th century) is a complex of 4 palaces and sits in a commanding position over the expanding town below.

Beautiful designs and details of architecture

The Moors were an elegant defining civilisation with advanced ideas on architecture, construction, culture and art, in reality inspiring the Western countries out of their

Stunning views out of Palaces

Dark Ages, building truly stunning palaces with leisure, comfort, and aesthetics a priority, for those of the ruling classes that is, everyone else did the hard graft, but that is the story of conquerors through out history.
The old city is beguiling with its different sections, the original inhabitants the Jews then Christians followed by Arabs then once again the Christian domination.
It should be noted the the ruling Moors were very much "live and let live" allowing the Jews and Christians to carry on much the same as always after their take over, it

One of the many fountains
and courtyards in the palaces

was the crusaders and incoming christian rulers in the 14C that cut up rough on the population, expelling, converting, killing Arabs and Jews alike. Nasty people those Christians...... a recurring theme me thinks.......

There is a rich legacy of buildings from this era, palaces, mosques, Churches, convents, monasteries, fortifications, humble houses,and stunning villas. The story is huge with much being written, I have hardly started nor am I able to convey the breadth of it in these lines, but storeys worth reading if you have an interest. Again for us, we are enthralled with the epic

Impressive hallways

struggles,injustices and inequities visited from both sides over the centuries, right under our feet, not to mention the relative peaceful centuries in between when life for the ruling classes must have been quite sweet, all in these still standing buildings..

Nasrid Palace main courtyard

We spent 2 days in the town and as always the more you see the more you want to do but we moved anyways as we were due in Sevilla for a new HelpX position for the next two weeks. A clear cool Saturday morning saw us leaving Granada and made up the road to a large reservoir lake. We knew Andalucia to be the largest olive producing region in the world and at Alora thought we could see why ,but no, this area we were passing now was well tended olive groves as far as the eye could see, dotted with small service villages, very ordinary with an olive

Miles & miles of Olive plantations

processing factory at the centre.Very much akin to our diary factory villages dotted round NZ. These villages generally held little appeal, they were there for a reason, & that reason was not us and our tourist dollar.

We were heading to a camp that we  suspected would be closed and sure enough it was so we had a lunch on the side of the lake and spied across the water a tall church tower and a village on a rocky out crop. A quick consult of the map and we had another Pueblo Blanco in our sites , this time Iznajar (say "is nic ah").. It took about 30 mins to get there

Looking back to the town
of Iznajar

through hill to hill olives, arriving,  and  thru before we blinked.  Out the other side having missed the lot, we stopped got out and looked back to this stunning site.

Beautiful pots making a
colourful entrance into the square

We parked up at the first park, thinking we could stay quietly here for the night and headed into the village, up its narrow streets towards the ever present church and fortification which could only be of Arabic origins, possibly built over roman ruins.
The village was very tidy, original and not touristy at all. we spent 2 hours rambling to view points before making it back to our van and having worked

Looking out onto the reservoir
from the top palaza 

up a thirst went into a small nearby bar that proudly advertised they spoke English, but not only that, they were English and served a strong expat community. With the 6 nations Rugby playing, we were lured in. England were playing Scotland, so we sat with a paddy, a scotty, and pom,  had a lot of fun drinking and laughing and dancing,.... well no not dancing but a fun night was had followed by a delicious pub meal ie leek, choritzo sausage with blue cheese. Bloody beautiful.. Then back to the van for a quiet night in the public car park.

Amazing cemetery, such a
 different way they bury their
dead, but what a view!

Unusually we awoke to wind and rain, and after a quick shift to an outlook over  the lake for some breaky, the clouds parted and the sun came out once again. We then headed on to Sevilla to meet our new host and new home for the next two weeks ......

Iznajar at night

Farewell Casa Bliss - time to move on

Casa Bliss beautiful at night from the pool

As January came to an end, we had decided it was time to move on from Alora and

explore other parts of Spain before we move across into Portugal and start heading north.

Our bedroom for the past
three months

Our living area

       

Lovely Alora from Casa Bliss

Our last week at Casa Bliss saw Bill complete the last few jobs Rosie had on her list (and some she crammed in at the end when she realised we were about to leave). We think Rosie was very happy with our work (she gave us a glowing review on HelpX) and we were actually sad to say good bye as after three & half months of living near each other you do get rather fond of each other. Good luck Rosie, hope your place sells soon and you can move back to London.

Bill was very lucky to share
some of Mel & Bev's son's
wedding cake
(Not to say anything on the
fact that this cake had been
shared with one who may
become our future King!)

We also celebrated Bills birthday in our last week, along with Mel,  Bev & Frank and Rosie on a lovely afternoon out on the front patio. Our one and only time we socialised with Rosie, it was great listening to her yarns. Pity we didn't do more of it Rosie!
Just to clarify som mis-information - Bill is now the same age as
myself!

Frank eyeing up the
competition in the garden

               

Our last evening with M&B
looking through Rosies photo's of the
beginning of Casa Bliss
(The Ruins)

We really enjoyed our first job through the HelpX web site, and highly recommend it to anyone wanting to travel. It is great to have excellent accommodation, some food and get a chance to see the local area without rushing. We were lucky finding Rosie and being able to spend the worst of winter in southern Spain - hardly winter really. Just hope our next host is as wonderful.
Also meeting Mel & Bev and doing the local sights with them was fun and pushed us to see the last few sights we hadn't had time to do prior.
 We have organised our next HelpX site in Seville, only for two weeks before moving onto Portugal.

Finally got to the English Bar
by Alora's Railway station
Bill not playing the game for a
photo shot!

But first the lovely city of Granada. We are heading off there for a few days before going to Seville at the end of the week.
 So watch this blog for the update.

A mountain (El Torcal), a gorge (El Chorro) and caves (Ardales) and a little bit of Rock Porn

Sheryl Dwarfed by Ancient Eroding SeaBed

It has been a few busy weeks since our return from up north, doing some great trips that are iconic in this part of the world.
El Torcal

Similar to Punakaiki

On an earlier trip, Bill and I had seen the turn off to the National Park of El Torcal which is a karst upthrust bursting into a mountain top, but didn't have time to visit. So on a perfect day we drove up there and did the walkway through the rock formations, with amazing views out over the valleys that ran out from the mountain.
El Torcal Park Nature Reserve is known for it's unusual limestone rock formations.  Within El Torcal Park's 17 square km are some of the most beautiful and impressive

There's Injuns in these hills!

limestone landscapes in Europe. The whole area was under sea until one hundred million years ago. Then the violent movements of the Earth's crust forced it upward into hills and mountains up to 1.300 m, the limestone still kept its layered horizontal formation. Because of this, over the millions of years the rain and wind have been able to chisel away at these layers to form incredible shapes.
The site is well worth its status of a national reserve. It has it own peculiar native

Suckling Ibex not on the
menu

fauna and we were lucky to have got close to Iberian Ibex (mountain goats). We didn't get to see any foxes or snakes, but the natural attractions were ample reward.
Over the years the park has been the scene for many movies not surprisingly mostly westerns.
We were happy to find a cafe at the car park, which was perfect after our walk to sit and enjoy the views from the warmth inside

Spot Sheryl. 

El chorro
This is a gorge that we didn't know existed till some time after arriving and bit by bit we became aware of its magnificence and significance.
Dubbed “one of the world’s scariest hikes”, the walkway attached to the steep walls of the El Chorro gorge reopened to the public last  March after a €2.7m refurbishment. Built at the turn of the 20th century to give workers access to two hydroelectric plants, the path – also known’s as the King’s Little Pathway – was closed in 2000, for more than a decade, after a number of people died attempting to cross it.

Not a dull minute

The dangerously worn-out path earned a reputation though as thrill-seekers ignored the closure and dared the crossing, despite a maximum fine of €6,000 for trespassers.
There are two extremely narrow sections at each end of the gorge with a wider bowl in between. In addition to the new walkway a railway line runs through the gorge in a set of several tunnels, bridges and dams cutting through the gorge. The railway and sections of the Caminito were used in the final location shots of the 1965

Bridge to the railway. Not used so much now.

adventure film Von Ryan's Express.
Needless to say Sheryl neither shared my enthusiasm for or desire to complete the walk.
The tickets which are free for this first year were carefully managed so as not to be sold on to 3rd party's and as such were managed by a select few restaurants and other concerned groups which they trade for custom. This proved quite difficult to manage on our part but tickets were eventually obtained for our party of 5, taking us several days to organise (requiring passport number / birth date and full name, which ends up on each

Waiting for a train to come
through.

person's pass) so you can't just turn up and walk the trail or pass them on.
Numbers are also strictly managed and you have a date and time  allocated, if you miss or the track is closed due to bad weather, well bad luck, you will be slotted in when the next vacancy exists which at this time of year may only be a few days, but over the summer months could be many days or weeks!!The ticketing is to be revised this year now that the "powers that be" have a feel for demand and the infrastructure required to make this

New and old Walkways

very popular draw card work for the community.The local papers have been reporting an excellent upturn in the tourist trade for the whole area, so bodes well for keeping this part of Spain on the tourist map, not just for the serious rock climbers.This ticked all the boxes and as extreme as it may look, it was absolutely safe and not difficult in any sense unless you are sensitive to heights. That and the constantly circling vultures(true) did not put the punters of.

Nearly out. 100m above river.

I was accompanied on this trip with our new friends Mel & Bev who were staying at Casa Bliss, and their friends Nolene & Mick who turned up for a few days. Sheryl stayed home and minded Frank the Tibetan. Between us we amassed over 300 photos which after extensive culling have now reduced to a mere 259 to show you all on our return. Know you are all excited!!


Ardales Caves

Stunning Formations
Notice the calcified soot now embedded.

These ancient caves rediscovered in 1821 long after after neolithic man had done his thing and moved on. They were bought by a socialite, a lady who made access, carving steps and levelling floor areas for dances, concerts and parties  etc, quite oblivious to the much earlier neolithic presence. Any way they soon  fell into disuse and were largely forgotten, then in 1921 a scientist did a exploration and realised its significance but again little was done until 1990 when extensive exploration was undertaken and a history is still being established & exploration continues. Again numbers are pegged being limited at 1000 per year and 15 per tour as it is tight, also needing the art to be interpreted to see any thing. There was no English spoken on tour which was a shame as the guide had a lot to say for the 90mins underground and the hour at the interpretation centre.

Animal scratched into rock

Thankfully this did have a fair amount of written English which set Mel and myself up with enough info to make the trip interesting. We did see some of the art, but if it had not been pointed out in some detail you wouldn't see it, also much of it is inaccessible to easily view.
The caves have been extensively lit by fire over many years in prehistory and this soot has slowly washed down over the limestone formations and is now locked in under a layers of limestone making for many black shapes & in some cases obliterating the art.

First ever Porn??

The cave contains paintings and impressions of 56 animals from the Solutrean age (20,000 BC), an important Neolithic site (3,800 BC) and several Copper Age burial sites (2,700 BC).  The photos here are lifted from the web and are images we did see. Incredible really, but as man and neo man has been hanging round the Iberian peninsula for 500,000yrs the record of his occupation is scant, and any sign of this presence is much prized. .
It is not possible to enter the cave unaccompanied, too many people have got lost.  It measures a kilometre and a half in length inside, and there are various sections known as the Salas (or rooms in Spanish).  There are columned tunnels, lakes?? and massive stalactites and stalagmites all round.

This was made as shown
in the following drawing,

Mel and I enjoyed the experience, for me just in having stood in space that man had trodden so long ago and left his mark for what ever reason??
Mel is convinced that the negative hand images are nothing more than Neolithic mans attempt at hand puppertery, something we all do when bored and in possession of a torch or in their case an oil lamp.  He is so convinced of this that he is considering a 10,000 word thesis "Hand Puppetery 101 How Neolithic Man started it all" , against the prevailing experts lined up on this subject, and.... he may well be on to something, indeed I may assist him and let him publish on this very Blog.. Watch

But Why?

this space!!
The language barrier was irksome but one i can live with as I will live with the memory of these caves.