Weekend and Teba Castle

Saturday 25^th November

Weather dawned overcast and rain in the air. Updated blog after breakfast and then drove to town via camino ….no hoopoes. Bought TV from auction shop, but arial did not come with it ! Then on to the coast to the market and J spotted a marble table for 25€ but quickly knocked down to 20€… bought it on the spot.

Walked around market which was closing down, but no portable arials. Collected table and took back to car. Then on to wifi bar for lunch and upload blog…..a few problems with pics, and didn’t upload any first time.

Went to Bookies but no luck this time …Ross Com @ 37/1 in Hennessy came nowhere ! Back to café for blog upload and managed all pictures except 1. On to Hippocor but no arials, so back home for tea and reading prior to eating out at our favourite bar. Baqueron came uncooked and J had prawns, so still not cracked all the tapas.

Sunday 26^th November

Weather bright with high cloud. We decided to drive to Teba about 15 kms north of Ardales, which is quite a nondescript white village, but with an interesting and unexpected history. High above the village stands an impressive ruined Moorish castle built on Roman foundations, with superb views over the surrounding countryside.

It was on the plains below the castle that Sir James Douglas, on his way to the holy land via Spain (….the long way round) on behalf of Robert the Bruce, got involved with the siege of Teba in 1331, when King Alfonso XI recovered Teba from the Moors for Christian Spain. Douglas was killed there in battle, and a plaque made of Scottish granite marks Teba’s illustrious connection with Robert Bruce and the exploits of Douglas in the Plaza de España.

We climbed the steep ramparts and walked around the castle and surrounding ruined walls….entry is free as it is completely un-restored, ….. there is evidence of the start of restoration, but we were the only visitors…….

Then walked back into town and had lunch ……a large rancion of some sort of fish, described by the proprietor as mucho bueno……it was not very appetising, but turned out to be very expensive at 9 euro !!

On to the Teba gorge, where the Rio la Venta cuts through the limestone gorge. There was a small car park below the bridge, but several hippy types were hanging around, so we parked up near the road and walked to the bridge.

The gorge is a nesting site for the Egyptian vulture, Bonelli’s eagle and black kites, and we saw 2 huge birds circling high above the gorge on the warm thermals, but could not identify them. Then drove back via the lakes which are very low……must be only 10% full.