Pastoral Portugal

Last weekend, we drove to Portugal. 

It was hard to believe that we were only three hours from home.
Everything was so green and pastoral. 

Portugal? or Ireland?

Signs of early spring: woolly sheep ready for shearing and lambs everywhere.

Old wind power facing new. Look carefully!

We spent the night in a funky little town called Mertola--

---located on a hill by the Guadiana River.

Like most little towns, Mertola had its fair share of colorful doors, interesting door
knockers, and cobblestone streets.

This fanciful church was originally a mosque, built in the second half of the
12th century by the Moors. We're surprised Disney
 hasn't tried to replicate this!

At the highest point of the town was this very cool castle, which visitors could freely explore.

The second day we went on a 5.5 mile hike down into a gorge, which included a lot of rock scrambling (hands and feet), bushwhacking, and a final upward climb. Most of the way we followed the river, and half way through the hike we arrived at this waterfall. We didn't get lost---a great feat for us! It was a lot of fun and a beautiful area to explore.

Friendly faces along the way.

Curious faces.

And funny faces, too. It was Jim's birthday.
 He's aging well, don't you think?

Happy Valentine's Day from Cadiz

We went to Carnival at Cadiz and saw these double decker swamis. Amidst all the drinking and chaos, they were actually a calm, welcoming sight. Of course, these street performers were illusionists, but it really did look like the top decker swami was "miraculously" suspended in air, or at least remarkably balanced on a pole held by the swami below

When upper decker swami heard a "kuchink" in his tin cup as people contributed a coin or two, he would rattle his beads (with eyes remaining closed), indicating the donor should take one of the rolled up messages from another cup. So we did.

Here's our message translated: "We can not do great things, only small things with great love."
(a quote from Mother Teresa)

A perfect message on this February 14th . Happy Valentine's Day to all.
Love, Deb and Jim

Saturday in Sanlucar

One of the best ways to spend a weekend is wandering around taking photos. This past Saturday we drove 12 miles up the road to Sanlucar de Barrameda----an ancient little town known for its manzanilla (fino sherry similar to apple-flavored turpentine, according to Deb's uncultured palate), Saturday morning "hippie flea market" (which we missed), flamenco, and horse races on the beach (which we saw the first summer we were here).

We managed to arrive at 2:30pm, which of course is siesta time when stores close and
everyone either flocks to cafes or home for food and nap.

Lucky for us, Saturday was the first day of Carnival---an annual celebration in which costumed singers take to stages around town. Pictured here is a Daniel Boone wanna-be.

Daniel and his hillbilly amigos started singing
John Denver's Country Road in Spanish!
(Gotta love it. Seems like we're never far from home!)

Color.

Remnants of the Moors.

What's a blog post without a door knocker?
This particular knocker is nothing special but the red door is. Sanlucar
was full of red doors, which is unusual in Andalucia.

Bodegas and alcohol of all sorts could be found here.
 Wonder why this sign was in English?!

Lovely door.

Part of a chapel.

The imposing Castle of Santiago.

Barrels of manzanilla.

Local senora taking in the festivities.

Here's our view of a neighboring table as we sat at an outdoor cafe sipping fino.
 We don't know what was more amazing, the height of this senorita's pink heels,
 the red of her boyfriend's shoes, or that miscellaneous wandering hand. Entangled.