Sunday, February 24, 2013

This weekend Hannah and Elizabeth were supposed to go to Santander, unfortunately because of a scheduling/booking problem with Ryanair (which I recommend not using) they were unable to go.  quick desicion was made to find a cheap place for a day trip and many places were considered. Hulva was the first chose because it was reachable by train. Ecija was another suggestion and it was also on the train but in the other direction towards Cordoba. It would seem that Huelva is simple a beach town with nothing to see at this time of the year. Attention was turned towards the delta of Guadalquivir and Ecija and Aracena. Ecija and Arecena were the two strongest suggestions from a reliable source (the reliability was confirmed today after the trip).  Aracena was the destination, costing only 14E for a round trip ticket by bus it was an amazing place to spend the day. Aracena is known for it's production of Jamon and for it's caves. Gruta de las Maravillas. It is a Karst landscape and according to the guide it's insides are formed from dissolved marble. marble is the metamorphic version of the sedimentary limestone. The largest column is about 500,000 years old and is somewhat significant on the geologic time scale like a second is to us in our every day life. The city of Aracena is a white-washed town to avoid the heat and it is built on the side of the mountain where a church and castle (just some left over walls from what we could see. the church was mudajar gothic style as can be seen by the arches and the decorations).

































































On Friday we went to Ronda, Ronda features a Roman bridge across a rather impressive gorge and the oldest bullfighting ring there is. It did rain quite a bit so we were unable to take full advantage of the place. I did buy an umbrella there to ensure it would never rain again. The people there were very friendly and the shops and bars were great.