Jane & Rog Plod to Portugal

[Bonsaiman]

Oooo, do you have a recipe?

Equal quantity (8oz) of
Plain flour
Chickpea flour
Shrimps (you can’t get the Camarones in UK so I use chopped shrimps or if being really decadent brown shrimps)

1 x Egg
2 x Spring onions finely chopped
Pinch of salt
Pinch of paprika
Water

Basically make a batter of all the ingredients. Spoonful of batter into inch of very hot olive oil, spread out to form thin circle of batter, flip over when bottom starts to brown to cook other side, drain on kitchen roll and eat. Lovely

 

[BobJayne]

Equal quantity (8oz) of
Plain flour
Chickpea flour
Shrimps (you can’t get the Camarones in UK so I use chopped shrimps or if being really decadent brown shrimps)

1 x Egg
2 x Spring onions finely chopped
Pinch of salt
Pinch of paprika
Water

Basically make a batter of all the ingredients. Spoonful of batter into inch of very hot olive oil, spread out to form thin circle of batter, flip over when bottom starts to brown to cook other side, drain on kitchen roll and eat. Lovely

Is that recipe for one and what weight of shrimps for that recipe?

 

[Bonsaiman]

Is that recipe for one and what weight of shrimps for that recipe?

No not just one, it will make a few depending on size but never really counted how many
I use equal quants - 8 ounces of flour, chickpea flour and shrimps

 

[DBK]

We got to Cadiz market as it was opening, just after a tostada (cheese and tomato) for Rog and a couple of coffees.

View attachment 967044
All ordered in Spanglish!

The market is amazing. We bought all the ingredients for seafood rice / paella tonight - red pepper, tomato, squid, clams, small prawns, large show prawns to decorate the top. We also spotted tuna belly on sale, and as it was so delicious last night, decided to splash out on 100g. Just €5! Makes last night’s bargain €25 (which we were comparing to central London) look like the worst deal of the year.

View attachment 967046

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View attachment 967049

Back to rescue Flynn and pay for last night’s carpark - €8, not bad for a night in central Cadiz in a double room with Tempurpedic mattress, central heating, ensuite bathroom and tea and coffee making facilities.

Our first stop was at the NMAC Foundation Open Air Gallery. Rog does like a sculpture park, and Flynn thinks they’re better than the indoor sort, as he’s allowed to view the artwork. His favourite was this one - we think he got the idea they’d suspended balls and sticks out of the reach of dogs. Perhaps the piece was about one’s inability to get just what one wants? Or perhaps the artist was a cat person.

View attachment 967050
Now, Mr. Flynn, our revenge for last night…

Rog mostly came to see the James Turrell work, “Secondwind 2005,” and I must admit it made the best photos. The bumf describes it as like a sacred site for another, better, species. Certainly a species which doesn’t need a comfy seat or a colour TV.

View attachment 967051
Both of these species do like a comfy seat.

View attachment 967052


View attachment 967053


Our pitch for the night was back on Camping Pinar San José, at Barbate, on the Atlantic coast. We stayed there for a weekend on our return from Morocco while waiting for the garage to get the parts delivered to fix our heating. We got a much better pitch than last time, and the woman on the desk was much friendlier, so a win.

View attachment 967054

We rewarded Flynn for putting up with our brief city break by taking him for a long walk down to the sea and along the coast.

View attachment 967055

Then past the Trafalgar lighthouse, through some lagoons and along the next bay, with stick throwing a plenty.

View attachment 967056

View attachment 967057

We stopped for a drink in a hippie surf bar.

View attachment 967058
Do I smell patchouli oil? Cannabis?

This whole area has a very different vibe than it did in February, that’s for sure. Much livelier. But it’s a lovely place, all the buildings are low rise and the coastline is backed with deep, sandy forests, through which we trudged back to the campsite.

View attachment 967059

Another massive benefit of this site is the warm doggy shower, so at least Flynn won’t be taking half the beach back into Denby this evening. We hope.

View attachment 967060

We had a quick game of Paris Cité de la Lumière. Good points: very good for windy campsites, nice and compact. Bad points: Rog remembered an important scoring rule from the one and only time we’ve played before, and won.

View attachment 967061
Cheaty remembering in progress

Then dinner of sashimi then seafood rice with our amazing haul from the market. Delicious.

View attachment 967062
Tuna belly sashimi

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View attachment 967064

We've stayed at that site I think 3 times now. It's a big site but the pitches seem well spaced out. The walk to the lighthouse is memorable.

 

[Jane And Rog]

We've stayed at that site I think 3 times now. It's a big site but the pitches seem well spaced out. The walk to the lighthouse is memorable.

View attachment 967143

That’s a very similar photo

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[Jane And Rog]

I hate to quibble but I think Nelson died in 1805 at Trafalgar!

I actually went back to my sources (Wikipedia) and I have no idea how I generated this mistake. Must be the advanced state of refreshment I was in when I finished the post.

 

[Wanders from Glos]

I actually went back to my sources (Wikipedia) and I have no idea how I generated this mistake. Must be the advanced state of refreshment I was in when I finished the post.

Ha ha, we don't allow Wikipedia as a source at University, but do allow it for info and a pointer towards a good source. That said on things like that it's not normally wrong.

 

[varaizian]

Ok, I will confess a personal interest in Nelson. My birthday is the 21st of October i.e. Trafalgar Day. Sadly neglected nowadays despite it’s influence on the wealth and the influence of our country around the world. It is a difficult topic to introduce in my chosen country of residency where a “coup de Trafalgar” means an underhand trick! So, one man’s brilliant naval manoeuvre is another’s cheating and unfair move. Leaving aside, of course, the hundreds of dead and mutilated sailors.

 

[Jane And Rog]

We both woke up with the idea of staying another night for a walk in the woods and maybe eating at one of the restaurants. But, when I took Flynn for his early morning constitutional there were hunters in the woods. Lots of hunters. Some alarmingly close.

I’m not sure what they were hunting but I also spotted this paw print so it’s probably bear or tigers.

…or a dinosaur​

Flynn is a half trained gun dog and has a bad habit of excitedly running towards gunshots. I put him back on the lead, returned to the van and we packed up and left for Ronda. But first lunch and a walk on the Via Verde de la Sierra. The VVdlS is part of the Spanish Rail Trail network and our lunch was on the platform of an old station.

The next train at platform two will be the jamon express
​

Ex train tunnel​

Sierras over olive fields​

The walk itself was just out and back 7km - it was a little hot for Flynn towards then end but he kept himself cool with judicious use of the puddles remaining from the rain ereyesterday.

Mud! Mud! Etc.​

The plan was to drive on to Ronda via a quick mooch round Sentil de las Bodegas. As we drove though though it was obviously overstuffed with day trippers so we parked up at El Nogalejo Camping just outside town to wait them out. The site boasts a very well liked restaurant so we don’t necessarily need to eat in town.

At about 5:30 we set off down the hill. We’re about 20 minutes walk away and had to push through hoards of other sightseers returning to their busses. Sentinel de las Bodegas was still fairly busy though.

SdlB is built into caves and overhangs in a tight canyon. Some historians believe it’s been more or less continuously inhabited for 25000 years - that would put cadiz in its place.

“Bodegas” in the name is because all these houses used to have wine cellars in their caves. We’ve been wondering why we haven’t seen more wine production on the road and especially in this little town. Seems that after the wine plague in the 1850s killed most of the vines in Europe the local farmers concentrated on their almonds and olives and never looked back. Nelson famously reported this in his best selling diary when game here on Holiday in the early 1900s

We had a non-wine drink in a cave bar and returned to give Flynn a break.

The Spanish serve massive G&Ts​

The camp site’s restaurant was indeed excellent. Bao buns with smoked fish, assorted crocettas and then bbq lamb shank.

Ham, cheese, tuna.

If I was being picky, the lamb was a little over sous-vide so a bit soft but really good - especially for a campsite kitchen.

Annoyingly Spanish eating times don’t fit with my digestion. The late start brought on acid reflux so we had to skip puds.

 

[Zoobec]

I love the photo of Flynn in the puddle

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[Grianan]

Great photos … love the train tunnel. I don’t know how the Spanish manage to sleep after eating so late.

 

[Wanders from Glos]

Bodegas looks interesting. Hope you like Rhonda, in the summer they have a free flamenco festival that is really good.

Still some work to do on your history of Nelson I’m afraid.

 

[VXman]

I started to look at this thread but had to stop as we should be there now but had to cancel for health reasons. Will look at you route again in the new year though as we will hopefully do it in March/April.

 

[Jane And Rog]

Bodegas looks interesting. Hope you like Rhonda, in the summer they have a free flamenco festival that is really good.

Still some work to do on your history of Nelson I’m afraid.

I’ve seen a paid one at one of the museums. Where is the free one?

 

[Jane And Rog]

I started to look at this thread but had to stop as we should be there now but had to cancel for health reasons. Will look at you route again in the new year though as we will hopefully do it in March/April.

All the best for a speedy recovery and we’ll look on your posts with envy in March.

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[Wanders from Glos]

I’ve seen a paid one at one of the museums. Where is the free one?

The free one was in June I think and was one of those typical Spanish festivals, lasted three days and flamenco was being staged in a number of locations outside. A couple of squares and near the castle walls from memory. If we are ever in the area at the right time we will definitely return.

Mind you the main attraction didn't start until after midnight, in true Spanish style.

 

[Jane And Rog]

Today we had the shortest driving day we’ve ever had in Denby - 13km to the aire at Ronda. We were greeted by a very friendly Guardian of the Portal, which makes all the difference, I think. “Stay as long as you want! You can get your chairs and tables out!” We also lucked on a massive pitch, with a westwards view over the mountains, so we have high hopes for the sunset.

We decided to discard our massive walk plans, as despite the fact that we were pretty much up and out after coffee, it was already 11am and the sun was high and hot in the sky.

Instead, it would be a walk through the shady streets (we hoped) to see some sights and have our main meal at lunchtime, given our issues with Spanish dinnertime. On the way, we spotted this.

A festival of ham! I think Rog was seriously thinking of waiting 3 weeks for this, given that the only way this could be improved would to be a festival (yay!) of ham (double yay!) with Black Sabbath playing live (yay squared). (Yes, as Rog and I both have maths degrees, I am aware that if yay has a value of one, then double yay > yay squared. For the sake of non-argument, let’s say yay = 3).

There’s quite a walk from the Ronda aire through the new town to the main centre, but it’s worth it.

You start seeing shops like this:

And then you come upon the bridge. This, believe it or not, is the newest bridge. The aptly named Puente Nuevo crosses a very deep and narrow chasm which separates the newer town from the old town.

New Bridge, v2

There were already two lower bridges, but this was the first attempt at bridging the canyon at this height, and it wasn’t a simple job. The chasm is relatively narrow, but about 130 metres down to the Guadalevín River below. The architects Jose Garcia and Juan Camacho were chosen for the project, and they began work on a single arch design in 1735. They completed the bridge in good time, but not to a high standard. The entire bridge collapsed in 1741, killing 50 people, most of them residents of Ronda.

The houses each side are clinging to the rock.

We took the photo above from the terrace of a café-bar which had this interesting menu outside. Chinese clearly fairly frequent visitors. Russians not approved of at all.

We walked on into the old town, and came across the Iglesia Del Espiritu Santo. Apparently this dates from 1485, and Ronda’s reconquest by Catholics - it was built on top of the former mosque.

Rog had a visit while I hung around outside and refreshed Flynn and myself with water.

After The Last Supper

Before the First Lunch

We mooched all around the streets of the old town for an hour or so. It was lovely, although filled with tourists groups and their guides.

We’d hoped to have lunch in a Michelin Bib Gourmand, but hadn’t been committed enough to book. We got there 10 minutes before it officially opened but were cheated of a table by a large party of locals (well, Spanish) who seemed to manage to do some advanced persuading and got the only remaining outside tables manoeuvred into a massive table for 10. Slightly discouraged, and very hungry (1:15pm makes for a very late breakfast), we moved on, but lucked on a place which specialised in ham, organic tomatoes and its own olive oil. Obviously our starter was ham, and a tomato, olive oil and tuna belly salad. With my first cava of the holiday! (People who know me in real life will find this very hard to believe.)

Right, my work here is done. We can go home now.

For mains we had two more starters - scrambled egg with black pudding, and seafood croquettas. Both delicious.

It turned out we made a good choice, if you put any store by Ernest Hemingway’s skill as a restaurant critic. He ate here in 1959.

I ate the tuna. The tuna was good.

Also worthy of note, given his propensity to bathe in mud and kill chickens, Flynn was very well-behaved indeed. He was persuaded to take up residence under the table, and stayed there without a squeak for the whole, lengthy meal. (Water was provided.)

Good doggy!

He was rewarded with a proper human ice-cream on our way back to Denby. (Vanilla with forest fruits. He says he won’t be fobbed off with plain vanilla any more.)

We got back around 4pm and had a lazy end to the day.

 

[Peavy]

with Black Sabbath playing live

Sounds about right

 

[Mr porky]

Today we had the shortest driving day we’ve ever had in Denby - 13km to the aire at Ronda. We were greeted by a very friendly Guardian of the Portal, which makes all the difference, I think. “Stay as long as you want! You can get your chairs and tables out!” We also lucked on a massive pitch, with a westwards view over the mountains, so we have high hopes for the sunset.

View attachment 967975

We decided to discard our massive walk plans, as despite the fact that we were pretty much up and out after coffee, it was already 11am and the sun was high and hot in the sky.

Instead, it would be a walk through the shady streets (we hoped) to see some sights and have our main meal at lunchtime, given our issues with Spanish dinnertime. On the way, we spotted this.

View attachment 967976

A festival of ham! I think Rog was seriously thinking of waiting 3 weeks for this, given that the only way this could be improved would to be a festival (yay!) of ham (double yay!) with Black Sabbath playing live (yay squared). (Yes, as Rog and I both have maths degrees, I am aware that if yay has a value of one, then double yay > yay squared. For the sake of non-argument, let’s say yay = 3).

There’s quite a walk from the Ronda aire through the new town to the main centre, but it’s worth it.

You start seeing shops like this:

View attachment 967977

And then you come upon the bridge. This, believe it or not, is the newest bridge. The aptly named Puente Nuevo crosses a very deep and narrow chasm which separates the newer town from the old town.

View attachment 967978
New Bridge, v2

There were already two lower bridges, but this was the first attempt at bridging the canyon at this height, and it wasn’t a simple job. The chasm is relatively narrow, but about 130 metres down to the Guadalevín River below. The architects Jose Garcia and Juan Camacho were chosen for the project, and they began work on a single arch design in 1735. They completed the bridge in good time, but not to a high standard. The entire bridge collapsed in 1741, killing 50 people, most of them residents of Ronda.

The houses each side are clinging to the rock.

View attachment 967979


We took the photo above from the terrace of a café-bar which had this interesting menu outside. Chinese clearly fairly frequent visitors. Russians not approved of at all.

View attachment 967980

We walked on into the old town, and came across the Iglesia Del Espiritu Santo. Apparently this dates from 1485, and Ronda’s reconquest by Catholics - it was built on top of the former mosque.

View attachment 967981

Rog had a visit while I hung around outside and refreshed Flynn and myself with water.

View attachment 967982

View attachment 967983
After The Last Supper

View attachment 967984
Before the First Lunch

We mooched all around the streets of the old town for an hour or so. It was lovely, although filled with tourists groups and their guides.

View attachment 967985

We’d hoped to have lunch in a Michelin Bib Gourmand, but hadn’t been committed enough to book. We got there 10 minutes before it officially opened but were cheated of a table by a large party of locals (well, Spanish) who seemed to manage to do some advanced persuading and got the only remaining outside tables manoeuvred into a massive table for 10. Slightly discouraged, and very hungry (1:15pm makes for a very late breakfast), we moved on, but lucked on a place which specialised in ham, organic tomatoes and its own olive oil. Obviously our starter was ham, and a tomato, olive oil and tuna belly salad. With my first cava of the holiday! (People who know me in real life will find this very hard to believe.)

View attachment 967986
Right, my work here is done. We can go home now.

View attachment 967987

For mains we had two more starters - scrambled egg with black pudding, and seafood croquettas. Both delicious.

View attachment 967988


It turned out we made a good choice, if you put any store by Ernest Hemingway’s skill as a restaurant critic. He ate here in 1959.

View attachment 967989
I ate the tuna. The tuna was good.

Also worthy of note, given his propensity to bathe in mud and kill chickens, Flynn was very well-behaved indeed. He was persuaded to take up residence under the table, and stayed there without a squeak for the whole, lengthy meal. (Water was provided.)

View attachment 967990
Good doggy!

He was rewarded with a proper human ice-cream on our way back to Denby. (Vanilla with forest fruits. He says he won’t be fobbed off with plain vanilla any more.)

We got back around 4pm and had a lazy end to the day.

Fantastic. The walk into the valley to look up to the bridge is worth doing. Last time we where there a bar/hostel was in the valley.

 

[Jane And Rog]

Fantastic. The walk into the valley to look up to the bridge is worth doing. Last time we where there a bar/hostel was in the valley.

Thanks - also planning the longer country walk tomorrow so let’s hope we have the energy!

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[Dutch 68]

Fantastic. The walk into the valley to look up to the bridge is worth doing. Last time we where there a bar/hostel was in the valley.

You can also go down to river level through a beautiful cave staircase which brings you all the way down to a piece of decking over the river, right in the heart of town , very close to the bridge , it’s gorgeous

 

[cliffanger]

Today we had the shortest driving day we’ve ever had in Denby - 13km to the aire at Ronda. We were greeted by a very friendly Guardian of the Portal, which makes all the difference, I think. “Stay as long as you want! You can get your chairs and tables out!” We also lucked on a massive pitch, with a westwards view over the mountains, so we have high hopes for the sunset.

View attachment 967975

We decided to discard our massive walk plans, as despite the fact that we were pretty much up and out after coffee, it was already 11am and the sun was high and hot in the sky.

Instead, it would be a walk through the shady streets (we hoped) to see some sights and have our main meal at lunchtime, given our issues with Spanish dinnertime. On the way, we spotted this.

View attachment 967976

A festival of ham! I think Rog was seriously thinking of waiting 3 weeks for this, given that the only way this could be improved would to be a festival (yay!) of ham (double yay!) with Black Sabbath playing live (yay squared). (Yes, as Rog and I both have maths degrees, I am aware that if yay has a value of one, then double yay > yay squared. For the sake of non-argument, let’s say yay = 3).

There’s quite a walk from the Ronda aire through the new town to the main centre, but it’s worth it.

You start seeing shops like this:

View attachment 967977

And then you come upon the bridge. This, believe it or not, is the newest bridge. The aptly named Puente Nuevo crosses a very deep and narrow chasm which separates the newer town from the old town.

View attachment 967978
New Bridge, v2

There were already two lower bridges, but this was the first attempt at bridging the canyon at this height, and it wasn’t a simple job. The chasm is relatively narrow, but about 130 metres down to the Guadalevín River below. The architects Jose Garcia and Juan Camacho were chosen for the project, and they began work on a single arch design in 1735. They completed the bridge in good time, but not to a high standard. The entire bridge collapsed in 1741, killing 50 people, most of them residents of Ronda.

The houses each side are clinging to the rock.

View attachment 967979


We took the photo above from the terrace of a café-bar which had this interesting menu outside. Chinese clearly fairly frequent visitors. Russians not approved of at all.

View attachment 967980

We walked on into the old town, and came across the Iglesia Del Espiritu Santo. Apparently this dates from 1485, and Ronda’s reconquest by Catholics - it was built on top of the former mosque.

View attachment 967981

Rog had a visit while I hung around outside and refreshed Flynn and myself with water.

View attachment 967982

View attachment 967983
After The Last Supper

View attachment 967984
Before the First Lunch

We mooched all around the streets of the old town for an hour or so. It was lovely, although filled with tourists groups and their guides.

View attachment 967985

We’d hoped to have lunch in a Michelin Bib Gourmand, but hadn’t been committed enough to book. We got there 10 minutes before it officially opened but were cheated of a table by a large party of locals (well, Spanish) who seemed to manage to do some advanced persuading and got the only remaining outside tables manoeuvred into a massive table for 10. Slightly discouraged, and very hungry (1:15pm makes for a very late breakfast), we moved on, but lucked on a place which specialised in ham, organic tomatoes and its own olive oil. Obviously our starter was ham, and a tomato, olive oil and tuna belly salad. With my first cava of the holiday! (People who know me in real life will find this very hard to believe.)

View attachment 967986
Right, my work here is done. We can go home now.

View attachment 967987

For mains we had two more starters - scrambled egg with black pudding, and seafood croquettas. Both delicious.

View attachment 967988


It turned out we made a good choice, if you put any store by Ernest Hemingway’s skill as a restaurant critic. He ate here in 1959.

View attachment 967989
I ate the tuna. The tuna was good.

Also worthy of note, given his propensity to bathe in mud and kill chickens, Flynn was very well-behaved indeed. He was persuaded to take up residence under the table, and stayed there without a squeak for the whole, lengthy meal. (Water was provided.)

View attachment 967990
Good doggy!

He was rewarded with a proper human ice-cream on our way back to Denby. (Vanilla with forest fruits. He says he won’t be fobbed off with plain vanilla any more.)

We got back around 4pm and had a lazy end to the day.

Amazing photos!

We stayed in the Parador on the side of the bridge on our tour of Paradors a few years ago. We loved Ronda, window shopped in countless Jamon shops, and walked down the valley to look at the bridge from the bottom.