Wanting to arrive in Sevilla fresh, our next major target, we decided to back track to Aracena to spend the night, having just driven through it and comfortable with the knowledge that it was large enough to accommodate us.

We found lodging in this city of 10,000, the highest city in the Sierras, which in reality are not all that high for a mountain range, the highest peak being around 1200 meters, and after a quick brandy in our room, we made for the street in search of Spain’s greatest achievement and it’s greatest gift to mankind, a righteous tapas bar. Find one we did and after a couple o grogs and a couple of tapas, we headed out into the night to discover more. There were more tapas bars, though none so inviting or so full of happily babbling patrons and we soon returned to the ‘Cafe Bar Manzano.

Earlier I had a tapa of beef tongue in some secret sauce, this time I had a racion, a large plate, of the same along with some great fries, local wild mushrooms, pork loin and eggplant stuffed with ham, cheese and shrooms, plus of course more grogs and ‘Mosto’, new wine, a clouded local favorite from the looks of all those imbibing the same.

I know that Cardiff by the Sea, California is home to some of the greatest burritos on the planet, but how come I can’t go down to the bar and have a big bowl of beef tongue in a great sauce with great fresh cut fries plus a couple of beers for the price of a McDonald’s ‘meal?’ Somehow I think we in the states took a wrong turn in the fast food section, give me tapas any day!

The Caverns of Marvels:
The reason our guides sent us to Aracena however was the ‘Gurta de las Maravillas’, the largest and possibly most impressive cave in Spain. The tradition that has it that the caves were discovered by a lad in search of his lost pig doesn’t discuss whether or not he found his pig and what he did with it if he did. What is known however is that these caves are beautiful and we would not have seem them if we had been taken by Zufre.

The caves have over 2 kilometers of passage ways of which 1.2 K are open to the public, all of which are illuminated in creme and pink light. The trail wanders through, well, marvelous formations of stalactites and stalagmites, deep still pools of water and caverns or rooms of different size. The last is the most humorous with formations that truly resemble breast, buttocks and of course the ever present on our planet, penises.

Art:
Why is it that San Diego has such a difficult time with public art? Here we are in Aracena, 500?, 800?, who knows how many years old? and probably fairly conservative in outlook, and it is full of public art, much of it very modern. We found it quite enjoyable while we were there and this art modern didn’t seem to cause dissension or revolutions of any sort. I burned up over a full roll of film on the bronzes and fountains that line the streets of this pleasant village.