After Wednesdays rainy photos, it was a pleasure to see the sunshine again yesterday and today, both outside
AND on my laptop, where I have loads of photos stored of our town!
At Dees request, I'm sharing some of these photos, and hope you'll enjoy! I have so many different ones that I might do an 'Estepa or Spain' theme now and again if anyone is interested!
This is a view from the convent above our town, it's actually situated at the top of our street. The tower below is called Torre de la Victoria and at it's base are some attractive walled 'ruins' which are often used these days for weddings when the couple don't want to have a church wedding. You can just see these to the left of the base of the tower.
This is the usual colour of the sky here, a deep and beautiful blue.
This is the top of the town, taken at dusk, and includes the Convent of Santa Clara, a silent order (The Poor Claires), The Monastery of San Fransisco, as well as the old cemetry, and was once surrounded by a protective wall....remnants of the wall can still be seen. In the bottom right hand corner hidden in the pine trees is the municipal swimming pool, open from late June until early September and the building in the middle with the red doors is the Fire station, which is manned by volunteers.
The local goats (and sheep) keep the grass down on public land and are regularly herded through the town. It is not unusual to be held up in the street by the goatherd and his very large herd.
Looking across the olive groves towards Cordoba and beyond!
I couldn't resist adding this photo of the lemons on our tree, it is so packed with fruit at this time of year!
Looking from outside the Convent de Santa Clara....here you can see parts of the old wall and here is the same area although looking up from below:
The tower below is part of the monastery of San Francisco
The white arch/gates were apparently once part of the old cemetary
Looking down over the town from above:
Photos taken early on a January morning, looking down the hill from outside my house
And looking up towards the Convent - the road and pavement have since been 'tiled' with cobblestones, which kept the road closed for several months while the work was done!!! (Yes, think shopping and having to drag bags of heavy groceries all the way up the hill!!!)
And finally for today, it is a tradition here that when a couple get married, their parents or friends might hire a local group of minstrels to come and serenade one or both of them, during the early hours on the actual day of the wedding!! I was lying in bed at about 4am one night and heard the most beautiful voices and music being played, looked out the window to see this group outside my neighbours window. Until then, I wasn't aware of this tradition, but several neighbours were in the street in their nightclothes, so when another neighbour called me down, I joined in too, grabbing my camera on the way of course! The group played for about half an hour, then the mother of the bride to be brought out trays of 'dulces' (sweet little cakes made locally) and Anis (aniseed flavoured liquor) which was passed around the singers and the neighbours!!!
And I have to say that even after all this activity during the night, the bride, Rosana, still looked beautiful at her wedding later the same day!
The bride to be, Rosana, and her future husband!
I hope you've enjoyed this brief 'tour' of Estepa, el corazon de Andalucia (the heart of Andalucia) and will join me another day!!
