Hatventures in Andalucía

[DJH]

I enjoy the stories as well, TJ. You have to admire someone who has the bollocks to ride a horse around town, dressed as George Washington. Keep em coming, Huerto - you have to be at least a little eccentric to walk around wearing these funny hats, you fit right in!

 

[Huertecilla]

The exhibition terrain of the Feria de Perros is split over two locations. One for the hunting/working dogs incl. vendors and the other for vendors of gear from gunds to hats, also a large tent with artesenally made food sellers but that is outside of the scope of thís thread.

There was a HÚGe variation in fat caps with one noteable model in open weave jute.
Obviously trilbies, fedoras too and the omnipresent staws.
I also took some shots of passers by.

Pfff... by jove, today this line is ssslllloooooowwwww as horse dung...

 

[Huertecilla]

You can't help but like the guy somehow. He's definitely entertaining with all his stories, even if he is full of crap!

And you sir are OBVIOUSLY and sadly nót a gentleman.

 

[Huertecilla]

dressed as George Washington.

As a french ecuyer, and in versions spanning two centuries, actually but that is not a relevant detail as most people call it a pirate´s outfit anyway.

 

[gear-guy]

I'm with DJH, we need more. Great pics. My wife and daughter spent 6 weeks traveling Spain and I hope to visit there myself someday.

 

[Huertecilla]

and the last hát bit is of me, wearing an ozzie made ventilation special, and my charming company enjoying a drink at the Plaza Ochava in front of the Arxiduna restaurant whis is a 20 meters deep man made cáve behind the facade of the plaza.

For cultural engaged I will add another entry with some scenery of the town.

 

[T Jones]

And you sir are OBVIOUSLY and sadly nót a gentleman.

Yeah, so...I don't pretend to be. Your stories, whether true or how exaggerated, are still entertaining though...the pictures aren't bad either.

 

[Huertecilla]

The scenery

Archidona is áncient.
The first evidence of human settlement are pre neanderthal human(oid)s and it has been prime real estate ever since.
One incedible, huge, mind boggling, structure dates from pre Phoenicean times!
In US perspective it is noteworthey that it was won from the Moors over a century before Queen Isabella sponsored Columbus to sail west to the indies and accidentally stumble on the americas.
Some of the buildings still standing go back well into moorish times and the town is rich in mudejar build.

A minute selection of snapshots:

The cave restaurant.

The roof of the cave entry part.

Typical old balcony underside.

Childrens procession gathering on the Plaza Ochavada.

The last two are of a plaza where there are a lot of activities like live tango, flamenco, salsa exhibitions etc. organised under the stars. Entry free.
The buidng on the mountain top in the background is the mesquita of the old castle there, converted in a catholic chuch. The pillars inside, floor etc are still original, with the oldest bits possibly dating to the first millennium. Quite a back drop.
Today it was just to enjoy an icecream in :eusa_clap company.

To be continued.

 

[Huertecilla]

whether true or how exaggerated,

Do take note of my signature quote.

 

[Huertecilla]

I'm with DJH, we need more. Great pics. My wife and daughter spent 6 weeks traveling Spain and I hope to visit there myself someday.

Thanks and whát an opportunity to do the same without them, on your own.
My own´strategy´ to get to know andalucian cities which I have been practicing for yéars now, is to hook up with an attractive local lady and

Do by all means pm me if you have concrete plans to visit andalucía.

 

[Huertecilla]

and off to Gibraltar.....

 

[Blackthorn]

I'm looking forward to your pics of Gibraltar. I've never been there.

 

[hatsRme]

I'm looking forward to seeing it now as well. Visited a few times back in the seventies (my folks lived across the straits in Morocco for five years) and the rock was there then.

Unlike the sad demise of New Hampshire's Old Man of the Mountain, the Rock of Gibraltar remains.

Bring it on, Huertecilla!

 

[CaramelSmoothie]

I enjoy the stories as well, TJ. You have to admire someone who has the bollocks to ride a horse around town, dressed as George Washington. Keep em coming, Huerto - you have to be at least a little eccentric to walk around wearing these funny hats, you fit right in!

LOL! I agree. Huerto is an asset to the lounge, imo. There's no one else like him! LOL

 

[CaramelSmoothie]

Great pictures as usual. Try to take some food pics as well!

 

[Huertecilla]

Aiiiiii!!! If only I had taken more then.

In the end I forgot some stuff to take on the trip, among which the hat. So no Gibraltar hatventure, just adventures. Still had GREAT fun but I, without a shadow of a doubt, would have (ab)used the added value of style.

As the Gib is basically only a single main street with tourist oriented shops I took only one foto of one beyond odd shop front and the photos in the cathedral suffered from my photographic incompetence

The concert was awesome, my lady the best, and I had great fun on the loose while she rehearsed
I was definitely NOT flirting, just being cheerful, nice and polite: apparently scarce commodities on that rock. I walek up the Main Street and walking back I received beaming smiles of recognition from the ladies I had 'met' the way up. Surreal!
If I had been there on my own I would have accepted the invitation of the italian student with whom I got in conversation. We had a great laugh and lively discussion about historically intertwined religious politics.
What a charming italian accent and bright blue eyes in a face popping out of a huge mass of curls. Surreal to the power of surreal.
Hence me thinking of the added value of the Glynn although completely irrelevant:The Hat Lady is all the charming company one could possible wish for.

Tbh imo the rock is just that and nor really worth the stop/trip if one is not in the close neighborhood anyway. For me it is less than two hours drive and The Hat Lady lives halfway and even than it was my first visit there ever.
As it is a minute piece of real estate it is beyond comprehension that the place has a ' Cathedral'. Even odder is that it has TWO!!!
Both those building are rather humble churches very much in keep with what you would expect. It is the status which is at odds.
Since the british had given their anglican church the status of cathedral, the catholic competition HAD to do the same and thus two 'cathedral' tagged churches packed a small patch of land.

 

[Huertecilla]

Great pictures as usual. Try to take some food pics as well!

Yes, I should have. My company is a vegetarian so I had scouted for a nice place to eat good veggie food. Only one such place; Tina's Kitchen, a MINUTE shop mainly catering for take away Phillipine food. Hospitably run by a pensioner brit and his philipina wife.
The veggies are fresh cut and the dish then prepaired almost literally under your eyes. It is the first food I have eaten in a restaurant in andalucia in 13 years which was as well prepaired as my gf cooks. It looked all that tasty too!

I will try to coax my pc into uploading the one photo... Don't hold your breath.

 

[Huertecilla]

The date cheekily refers to the ' discovery' of the use of tabacco by the indians.
Gibraltar did not become a british colony untill 1713 and the shop et all is far younger still.

The best of my concert effort results. I subsequently gave up alltogether. Sorry...

 

[tropicalbob]

A few years ago, while I was attending a conference in Seville, a group of us were having drinks at a cafe on the Guadalquivir, and one of my friends pointed out that the buildings across the river represented no less than seven distinct periods of architecture, starting with the Romans. Spain never fails to astonish.

 

[Huertecilla]

Just north of the river, near santiponce lies a whole roman city abandoned when the river changed it course a few km. to the south.
The Isesa hat factory is at a stone throw distance across the road to the east.
I was going to ask the hat guy* to come along but The Hat Lady thinks three is a crowd.

About Isesa; in Gibraltar were a lot of orthodox jews about, including two wearing the traditional wide brim hat. Cool to know that those come from Seville less than an hour to the north.

* ps: just had a call that the diner at the hat guy´s will not be coming sunday. We are going somewhere else apparently.
As the Indy hat thing goes back to ´81 and ´84, meaning over 30 years, there is no hurry with the story as told by the owner of the hattery.

** pps: the Isesa factory is on the role for néxt friday but this is andalucia which never ceases to surprise. Here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italica a bit more about the roman city we hope to combine in the visit; ´look ma, no hat, head, euh... yes, head´; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:SevillaMusArqS17_01.JPG