Visited the small town of Baeza this morning. Recommended in the Rough Guide, it’s full of squares, palaces, churches and other ornate buildings, all in honey coloured stone. It was still cool today, so needed our coats on and the dusty, sandy taste is still around, exacerbated by the smoke from various fires set by the farmers.
After lunch, it seemed like everything was going wrong. We headed for the next town, Úbeda, to do a Lidl shop. The car park was virtually empty – so were the shelves. Everything fresh must have been sold or put away until Monday. Tried the Carrefour up the road but couldn’t fit into the car park. Next, an Aldi, after Googlemaps sent us over some pot-holed wasteland. That too, was virtually empty – no fruit and vegetables for us this weekend! 😬Lesson learnt.
Then called for diesel, then a jet wash – which only half worked. By the time we got to the services it was nearly 5pm so thought we might as well stay the night here as there was parking too.
Next thing, we hear the fridge clicking in and out and realise we’ve run out of gas! 🙄Off to yet another service station to get LPG, then came back to the motorhome parking here in Úbeda.
Ventured into the town and so glad we did. It’s a lovely place, again full of decorative old buildings but best of all, it’s people are all gearing up for Easter and practicing for the various parades. The drum band that we followed through the streets were amazing. So loud it went right through you and left the hairs on the back of your neck standing up! Also watched a load of men gather underneath a wooden chariot/float type thing and carry it up the road to the church. Looked hard work, but then we realised it was loaded up with concrete on top, presumably to mimic the weight it will be once it’s got its churchy object on top.
I love the way everyone just gets involved in this stuff – all ages again, it’s lovely to see.