Couldn’t face walking around Seville today, but had to go as far as the ring road to get back out towards the coast and the Doñana National Park.
We headed for El Rocio, not knowing quite what to expect. It really is a kind of ‘cowboy’ town, with wide sandy streets and hitching posts outside almost every house and bar.
It has an extraordinary festival every year, where people come from miles around on horseback, sometimes with decorated carts all to celebrate the miracle of Nuestra Señora del Rocio – a statue they found here, that apparently refuses to be moved anywhere else! There seem to be a lot of believers as the votive room, which is totally separate to the beautiful church is absolutely full of candles with soot marks on the outside.
Don’t think we’ve ever been anywhere like this, but the best thing about it, other than horses everywhere, is that it’s right next to the wetlands of the National Park. There are birds absolutely everywhere and not the kind that we are used to seeing, so Spoonbills, Flamingos, Glossy Ibis, Coots and Great Egrets can all be ticked off today 🤩We did see some kind of raptor, maybe a Marsh Harrier – couldn’t catch a photo but he didn’t half scare the other birds – they all took off at once.
Some beautiful horses around; the ones roaming free looked the happiest and healthiest- felt sorry for the ones having to pull carts around.
Late afternoon, we drove out to Matalascañas on the coast for a free night’s sleep. We were quite surprised to find a huge resort here on the edge of the nature reserve but great to have parking right by the sea.