Estepona, orange blossoms and Puella Gaditana

After enjoying the breakfast delights of Tortilla Española and drinking creamy coffee, it was time for my first Road's Scholar lecture...about the history of España.  I was enthralled with Emmanuel's lecture of Spain's history in a very large nutshell.  He started with the Phoenicians and ended with current times... Romans, Goths, Arabs and Iberians.

I learned that the word for beer (cervesa) came from the Celts and the Phoenicians gave us the alphabet.  History and archaeology took us to Burgos, Spain where 3/4 of the fossil artifacts in the world reveal that this is probably where humanity began over 700,000 years ago.  El Greco, the Spanish painter that portrays personages with real life, often used mentally ill subjects to show "real" people to show the innocent wonder on their faces.  When Emmanuel spoke of "arenas" he said to look closely at the similarities between the Roman coliseums and the Spanish bullrings...CLOSE!  And the word, arenas, means "sand" - both venues used sand to sop up the blood spilled when Christians were killed and then the bulls... Enlightened tolerance allowed three religions to work together and were accepted: Muslims, Christians and Jews.

And the possible beginning of the flamenco dance?  Oh, my!  Puella Gaditana came from the Romans.  Could this have been the beginning of flamenco dance?  Since music and dancing are woven through my soul, this resonated with me.  If you want to look at this further, please go to https://misteriosdecadiz.jimdo.com video.

AND THEN WE EXPLORED OLD ESTEPONA.  We (30 of us) each carry a radio emitter with an earpiece so we hear the tour guide as if we were listening to iTunes on our phone.  Cobblestone streets led us into the ancient town where streets ran into one another like woven strands of string.
Our first introduction to the ancient area was an evocative statue of a woman...why was she crying?  I have absolutely no idea but she sure made me wish I knew the answer.

Our guide told us that added to street signs, colored pots led the way.  What?  Each street had colored pots hanging on the walls depicting the specific street so if a drunk couldn't fine his/her way home or a visitor wanted to find your home, they looked for the color of the pots instead of trying to read the street signs.  They were red, blue, green, yellow, purple and polka dots.  Each street's wall was covered in the pots all the same color; bright colored flowers drooped out of them, inviting you in.

Crossing over the cobble stone streets, the guide led us toward a church, but on the way we rounded a corner and found ourselves in a plaza filled with trees and covered with intricately laid out stones from the Arabic era.  The heavy scent of orange blossoms permeated the entire area from orange trees.  Their white fragrant flowers were perfectly formed and their perfume invited us to sit, mediate and inhale, leaving us breathless with delight.

AND THEN (y entonces) I SAW THE BOOK TREE!  Everyone stared and gathered below the tree to focus on what they were seeing.  (smile)  It was a book store's idea of frivolity and I loved it,

so ridiculously out of place.  Maybe when I get home I will plant one of my own?  

There is still the old wall reaching toward the sky of Castillo de San Luis just three blocks from Avenue España just south of Plaza de las Flores.  Orange blossoms cover the old stone wall and the scent reaches out and embraces you when you get close.  

The city's ayuntamento with the flags of Andalucia, Spain and Estepona flew breathlessly above the doors, with plaques proudly bearing the words Andalusia poor si para España y la humanidad. (Andalusia by itself for Spain and humanity.)

As I write this, I am sitting in the lower lobby of the Estepona Palace Hotel amid bright yellow couches and artwork.  It is peaceful and the chatter is low, as if everyone knows I am reliving this wonderful day and they don't want to take a footstep inside my head.  And then I took a long nap to continue my fight against jet lag... later enjoyed with a glass of Tempranillo wine (only $3.90) with a new friend, a lovely dinner and the musical entertainment of a saxophone concert in the lounge.

Tomorrow -- Cordoba and the mosque, called La Mesquite-Catedral