{"id":2115,"date":"2019-06-24T15:12:24","date_gmt":"2019-06-24T15:12:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=2115"},"modified":"2019-06-25T20:42:43","modified_gmt":"2019-06-25T20:42:43","slug":"11-guadalupe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=2115","title":{"rendered":"11. GUADALUPE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Finally, after twelve happy days, we are moving on.\u00a0 Guadalupe is not far away and there is a campsite a bit North of town.\u00a0 It’s in the hills and we are a bit worried that there’s not going to be much to do or see there.\u00a0 The site is supposed to have a lovely pool and good walks and cycle routes around – so off we go.<\/p>\n

The area around Casta\u00f1ar de Ibor is indeed hilly!<\/p>\n

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We make a new record at Camping Ibores.\u00a0 We are the ONLY campers on a 75 pitch site.\u00a0 I think we may have been alone on five-caravan sites in the UK on a couple of occasions.\u00a0 \u00a0But never on a “proper” site!\u00a0 It was so difficult choosing our pitch!\u00a0 Too much choice!\u00a0 In the end we managed to occupy two pitches with the van and another with the car!\u00a0 All three places had fabulous views of the olive tree covered mountain slopes.\u00a0 So, we have swapped the monoculture of cherries in the Jerte valley for one of olives here.<\/p>\n

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The only problems we had were that there was no water in the pool (yet again!), the restaurant was closed (it’s Monday), the bar is shut (no customers), there are prickly seed pods all over the ground competing for our toes with the ants (millions of), and last, but far from least, the place was infested with mozzies (the first we’ve encountered).\u00a0 Apart from that the place was ideal!<\/p>\n

Talking of prickly, we’ve noticed that lots of local plants are armed against the ravages of donkeys, cows, goats etc.\u00a0 They are covered in spines or sharp pointy leaves.\u00a0 Not nice to walk through!\u00a0 Pretty, but spikey!<\/p>\n

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As we drove from the site South through the mountains we got our first view of Guadalupe – a bird’s eye view.\u00a0 A town in the middle of nowhere.<\/p>\n

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The place is famous (in a marginal sort of way) for having a convent – the adventurously named Real Monasterio de Nuestra Se\u00f1ora Santa Maria de Guadalupe and a couple of smart hotels.\u00a0 In fact half of the convent IS one of the hotels.\u00a0 The Hospideria Monasterio de Guadalupe.\u00a0 The other half is an active monastery and a bit of a tourist attraction.<\/p>\n

Coffees were taken in the serenely lit internal courtyard of the Hospideria …<\/p>\n

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We think the residents that this place was built for were either vertically challenged or enjoyed hitting their heads as part of their absolution …<\/p>\n

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We then followed a modern day resident of the hotel through a door which we probably shouldn’t have gone through.\u00a0 Suddenly we were in the cloisters of the working part of the convent.<\/p>\n

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… and following a monk carrying a set of step ladders we found ourselves inside the main chapel.\u00a0 A quick, illicit photo …<\/p>\n

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… and we were thrown out by a stern looking monkish fellow!\u00a0 We had broken into a Spanish tourist party.\u00a0 They all had tickets.\u00a0 We didn’t!<\/p>\n

The parador was beautiful with lovely gardens which appeared free of ants, mozzies and prickly things.\u00a0 Just a shame that there was no access for caravans!<\/p>\n

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After lunch which we took in a different hotel in town we headed a bit further (some 60 kms!) south to see what the countryside looked like.\u00a0 I can report that it looked savagely desiccated and largely barren for miles and miles and miles.\u00a0 After several attempts we found an interesting path beside a huge reservoir.\u00a0 So, first an hour reading our books in the shade of a single, suitable oak tree.\u00a0 Very peaceful.\u00a0 So quiet that nothing and nobody passed.\u00a0 Luckily – because our chairs were in the middle of the track.<\/p>\n

Later we set off for a walk.\u00a0 We appeared to have chosen a longish path for our three mile daily exercise.<\/p>\n

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The Camino Natural del Guadiana clearly runs for a respectable 368 km (at least!).\u00a0 That should do us!<\/p>\n

We visited the only swimming pool we could find open near our campsite.\u00a0 It was really just a dammed section of the local stream with a small artificial beach.<\/p>\n

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Not quite attractive enough to make us take off our clothes – so we headed to the bar just up the road for a quiet beer.<\/p>\n

I think I’ll leave our “Guadalupe experience” at that!<\/p>\n

The next day’s trip was full of excitement and danger, I suppose!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Finally, after twelve happy days, we are moving on.\u00a0 Guadalupe is not far away and there is a campsite a bit North of town.\u00a0 It’s in the hills and we are a bit worried that there’s not going to be… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2115","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spain-may-2019"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2115","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2115"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2115\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2139,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2115\/revisions\/2139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2115"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2115"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2115"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}