All photos related to this blog entry can be found at Grant & Julie

You see them everywhere in rural Spain, old men rugged up against the weather, wandering the hills and by-roads, alone. Sometimes you see them sitting by the side of the road watching the passing traffic, a nod to one car here a hurried greeting to another there. A lost look in their eye and a heavy sigh, the lucky ones are in the cafes, drinking coffees or stronger and playing dominoes with other men in the same predicament.We often wondered about Spain's lonely retirees. If they have family and friends or have suddenly found themselves on their own. Who were they, where did they come from and where do they go?

We discovered that these gentlemen no longer go to work each day and yet are not allowed to stay at home. Their wives send them off in the morning, they return for lunch and are expected to go out again after siesta, until a respectable hour for a man to arrive home.

Meanwhile the women are busy, cooking, cleaning, washing and ironing, going about their daily chores for their home and family. Their daily routines have not changed and they are content in the fact that they are required and useful to their family and wider communities. We wonder about their husbands.

We left Iznajar for Seville on a cold Tuesday afternoon. Our electric jackets, gloves and socks were welcome on the highway. The ride was pleasant and uneventful. We managed to locate our Pension in the heart the historical centre with relative ease. The hotel staff were friendly and helpful and gave us information on the city and most importantly where the Tapas bars were.

For those who have not had the pleasure of knowing Tapas here is a brief taste. Tapas literally means 'cover’, they are a snack or appetiser served alongside a drink in a bar or cafe, they can be served hot or cold. No one really knows where or when this phenomenon originated, however it is steeped in legend from the Sherry bars of Andalusia placing a slice of ham or chorizo (spicy sausage similar to salami) over the glass to prevent fruit flies or dust from contaminating the beverage to the sailors bars as the King of the time decreed that all drinks should be served food to help prevent public drunkenness. There is even a story of how the bars would serve cheap bad wine with a slice of local pungent cheese to cover up the smell and taste of the awful wine.

Today, Tapas has morphed into a lovely social tradition where one meets friends and family at local establishments for a drink, a nibble, some conversation and relaxation.

Tapas can be a simple affair and presented as a snack from the kitchen free of charge, or for a minimal price of a few cents. Or you can have a choice of anywhere between 8 and 12 tapas scrawled on a blackboard or piece of butchers paper for a euro or two in a small rural bar to a large extravagant menu in some of fancier places in the bigger cities.

The list of dishes is immense and each region has its own speciality. In Seville Spinach and Chickpeas is a typical tasty dish, seafood in every shape or form along the coast. Iberian Jamon (ham), cheeses, olives and Russian Salad appear across the country.

Tapas is usually served during the day between 12 noon and dinner (dinner is generally served between 8pm and 10pm in Spain). We have a tendency to go out for tapas have a glass of wine or a soft drink at ‘Aussie’ lunch/dinner time partake of a tapas or two as we watch the world go by and call it our meal.

Old Seville is a beautiful city to walk around and get lost in. Narrow one way streets and pedestrian only laneways twist and turn this way and that. Houses line these tiny streets two and three stories high. Now and then you will find an opening in a wall or a door left ajar giving you the opportunity to peer inside at a beautifully sculptured private garden or court yard decorated with bright pots and, of course, geraniums.

A visit to the Alcazar in the heart of the old city is a fabulous way to while away the day. This Royal Palace was once a Moorish fort dating back to the 1300’s and the upper levels remain the Seville residence of the Spanish Royal Family. It is one of the most visited structures in the word and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Apart from its interesting history it is just too damn beautiful for words and we will leave the photos to speak on our behalf, not that they do justice to the real thing.

February sees the European winter in full swing and Northern Spain saw the highest snowfalls in one hundred years. We were safely tucked away in the small town of Tarifa, the closest the European continent can get to the African continent. It is also where the Mediterranean and the Atlantic meet. Tarifa is a wind-sport heaven. Even in the middle of winter northern Europeans flock to the pristine beaches and sand dunes to Kite and Wind Surf. In summer it is so heaving with tourists that a simple 15 kilometer drive to the next town can take hours.

We loved this part of Spain. It is so beautifully rural and unpopulated, much like the south coast of South Australia.

The small seaside village of Bolonia is home to the Roman Ruins of Baelo Claudia. Located on the coast with a view to Marocco, Baelo Claudia was an important figure in the Roman Empire. It comprised of a walled city with gates opening to the roads from Rome and Cadiz, had local government buildings, forum, basilica and most interestingly three temples dedicated to Juno, Jupiter and Minerva plus an additional temple devoted to the Egyptian Goddess Isis. The only other Roman city with the same Temple configuration was Sbeitla in Tunisia (which we visited in November 2014).

The city’s wealth was derived from its tuna fishing industry and the fish salting factories, believed to originate from Phoenician times.

This small quiet ruins charges only Euros 1.50 to foreign visitors and is spectacularly set, well preserved and maintained. It is as impressive and interesting as some other Roman ruins we have visited.

PS before we forget... YES Hadrian did have influence over Baelo Claudia, the majority of the sculptures found at the site were from Hadrian’s time as Emperor, we all know how Hadrian loved a good statue (see Villa Adriana, Italy).

It seems we had been stumbling across Emperor Hadrian all over Europe, time for a change and in the local Spanish resort town of Huelva we met another famous guy, Christopher Columbus. It was from Huelva that Columbus sought refuge with the Franciscan monks at La Rabida, prepared for and left on his First Journey of Discovery with the three boats The Santa Maria, The Niña and The Pinta.

Life size replicas of the boats were built in the traditional manner to commemorate the 500 year anniversary of Columbus’ sailing and are now docked at La Rabida for all to enjoy. It is amazing at how small the boats were, how far they sailed and the cramped living conditions for those who were on board.

Out for a ride we ended up in a small village not far from Huelva with a beautiful white church. El Rocio has the feeling of a wild west town. Outside the bars and restaurants there are signs ‘Reservado Caballos – Reserved for Horses’, the towns streets are ‘paved’ in sand to make it easier on the horses hooves, and beautiful white washed Spanish buildings line the streets.

The focus of the town, dominating the main square, is the beautiful Ermita or Sanctuario de Nuestra Señora de El Rocío. The Our Lady of the Dew Church commands over one million pilgrims each year. They come by foot, by horse, by car and often sleep in covered wagons. There are over 100 different brotherhoods that come to pay their respect to the icon of the church.

The inside of this Catholic Church is very austere. Plain white walls throughout, no station of the cross decorating the walls. What stained glass there is, is minimal and of geometric shapes, there are no biblical stories being told by these windows. Simple wooden pews unadorned by cushions line both sides of the church with a clear isle through the centre. Then there is the altar, a mass of gilt covered carvings of angels, Saints, Jesus in various incarnations, flowers, fruits and crosses. Set in the middle of it all is the wooden statue dressed in her procession finery of Nuestra Señora de El Rocío. (There is no photography allowed inside the church so the photo in this blog is via Wikimedia Commons.)

By Martius (Flickr) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

To preserve the pristine condition of the inside of church no wax candles are allowed to be lit, however electric candles can be purchased and there is a chapel across the street with rows and rows of candle holders allowing the faithful to beseech their favoured Saint for blessings and answers to prayers.

Crumpet needed new tyres, Grant has been enjoying the Mitas E07 Dakkar Enduros front and rear. Last time we put a tyre on was in Brisbane. We had been trawling the interweb to see where we could purchase the same tyres in Spain. We found that only the E07 Front was available in Spain.

It was in Huelva that we found a small Motorcycle shop owned by Paco. With his help and bad English and our rotten Spanish we are now trialling E07 Front and E08 Rear. We ordered the tyres and they were delivered the very next day. Grant removed both wheels; Paco put the new tyres onto the rims, new valves in and balanced them.

We were on our way to Portugal.