A map showing the location of the town of Dúrcal, about 280 miles south of Madrid, not far from the Mediterranean coast.
Salvi grew up in Dúrcal (w), a small town in the south of Spain, and she still has a house there. So this morning, we set off to spend a couple of days in Dúrcal:
A map showing the location of the town of Dúrcal, about 280 miles south of Madrid, not far from the Mediterranean coast.
Yes, it was a long drive. A large part of the drive took us through the area of Spain known as La Mancha, so of course:
Three windmills at the top of a hill.
We stopped for breakfast at a little roadside inn, where Juan Carlos bought some melons from a fruit vendor next door:
Juan Carlos standing in front of the fruit vendor's stand, under a tent in the parking lot.
I took some pictures of scenery along the way:
Two pictures of the road winding along through tree covered mountains, with a big blue sky above.
We made another stop for lunch (like I said, it was a long drive):
A roadside hotel, with signs out front reading "Hotel," "Restaurante" and "24H Bar."
...where I ordered boquerones, a favorite of mine at Spanish restaurants. They're anchovies, but not the salt bombs you get on pizzas. They're marinated in vinegar, and they're delicious (if you like vinegar). They usually look something like this:
A plate of silvery anchovies in an oil and vinegar marinade.
But to my surprise, what landed on the table in front of me was this:
A plate of deep fried anchovies
Boquerones also come fried! Who knew? Well, they weren't what I was expecting, but they were good anyway.
So we finally arrived at Salvi's house:
A two story house, painted pale yellow, with a wrought iron gate, and wrought iron railings on the windows.
...on a quiet, small town street:
A picture of the view looking down Salvi's street.
Quite a change from Madrid.
Like their house in Madrid, this house was also full of books, and the walls were also covered with paintings. In the back yard was a pool deck, with intricately patterned Moorish style tilework:
...and walls covered with hundreds of decorative plates:
A view of the pool deck, looking down from an upstairs window. The left wall is covered with decorative plates of various sizes. Most are round, but a few are square or oval. There are three Moorish arches on the back wall.
The other wall of the pool deck, taken from ground level. This wall is also covered with decorative plates of various shapes and sized. Terry is sitting on a chair underneath the plates.
In the afternoon, I went out for a walk, and took some pictures of the town:
The main street.
A side street.
I came to a central plaza with a fountain:
...and a church:
The church is whitewashed, with an orangey-brown brick bell tower.
...dedicated to San Ramon:
Inside the church, a statue of San Ramon in a wall niche.
The plaza also featured a statue of Rocío Dúrcal (w):
A bronze statue of a woman in a flowing gown, holding a microphone.
...who I had never heard of. I looked her up and found that she was a singer and actress - and she had nothing to do with the town of Dúrcal. Her real name was María de los Ángeles de las Heras Ortiz, and she apparently chose her stage name by picking a name from a map at random! In keeping with my tradition of bringing home music from where I've travelled, I bought one of her albums.
Later, we took Kettle and Goleta to a vacant lot that Salvi also owns, and let them run and play. We also met Salvi's sister, Conchi. And that was it for the day.