Let's go round Álora again. Maybe we'll turn back the Hands of Time. Whatever happened to the tapa?

 

 Let's go round again. Maybe we'll turn back the hands of time. Whose round is it?

 

                   Calle Benito Suarez November 9th. 2023.

Here's a picture of our street. It doesn't usually look like this. There is not a single car parked there. This marks the start of another of  Álora's favourite sponsored pastimes.... the 'Concurso Enigmático de la Circulación' (Magical Mystery Tour Game). It's one of the many events whch the Ayuntamiento puts on for visitors. Even local residents can join in and have fun too!

In my copy of 'The Rough Guide to Andalucia',  published in 2006, Álora is described as 'A rather sleepy market town with a severe traffic problem and many narrow streets that are tricky to negotiate' That was written before we had the creative and much-loved 'internal circulatory system' which takes motorists on a picturesque tour of some of those attractive, and difficult to negotiate, narrow streets. 

Our Calle Benito Suarez is a popular stretch of it. These days we have a lot more visitors to the town because of the Caminito del Rey just 24km.(13 miles) up the road, so that means more people to enjoy playing the game. Many 'visitors' are to be seen going round and round La Plaza Baja,in the 'historical center' hoping to stumble on a way out of the town. It's a waste of time asking for directions because even well-meaning residents have no idea. It's all 'trial and error, I´m afraid.

Our deserted street is a new addition to the game.. It's only deserted at night and between 2pm. and 5pm. when most people are at home eating and snoozing.

There is only one set of traffic lights in the whole of Álora, and it's been included in the traffic circulatory system so that pedestrians can participate in the game, too. It gives them the opportunity to try and guess the direction the traffic might be coming from when the lights change. It's only a choice of three, but there's lots of scope for blind speculation and reckless dashes which raise the blood pressure levels of drivers, pedestrians and on-lookers no end. 

The best day to watch the fun is on Monday, which is 'market day' and brings a lot more 'variables' into play. Not many strangers to Álora realise that it's perfectly legal to park anywhere you like, as long as you put your hazards on. This includes at and between traffic lights. It's also worth knowing, in case you find youself accidentally taking part, that people over the age of 55 are allowed to walk slowly and unpredictably up the middle of the road, stopping to chat or admire a baby. 

Get there  between 11.00am. and 12.00pm. when everybody is rushing aimlessly about and there is the possibility of an ambulance within 40 km. (24 miles) if needed.

The Consurso this year has been given a twist. When these tasteful parking signs appeared on our street a week ago, the vecinos (locals) knew immediately that there was trouble ahead.

 

 

No parking on Calle Benito Suárez for the forseeable future because they will be shutting Calle Atrás for at least four and a half months to make it look more beautiful. (It's looking better already).

                                         Calle Atrás

 
and, to add insult to injury, two-way traffic on Benito Suárez!

Calle Atrás is closed and our street has become a battlefield. This sat-nav defying move has confounded everyone and caused no end of noisy horn-blasting which is very upsetting for the local community of stray cats and dogs that are used to a predictable one-way system and parked cars to defecate between at their leisure.

 

  'Please don't let your dog poo in my doorway.'

But the 'game' continues. It is now almost impossible to navigate our 'sleepy' streets. It's not so bad having to park in a different place every night, but trying to remember where I've left the car is becoming a problem.

Mrs. Sánchez and I returned to Álora  in September after a 4 month 'Brexit exile' in Birmingham. Summer temperatures in Spain had been extremely high from June and it was still scorching here in September. On one day Álora was the hottest town in Spain.

Heatwave hits province hard as Álora and MÁlaga record highest temperature in Spain

It also left an all-time record for the highest minimum night temperature, which at 7am this Thursday morning still stood at 34.1C at the airport, something not seen since records began in 1942

SUR

Malaga

Thursday, 20 July 2023, 16:14 | Updated 18:26h.

The town of Álora in the Guadalhorce valley and Malaga Airport recorded the highest maximum temperature in Spain this Wednesday during the latest extreme heatwave to hit the region and much of the rest of the country.

People across the area, if they dared to go outside, felt the full force of the hot ‘terral’ wind, which blows from inland on some days at this time of year, adding several degrees to normal temperatures. 

 The hot 'Terrál' wind was blowing during April, too, Our olive trees were in full blossom and we were hoping for a good crop of olives this year. The hot wind dried out the blossom and no pollination took place, so no olives for us this year and no olive oil. Most of the growers round here have had the same problem. 

Prices for olive oil have shot up. Here, a 5 litre bottle of good olive oil is about 48 euros. It's only £8 a litre in Waitrose - that's cheaper than here, direct from the producer. Expect a big price rise in the UK when this year's oil hits the shops!

Our olive grove, near Casarabonela, can look after itself in extreme temperatures. The trees are able to cope with drought but they could do with a few weeks of rain at the moment

Our garden, in Álora, though, dries out very quickly in the summer and  many of our plants are in macetas (pots). Without water, the garden would dry up in no time, leaving only a few deep-rooted trees and shrubs.

Thanks entirely to our friends, Celia and Stewart, our garden was still here when we got back. we can't thank them enough.

                    Thanks, so much, Celia and Stewart.

 

This is what Álora looked like this morning when I took Monty for his morning walk. It's a beautiful place. The castle up on the left is one of the best in Andalucía. Virtually in the dead centre of this picture is our back wall which looks out to the Monte Hacho range. On the left stands Monte (pronounced 'monty') Hacho, where we took Monty for a walk yesterday.  He's very pround to have a big hill named after him.

                           El Hacho overlooking Álora
 

 We can see 'El Hacho' from our garden but we have only just started taking Monty there for a run. It's ideal. He can run free and it's good exercise for Mrs, Sanchez and me. The views from up there are breathtaking. We don't walk all the way up, obviously, but we can drive half-way up, and there's a good 5,000 steps-worth of sendero (track).

 

At 7.17 am. on the 9th. of October 1680 the was a massive terremoto (earthquake) with its epicentre between Álora and Carratraca. There was no Richter Scale in those days so no-one knows how bad it was. I must have been  between really bad and really, really bad or even worse.

In Málaga only the Cathedral was left standing. 

Damage was caused in Sevilla, Córdoba and Madrid. 70 people were killed in Málaga, Álora had a population of about 650 at the time There are no official reports of deaths here, but there must have been extensive damage, The convent on the Ardales road was destroyed and the Parish Church up in the castle collapsed four years later. The little chapel, on the right as you go in, is all that's left of it. It's now used to store 'thrones'. (which people living in grass houses should never do). I suppose there were very few tall buildings in those days to fall on top of people, no gas pipes to explode and no drinking water to be cut off - no emergency services either.

 

          What remains of Álora´s first Parish Church

The earthquake followed one of the biggest droughts in living memory. Our house insurance doesn't cover 'earthquake damage.' It's built on the edge of the 'tajo' (cliff), so if Álora gets the shakes, we'll end up down in Arroyo Hondo along with all our 'aguas residuales'. Hey Ho.

On a lighter note...

It's good to see that the Los Caballitos, formerly Los Caballos Dos has opened as a proper bar. I hope it does well. I think they do traditional tapas and open more than two days a week.

They've got 'Callos' on the chalkboard, so that's a good sign.

Carillada would be nice, too!

 

 

El Rinconcillo
It's good to see a bar offering a 'Menu del Día'. They seem to have died out in Álora town.They also do tapas, rather than 'media media raciones' - (English 'tapas' bar style). El Rinconcillo currently holds the record for the bar  having the most changes of name in Álora.

Man in Álora Inc. is offering a prize for naming more than six previous monikers. Answers on a postcard as usual.

 ´

Tapeando' was a popular pastime, not so long ago, in Álora. You could go from bar to bar of an afternoon, sampling a tapa with a caña, perhaps two, in each, as you made your way up through the town. We called it 'La Vuelta' (Going round). Wednesday was the day we used to do it, led by Antonio Martos who used to run La Taberna de Antonio, with Ana. Wednesday was his day off and he was generous enough to spend part of it showing us the ropes of tapeando round Álora...although he rarely ventured further than Vera Cruz church.

 We usually took in seven or eight bars. What a great way to sample the local tapas and practise our Spanish too!

We had another go at it a couple of weeks ago, but it was slow going with our female companions, who didn't get into the spirit of it - talking instead of drinking, sitting down - that sort of thing. Most of the bars in town did tapas - a couple of prawns, one concha fina, a saucer of calamares -no menus, no lists of tapas; often no obvious signs that food was available. You just asked, 'Qué tapas tienes?' and picked out one dish that you recognised from the list of about ten tapas recited at twenty words per second.

Before you were halfway through your caña, Antonio would have paid by some secret sign, left half his drink on the bar and be pacing out towards the door, on the way to Bar Chismo, Bar Alegría, Café Central, Madrugón, Bar Azahar, Lo D' Antonio, Los Caballos Dos or ....

 

                                Antonio Martos

Álora revives the tapeando tradition with its annual Ruta de laTapa.

No te lo pierdas! (Don't miss it!).

 

If you're reading this in Spain, enjoy the rest of this Verano de mebrillo (Indian summer)

 

Juanito Sánchez 

November 17th. 2023