Priego-Almedinilla

Dear friends,
I had my first useful encounter with a tourist office last night - they had
heard of the path, and were keen to make suggestions about where I could
stay. They still didn't know anything about anything outside the immediate
locality, but still. This morning they managed to turn up a hotel in
Almedinilla, which I hadn't been able to do.
I wandered about yesterday evening in Priego to find somewwhere to eat. It
has a really nice moorish part like the Albaicin in Granada: unfeasibly
narrow streets with window boxes and flower pots clinging to the walls.
I ended up in the hostal where I was staying: it was lively and
companionable in the bar. They had two people working, and they were doing
everything: serving behind the bar; at the tables; and in the dining room.
On top of that they were doing the washing up and looking after reception
in the hostal. The place was called Hostal Rafi: it was a traditional
Spanish centre-of-town hostal with tiny rooms, dubious plumbing and short
hard beds; and I recommend it to any of you planning a trip to Priego.
A short day today, because Almenidilla is the only stopping place between
Priego and Alcala. I saw one sign for the GR7 outside Priego, and followed
it up an anonymous side-street. That was the last sign I saw for a good
while, so I had to make up my own route using the map and guessing that I
could cut across an olive plantation or two. It worked out pretty well
andeventually I did pick up some markings for the path. I was again walking
through olives for most of the way, and the scenery around was the same as
it has been since the north of Malaga - rolling hills covered in olive
trees. At one point I was down in a really delightful valley, with larches,
hawthorn, oaks and brambles lining the track. Local people obviously
thought so, because there was a quantity of new building going on.
In Almedinilla a man whom I asked the way to the hotel gave me a lift right
to it. It's a converted cortijo, three storeys tall and with a central
atrium going right up to the roof. They've got old farm machinery scattered
about: most of it looks like instruments of torture to me. Another long day
tomorrow, and I'm meeting two friends from Gandia tomorrow evening in
Alcala.
I don't seem to able to get a GPRS service here, so I don't know when this
report will reach you.
Distance today: 12km.
You might like to guess what the picture is. Or you might not.
___
A wayfarer in Spain