Puebla de Don Fadrique

Dear friends,
Today I have done absolutely nothing. Well, almost absolutely nothing. I
strolled into the town centre, bought a copy of 'El Pais', read it in a
square, came back to the hotel and snoozed or watched adverts on tv for
most of the afternoon. There aren't any actual programs on Spanish tv, just
great long series of adverts interrupted by fragments of films. Most of the
ads are for cars and junk food, which explains why the Spanish are now
worried about obesity and traffic jams.
There is nothing much to say about Publa de Don Fadrique. It is named after
someone who killed a lot of moors and was rewarded by the Catholic Monarchs
Fernando and Isabel. Thirty years ago it was an important market town with
over 30,000 inhabitants, but only 2,000 or so are left, so it's a bit
run-down. Evidently lots of the townspeople went to find work in Murcia.
Tomorrow I hope to find traces of the route leading to Murcia province. I
shall attempt to follow it to Canada de la Cruz, where a clever friend has
arranged a casa rural for me to stay in. From there I will leave the path
and make my own way to Caravaca via Archivel.
The picture shows a typical tractor taken from the window of my room.
___
A wayfarer in Spain