Toledo to Capileira with a camera over my shoulder

(Part 6 of 6 on Spain)

As the seven of us placed our suitcases in the 8-passenger van being driven by Don Lyon, chief guide and outfitter for Close-Up Expeditions, the weather cleared. Hopefully, this would be a positive sign for great days of photography during our drive from Toledo toward and into the mountains of southern Spain.

For the previous 10 days we had viewed southwestern France, crossed the Pyrénées and explored parts of the Catalonia, Aragón and Old Castile regions of Spain. In this article, the last in a series on a photography tour, I’ll trace our encounters in several small villages in the Andalucía region of Spain.

Manzanares

On our drive south, we enjoyed various landscape scenes before stopping in the town of Manzanares to photograph its Plaza Constitución and have lunch.

My thoughts of Manzanares centers on the Menano Hostal restaurant bar. First, we enjoyed a wonderful lunch of gazpacho soup, calamari and, for dessert, fresh strawberries (€12 per person). But, more than the meal, what I remember is watching several men rolling dice for cerveza (beer) and then having the constant loser ask me to roll the dice for him. I won and was rewarded with several slaps on the back, a cerveza and rapid congratulatory Spanish far too fast for me to understand.

All too soon it was time to leave, limiting my photo opportunities but not my recollections of interacting with these gregarious men.

Zuheros

Following the back roads to Guadix, we bypassed several small villages until a glistening white one appeared on a hillside above us. This required a detour.

At the entrance to Zuheros, a shepherd was sitting serenely on a low wall with his dog guarding grazing sheep; several of the lambs were only minutes old. Our group then walked the cobblestone streets between freshly whitewashed buildings to Zuheros’ Plaza de la Paz for a view of an ancient Roman castle with its subsequent Moorish battlements and 16th-century Renaissance palace additions.

Nearby, two elderly men sitting on a wall bench caught my attention. One motioned that the dog by his feet was his, but as soon as his wife appeared the dog quickly abandoned him, to his chagrin, and followed her. The dog knew who was boss.

Soon we heard a loud racket. Ten young children marching toward us hollering and beating on large paint cans were enacting, but not too solemnly, a funeral procession complete with a cross and a make-believe coffin. Eight strangers with cameras intimidated them more than the children’s parents yelling for them to be quiet.

Guadix

By the time we arrived at the Hotel Cuevas Pedro Antonio in Guadix, it was dusk. To our surprise, we found that each of our separate large cave motel rooms was completely underground except for an entrance door and window, both framed into the tufa hillside. Tufa is a soft stone or clay-like material that is easy to excavate yet hardens in the presence of air.

These being caves, the room temperature remains constant at about 64°F, winter and summer, but, yes, the rooms had heat and plenty of hot water for showers.

This motel stay allowed us to understand Guadix’s key tourist attraction, the city’s troglodyte district, called Barrio de las Cuevas, on a large hill overlooking the city proper. A thousand or more people permanently live in these caves, complete with the comforts we’d expect in a home. The exterior walls of most of these tufa homes were whitewashed, and a few had decorative window flower boxes.

While searching for photo subjects, I met an elderly man saddling an old mule with two very large canvas bags. As I couldn’t understand what he was going to do, we walked together for a couple of blocks before he stopped in front of a cave home. Then he began to shovel freshly dug tufa into the canvas bags to take to the area’s dump. A homeowner was enlarging his cave.

A few miles from Guadix, the Andalusian village of La Calahorra stands in a photogenic setting near the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. On a nearby large hillside, Castillo de la Calahorra, an Italian-style castle with a round tower on each of its four sides was built in the 15th century to protect the village. The castle is in good condition, with classical design moldings in its interior. There is no charge to enter, though the caretaker should be rewarded.

Descending the castle hillside, we met a sheepherder enjoying this same wonderful scene enhanced by the, then, snow-covered mountains we’d soon cross.

Capileira

On the south side of the Sierra Nevada Mountains and facing the distant Mediterranean is the beautiful Poqueira Valley. Here there are three villages ascending toward the mountain ridges, with Capileira being the highest. In April, the snow on the mountain crests above Capileira had begun to melt and German hikers, mostly staying in Bubion, a village directly below Capileira, were enjoying the beautiful landscape.

A drive high above 4,710-foot Capileira rewarded us with views only shepherds in solitude enjoy. Although most Capileira hostels are average, who would want to spend time in their rooms anyway when spectacular scenery exists?

Our visit to the Sierra Nevada Mountains completed our wonderful travels in Spain, our having traveled from north to south in this photogenic country.

Spain tour epilog

During these April 2004 travels, Spaniards were very hospitable to us, making no recriminations re our involvement in Iraq nor blaming us for the, then, recent terrorist bombings in Madrid.

Of the large cities, Barcelona was certainly my choice — vibrant, with fantastic scenes to experience and photograph.

My favorite, however, was beautiful Albarracín and several of the smaller villages, e.g., Zuheros, where locals retain the old-world heritage that tourists and photographers seek. Most of the villagers spoke little or no English, yet it was possible to communicate with limited Spanish and especially with a smile.

And, finally, for landscape, I’ll retain an image of myself as Don Quixote wandering the desolate yet beautiful La Mancha countryside. This was my first, and hopefully not my last, strictly photographic tour led by a pro.

Minutiae

• Photo tip — when taking candid photos, don’t be one of the in-your-face paparazzi or hide behind your camera as if it were a shield. Carry the camera in an inconspicuous way, be natural and blend in with the crowd. Make personal contact with locals even if you can’t speak their language. It takes practice and especially patience for good photo opportunities.

• In Gaudix, prices for the Apartment Caves Pedro Antonia de Alarcon (call 34 958 66 49 86, e-mail cavehotel@infonegocio.com or visit www.andalucia.com/cavehotel) vary between €50 (near $66) during the low season and €61.50 ($81) in the high season for two people. Single rooms are sometimes available for about €35. Prices do not include 7% tax or breakfast.

• Two Dutch girl hikers we met in Zuheros stayed in the 18-room Zuhayra Hotel (phone 34 957 69 46 93). Rooms cost about €41-€53.

• In the mountain village of Capileira, the Pension Panjuila (phone 34 958 76 30 61) charged €30 for a single without breakfast.

• The quoted land price of the 16-day “Spanish Explorer” tour we took in April ’04 was $3,389 plus a meal budget of $448 at the, then, exchange rate of €1=$1.13. (The price of my tour was reduced 25% for winning a Close-Up Expeditions photography contest.) Contact Close-Up Expeditions (858 56th St., Oakland, CA 94608; phone 800/457-9553, fax 510/654-3034, e-mail info@cuephoto.com or visit www.cuephoto.com).

• My favorite Spanish webpage is www.red2000.com/spain, and for Gaudix check out www.andalucia.com/gaudix/home.htm and www.aboutgranada.com/granada/towns-gaudix.asp.

Coming up

As several ITN readers have recently commented about Cordoba and Granada, I’ll discuss my experiences in these wonderful cities at some future date. But next let’s visit the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Palmyra (Tadmor) in the middle of Syria’s eastern desert.