This being part five of the saga of our summer 2006.

After the Alhambra we went down the hundred odd klms to visit Michael, our friend (and onetime best man of 33 years ago) who now lives near the coast in Manilva.

I have already recorded my impressions of the Costa in a blog I put up from there in July Flamenco

There are terrific rewards from living here.
It has a wonderfully benign climate and, even the Tramontana,
the “Mistral” of this part of the world,which they hate , we
found deliciously cooling in the heat.

“The wind is in from Africa
Last night I couldn’t sleep”

So I stood up on Michaels roof and took photos of the dawn.

The amazing and unsung revelation about this part of Spain
is that you travel just a few klms. back from the coast and
you easily find the real Spain.

I already mentioned the Pueblo Blanco of Guicín.
We went with Michael to visit another called Medina Sidonia.

This is rather more prosperous than Guicín due to the famed Dolces
which are made in a factory at the outskirts of the town.

These Dolces, which are rather like French Petits Fours, are delicious.
We bought a ridiculous amount of them and are still eking them out
slowly and greedily six weeks later.

One of the striking features about these villages is the strong
Moorish influences still evident.
The very whitness of the villages shows the arabesque style.
But there plenty of other vestiges

The interior of a chemist shop

Some battered tiles in the foyer of an old house

Even the church had a door which they, unashamedly, said came
from the Mosque which they tore down to build it.

The church was itself a joy, I’m only sorry my pictures
didn’t turn out better.

The images were amazing.
This statue was of a female saint, dressed in fabric.
complete with a crown of thorns and carrying a cross.
An icon I had never seen or heard of before.

The general understanding of the images was marred a
little by the bizarre translations into English.
In one case Santa Rita was translated-I joke not- as
Father Christmas Rita!

This primitive bleeding and pleading Jesus was strangely moving.

We even climbed the tower at the end of the visit.
This gives a good overview of the Pueblo.