One Saturday not too long after
arriving in Spain, I had a brilliant idea. We would bike from
the little town of Olvera (named for olives) to the very little
town of Setenil. Ten miles on mountain bikes; it shouldn't be
hard. What I didn't realize from reading the tour book was that
we would bike a very hard ten miles (one way) over rolling terrain.
It was a rather long and difficult ride, but we made it to the
sleepy, yet amazing little town of Setenil.
Built into what once was a river
bank, these homes are nestled into the rock, under an olive grove.
Prickly Pear is used by the Spanish as a natural fenceline.
As we begin our descent into
the old town, we notice that the streets are very narrow, and
at one place very steep causing my bike to slide down the slick
pavement. I knew this was the case ahead of time from reading
guidebooks to Spain; locals get a good laugh at tourists who
often get their cars stuck inside the city's tight roads; yes,
Dad, people drive through here!
The streets are lined with buildings,
each door leading to an inner courtyard lush with plants, and
beyond the courtyard to inner rooms. The outside walls keep out
prying eyes and strangers-- leaving one with a meer peek into
the Spanish home. You must have a good friend to be invited inside.
At this point, the buildings
are built right into the wall of the old river gorge forming
a tunnel of sorts. You can see there is still plenty of room
for traffic.
At our farthest point into Setenil,
we see more homes built into the rock beyond. People dine at
tables set on the roadside. Everyone is enjoying this beautiful
day after a cold winter. But there's no time for tapas on this
trip. Mitch has promised we'll stop here for siesta one Saturday
soon. But, for this trip, we must turn back; the sun is setting,
and we have a long ride back to Olvera!
