La Fonda Hotel Arcos De La Frontera

We got up really early (for us vacationers). It was about 8:15am. We decided we would drive 2 hours to a city called Jerez de la Frontera to see the famous dancing horses of Jerez. The tour guide said it was worth the drive... We arrived to another city. Not as big as Seville, but a city nonetheless. Shae was super excited to see the dancing horses. The show started at noon and lasted 1.5 hours. Shae lasted about 20 minutes - which was pretty good for her ...

We decided today we would stay in the area and just go driving. We wanted to check out some wineries and take a cave tour. But we didn't get a chance to do either one. The cave tours were 5 hours long. The caves are amazing but not sure Shae would be able to hang that long. my guess is not. And we drove and drove and didn't find one winery. I think we got close one time. But anyway the ride was beautiful and there was a great restaurant in a white village ...

... ll have to take it another day. We drove back to Montejaque and had dinner in the Inn (english couple). It was a nice meal with great wine. We're really enjoying the wine from the region. It's funny - when you ask for a glass of vino you don't get a choice, they give you the house wine. it's always good though. We watched a movie when we got back and then to sleep. tomorrow morning is Sevilla (another big city)!

... most of the day and by evening he was doing much, much better. Well enough where he could walk down to town and have dinner at the authentic Montejaque restaurant. the food was bad but the owner, Antonio and his wife, Veronica were so nice and welcoming...It was a nice evening all-in-all.

We both are so freaked out about bees now. He can only wear long pants and long sleeve shirts for the rest of the trip...more adventures to come...

... You gotta be kidding; I did that 8 times (sober).

Next day we drove to nearby towns, each about 10-12 kms apart, lying in mountains. This is the route of the Pueblos Blanco – the white villages. Most had a population of 5-6,000 but one was 12,000. They really didn’t have much to offer in-and-of themselves but approaching the towns, stuck to the mountainside and spilling down ...

... after the fact) that the map wrongly named our exit off the highway. We finally made it to Arcos. The streets on this hilltop town are so narrow that we had to turn our mirrors in towards the car so that we wouldn't hit the walls. Got to our hotel and braved the heat once again. Must be over 100 here. SHE SAID: After we found our way initially the drive to Arcos continued to be interesting. In route there were police that had stopped everyone and ...

... of my travels and it would be a symbol that I had finally arrived somewhere that I wanted to stay and settle. Now, as I lay in that hammock under the bamboo shade protecting me from the fierce Spanish midday sun listening to the people around me chat excitedly about the adventures they were yet to have that bookcase felt more like a ball and chain. Far from being a symbol of settlement and content it had become a great heavy weight in ...

... Wheel of Fortune and Friends (in Spanish of course, good practice for me!). Our personal tour guide was a women that was born and raised there, and she offered a sense of pride and true love of the town she calls home. She discussed the rivalry between the churches, which explained why when we asked our pension owner about the festival, he shrugged it off. Chad and I deduced that he was a member of the other church after hearing of the "West Side Story" of Arcos. In Arcos, we ...

... It's a pretty interesting site, it's an acute triangle footprint with roads on all 3 sides. Interesting delima but lots of opportunities. One side across the road is an old train station, the other classic spanish architecture. They have regulations in the city about rebuilding. If you tear it down you have to build it back the way it was on the outside if it has any style to it. If it was just boring and ugly you can improve it. They do ...

... toilet that you needed to be a contortionest to be able to use. Needless to say we spent the next morning trying to find better accom, which came in a room twice the size for half the price, full of beautiful ornate spanish tiles and a manager that was extremely helpful. Through our sightseeing we stumbled across the bullfighting ring and went to book our tickets for the last show of the year but of course, being spain, it was cancelled ...