25th July–2nd August – Santa Elena to Toledo

There was a slight hiccup when leaving Camping Marbella Playa; we were packed up and ready to go by 9.00am and had ensured an early get-a-way by settling our bill the night before. I’m afraid nothing much works to plan in Spain. We were held up waiting for someone to disconnect us from the electricity supply. A young chap came dawdling along an hour later, having initially disconnected the wrong plot!

We had a relatively short drive from the coast up to our next location at Jaen. Sat-nav was programmed and we were confident of an easy drive. And so it was - until we reached Jaen. Miles and miles of olive groves, slightly undulating roads and an occasional mountain - and Freda took it all in her stride (what about the Jag? It's the car that does the work!) The temperature climbed ominously from 28°C (Marbella) to 30, 34, 38, 40.....really hot! The terrain was absolutely spectacular. Apparently there are 160 million olive trees in this part of central Spain. Awesome! They say the Mediterranean diet is the best; I can believe it, olive oil and red wine at affordable prices, tomatoes and every other vegetable/fruit available cheaply and in abundance.

As we approached Jaen I was full of trepidation. It looked awful, although Jane (the sat-nav) was not directing us to the industrial zone for a change. Graham had programmed in Avenida del Andalucía (having programmed the site’s address, Camping Los Desperannos, on the basis it was in Jaen). I thought it was odd that the Avenida del Andalucía that Jane had found only 100 houses. In Jaen it must have been more like 1000! Graham was happy to ride up and down the main thoroughfare for hours (why is it men don’t like to ask?). At an appropriate moment I escaped from the car and asked a passer-by. After a few minutes I’d gathered a crowd of five Spaniards, all being very helpful; one telling us that our campsite was in the opposite direction by around 50 miles and the others pointed vaguely towards Madrid. Yup, we were in trouble! At this stage I re-read the address of the campsite and realised Graham had inputted the wrong address, Jaen instead of Santa Elena (I wasn’t too horrible about this).
[G. – look, I’m a bloke and I take things at face value. If someone tells me we’re going to Jaen and the campsite’s address is Avenida del Andalucía, then that’s what I put in the sat-nav. No-one said anything about a Santa Elena - and unfortunately Jaen and Santa Elena both have an Avenida del Andalucía. It’s like Epsom and Farnham both having a Surrey Avenue. Basically it’s called sods law!]

Anyway, we had another fifty miles of driving towards the centre of Spain, still travelling through olive groves, plains and an occasional mountain. The terrain was spectacularly coloured; dark green olive trees, bleached harvested corn fields and areas of desert. The temperature was rising...
I had been nervous at the description of the site – “reached by a steep hillside”. However, finding the site was the least of our problems so far (it’s amazing how easy it is when you put in the correct destination). Santa Elena is a tiny village on the edge of the Desperannos National Park (mountainous and very spectacular). The campsite was one of the best so far. Fab facilities, good swimming pool and, joy oh joy, it was wonderfully quiet. Our pitch overlooked miles of olive groves and we were shaded by tall pine trees.

We’d parked up and settled down within half an hour or so of arriving (getting quite expert by now). It was about 3.00pm and terribly hot, around 43°C [109°F] (taken from the car’s thermometer) but mercifully a very strong wind sprang up and howled until around 7.00pm and then it dropped as quickly as it had started. This was the pattern of the weather for the next four days.

When it’s so hot lethargy settles in, but we were determined to see a couple of local towns (50 miles away), Ubeda and Baeza; both had their origins back in Roman times. I preferred Baeza. Its origins date back to the Bronze Age but an established town was built in the Roman period, including a castle and a walled enclosure. The Moors settled there and under their rule the town experienced substantial development because of its fertile land and strategic situation (quoting here from the local guide). The period of greatest splendour for Baeza was during the 15th and 17th centuries when its economy prospered thanks to its agriculture and the university. Baeza (and Ubeda) is known as the cradle of Spanish renaissance. It’s also a UNESCO World Heritage Site (so many places in Spain are; I assume they are funded by other than the Spanish Government. Have we any UNESCO sites in the UK? Info please!).

Our campsite, Camping Los Desperannos, only had Wi-Fi in the area of the bar (I wonder why?), so we spent a few productive hours (overlooking the lovely pool) sending emails and getting the blog up to date with a nice drink or two. We’d been worried about the fires in Rioja and this area. It’s easy to understand how quickly the fires would spread. The wind can be ferocious and everything’s as dry as a tinderbox. I wondered once or twice whether one would be able to outrun a fire under those conditions. Anyway, enough of these gloomy thoughts... By the way, supermarkets are rubbish here... but we’ve managed. Also had one or two terrific menu del dias!

We were sorry to leave Santa Elena, but leave we had to. Next stop Toledo – wasn’t looking forward to this part of our journey. It’s still going to be terribly hot and it’s another city to try and familiarise ourselves with. I understand it’s quite cold in the UK (hee, hee, hee) although it’s too hot here.

My expectation was that Toledo would be situated in a large industrial area producing the famous Toledo steel and we would be surrounded by chimneys belching out industrial waste. Surprise, surprise! I can do no better than use the Rough Guide’s description: “Set in a landscape of abrasive desolation, Toledo sits on a rocky mound where every available centimetre has been built upon: churches, synagogues, mosques and houses are heaped upon one another in a haphazard, cobblestoned spiral. Toledo’s city’s status is of a National Monument and UNESCO Patrimony of Mankind and is in an incomparable setting” NOT A FACTORY IN SITE! In fact, there was nothing but parched fields and olive groves all the way to the horizon. Our first glimpse of the city was spectacular, perhaps the most beautiful and spectacular on this trip.

The campsite was first class, Camping El Greco, situated on a hillside overlooking the Rio Tajo, wide and deep providing a natural moat around the city. Two ancient, arched bridges spanned the river leading to ancient gateways into the city. I hadn’t expected that the view from the campsite’s restaurant and pool would have the city as a backdrop high on its rocky mound. Once we saw the view of the city from the terrace of the campsite’s first class restaurant we knew we had to splash out and reserved a table for dinner. Later we sat with a decent glass of white wine and watched the city change colour with the setting sun; gold, then pink until the light faded altogether. The city lights then came on highlighting the extraordinary skyline with its spires and domes – absolutely spectacular.

The next day, having taken advice from the helpful receptionist, we took the number 72 bus which dropped us in the heart of the city. (One bus an hour from the edge of the campsite arriving at Plaza del Zoldcover). As usual we found it confusing to orientate ourselves but we made for the Catedral and spent 3 hours staring with wonder at its interior. The audio guides we hired were excellently produced with organ recitals from many periods. It was truly the most magnificent Catedral we’ve been in (including Santiago del Compostello) so far. Could there be anything to top it? The Rough Guide describes the Catedral as “A robust Gothic construction that took over 250 years (1227-1493) to complete. It has a richness of internal decoration in almost every conceivable style with masterpieces of the Gothic, Renaissance and Baroque periods”. I would have loved to show you some photos, but we weren’t allowed to take any. Graham surreptitiously took some video, avoiding the gimlet eyes of the security guards and the CCTV cameras.
(G – You pay 10€ each for the privilege of walking round the place and wearing yourself out, so sod ‘em! I’m hardly likely to sell the footage to Sky TV am I?)
A bit of history: Toledo was known to the Romans, who captured it in 193 BC. Taken by the Visigoths, who made it their capital, it was already an important cultural and trading centre by the time the Moors arrived in 712. The period that followed, with Moors, Jews and Mozarabes (Christians subject to Moorish rule) living together in relative equality, was one of rapid growth and prosperity and Toledo became the most important northern output of the Muslim emirates.

Despite the heat we managed to keep (relatively) cool in the narrow winding streets ending up at a perfect Spanish restaurant where we had to wait for 20 minutes to get a table. Menu del dia – 10€. Three courses, a “jar” (nothing as posh as a carafe) of red wine and coffee – all delicious! Where could you get something like that at that price in London?

We rather overdid our first visit to Toledo and felt exhausted the next day so we took it easy, stocked up at a supermarcado (found some delicious white wine at last) and took a trip late in the evening to Consuegra, famous for its ancient castle (which was once the headquarters of the Order of St John in the 12th century) and eleven windmills high on a hillside overlooking a vast plain, partly cultivated. The colours were spectacular: squares and triangles of bleached, pale yellow fields, dark green irrigated fields and areas dotted with olive groves; and in the distance, mountains.
Next day we (sorry, I) was drawn back to Toledo. I couldn’t get enough of the city... so we spent a pleasant day visiting the Convento de Santa Isabel, Sinagoga de Santa Maria la Blanca and various other religious institutions. Unfortunately El Alcazar and one or two other buildings were closed for renovation – hey ho, another time perhaps. On reflection we had been pretty lucky. The Rough Guide says that the city is normally so packed it can spoil “the experience” but not for us .......”we will be back”!
We have packing-up down to a fine art and after a nice meal at the campsite restaurant again, Freda was ready to go.

Coming up on our next blog is Zaragoza (for those following the itinerary) but our campsite wasn’t actually there – we’d programmed the sat-nav incorrectly (again) and found we’d travelled 70 miles beyond our destination, which was a tiny village called Nuevalos, and added three hours to our journey – arrived exhausted but delighted to find a super campsite, again set on a steep hillside overlooking a huge reservoir, stunning scenery; mostly wild, desert-like and just a little bit cooler than Toledo at 36°C. But that's for next time...