Day 34. Friday 11 April.

It would be a challenge getting out of the apartment, even with our new food trolley, but heh! Good cuisine doesn’t happen easily. Maybe we didn’t have the right registration to drive the stair lifter! Had to back out of that. Packed and out of the apartment by 0930.

But not quite on the road: once again number plate recognition didn’t work, but this time there was an attendant who let us out.

We aimed for the non-tourist town Antequera for our first stop, and coffee. Found parking on the street a short walk from cuidad centro and strolled down past Aldi – but T couldn’t make it past a fabric shop. A little while later we reunited and had coffee at Cafe Argentina where there was a lovely conversation in (very good) English with a young woman, from Argentina, who is staying here with relatives and studying languages. She wants to visit Australia but is not sure about all the dangerous animals.

More strolling and into a Mercadona (a large grocery/supermarket chain) because D had earlier sighted a great fish segment, which was enough to overcome T’s edict of ‘NO shopping’. And the fish ladies were on fire, calling the specials just like ‘Con the fruiterer’.

Back on the road, with Doris taking us quite well on the preferred back roads route.The fields were agriculture: grains/olives/orchards & the A road quite busy, mostly in the other direction.  Arrived in Ronda, an Islamic fortress town subsequently turned Catholic with the conquest by Castille in 1485, but couldn’t identify exactly where we were staying or where our parking might be. Propped in a large public parking below the town walls area while D did  a recce  on foot and spoke to the owner – it’s challenging when there’s no common language;  eventually getting in but unable to operate the mechanical gate to the parking spot: photo sent by owner wouldn’t open…..in due course new photo arrived in different application, gate opened, car just squeezed in and we unpacked

This might be an interesting stay: we are in an old house, walls abutting two restaurants/tapas bars! And overlooking a plaza where families are drinking/chatting, kids playing in playground & cars cruising by right under the window. But T has identified a back bedroom on second floor if needed.

Walked up the hill behind us in the early evening, coming across a sign, for the Vía Serrana, a 240 km Camino de Santiago route beginning in La Línea (the Spanish town adjacent to Gibraltar) and ending in Sevilla.

Through the walled town entrance & up the cobblestones to the Sanctuario de Maria Auxilidora and stayed for the start of a penitential communion session, about 30 in congregation, mainly our age group or older.

Across the square at the Collegiata Santa Maria la Mayor, we learnt there was to be some music – religious of course – later this evening.The program of music had been happening as a sacred music festival through March (20th year of this festival) and Friday’s offering was the final.  Easter celebrations have started & they’ll get bigger.

So we did go up the hill for a 2030  ‘concert’ (the woman on the church counter this afternoon had no information about the music beyond it being ‘sacred music’ – and starting at 8)… to discover that it was a full-on Mass for Mary. Complete with procession, costumes, candles, gold, and so much incense! And a sermon in Spanish (D said later he understood about as much as some of the WVUC ones), Communion, more incense…And the focus on Mary is everywhere, the posters in every shop window, on walls, the monstrances, the altars… this has surprised us.

But the choir was marvellous: about 30 young folk & they did all the glorious pieces (Ave Verum, Panis Angelicus, Pie Jesu, Agnus Dei, Ave Maria)….T was transported. The rituals have actually got under T’s skin, especially as she is simultaneously reading Niall Williams’ ‘Time of the Child’. We recalled the words of the coffee girl from this morning about Semana Santa: ‘I love all the processions, the religious art & music; I go to all of it’.

Dinner. Baked fish (not sure what: looks a bit like barramundi, but not as sweet tasting), with baked spuds, sweet potato and steamed asparagus from the street vendor.