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The Wild Asparagus Hunters are Out and About

It´s that time of year. Cars parked in odd places, the solitary person - usually a man, popping up above a bank or from behind an olive tree. The hunters of the wild aparagus are here. The plentiful rain scattered with a day or two of sunshine has brought them out in droves. Some have their route, others instinctively know where to go. They appear, walking back to their cars, with a huge bundle of foot long green spears of asparagus. And off they go, probably not to be seen for another year - or another week if the rain continues. No matter how hard the shoots try and hide the older men hunt them down with stick in hand, to fob off the spiky old growth, and uncover the tender new stems of wild asparagus. Everyone has their favourite way of cooking them but the most common seems to be in a Tortilla - the thick Spanish potato omelette to which you can add anything that comes to hand - or is hunted down. My one or two shorter stem finds don´t come close to the experienced hunters catch. I...

Between Rock and Road - Setenil de las Bodegas

When I first saw a photo of Setenil de las Bodegas on a Spanish blog I knew I had to go. Spain has so many cave houses and houses built on rock but these looked different. Rock seemed to spring from roofs or was it just facades built between over hanging rocks?

The narrow river gorge and extended rock provides an amazing setting to this, which has to be one of the best, of the 'White Villages'. A term that annoys me greatly as every village here is white and most charming, except Juzcar of course which was painted blue for the latest Smurf movie and the villagers voted to keep it blue.

White Village, Setenil de las Bodegas

It's unsure how long the town has existed but some think as long ago as 25,000 years. It is clear that the site was occupied during the Roman invasion of the 1st century and its castle is probably from the 12th century Almohad period.

Setenil de las Bodegas Rock


The name Setenil is thought to have come from the Roman septem nihil 'seven times nothing' referring to the seven sieges necessary for it to fall from Moorish hands to the Christian Kings in 1484.

Setenil de las Bodegas, Under the Rock

The de las bodegas was an later addition when the Christians added vineyards to the olive and almond groves planted by the Moors. The Bodegas meaning wine cellars fell in disuse after the vines were wiped out by phylloxera in the 1860s.


Setenil de las Bodegas, Houses under the Rock


Today Setenil de las Bodegas is gaining a local reputation for its chorizo and pork products.

Setenil de las Bodegas, Overhanging Rock

Setenil de las Bodegas, Narrow Street
Not much sun in these narrow streets

And when you look up..

Setenil de las Bodegas, White Houses, Rocky Top

White Village, Setenil de las Bodegas

Setenil is on the La Ruta de Almoravides y Almohades, one of the Rutas El Legado Andalusi, which crosses the Pueblos Blancos in Cadiz from Algeciras to Granada via Cadiz, Jerez, Ronda and Velez-Malaga.

Ruta de Almoravides y Almohades

I visited Setenil while staying in Ronda with hubby and visited several other locations on the White Village Route too.



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