Sanlucar de Barrameda

iffy wifi, pictures to follow

Sanlucar forms the third point in the Sherry 'triangle', though the fortified wines here go by the term, Manzarilla. That being said I think you would have to be a seasoned sherry drinker to differentiate Sanlucars's tipple from a dry fino sherry. The place has other claims to fame - the conquistador Pizarro is associated with the place and Columbus's later journeys after 1492 commenced here, as well as Ferdinand Magellan's first circumnavigation. A lot of history for a modest little town.

Getting here was a bit hair-raising. If you recall we arrived at El Puerto with a whiff of diesel in the tank. While hoofing it back from the station we noticed a petrol station up a side street less than 500 metres from Camping las Dunas. I had planned how to get there looking at the town plan. No problem, so long as you took an immediate left after the garage and avoid getting drawn into the old town's grid of narrow one way streets. You can guess what happened next. We filled up, drove off, reached the first road junction, my brain said turn left, the sat nav said go straight on, I followed the sat nav. I spent the next 15 minutes squeezing Maisy around impossibly tight 90 degree junctions with cars parked on both sides, skips, bottle banks, young mums with twins in buggies all appearing disappearing and re-appearing in the side mirrors, while Gill provided semaphore instructions on the reversing camera screen.

But we got through it, we are here and it's lovely. It's lovely because:

Sanlucar is an old riverside town with interesting fin de siècle villas and a string of great looking fish restaurants lining the riverside.

The lanes between here and Chipiana are great for cycling around and exploring the Guadalquivir estuary.

As it's Sunday, later in the afternoon the whole town turns out into the central square and nearby pedestrianised streets to meet in cafés and socialise, kids, parents, grandparents, couples, singletons - everyone! It's like an Italian passiagata. What it lacks in that Italian sense of performed social ritual, is more than compensated by spirited conviviality and warmth. Viva Espagna!  

And then the sunset, so beautiful over the sea. What a way to end the day.

Just before we melt into some sugary, sentimental goo, perhaps it is worthwhile making the point that although the aire is free, it is positioned on a scrap of land behind the seafront overlooked by flats and has perhaps the strangest sanitary arrangements imaginable....

Sent from my iPhone