Antequera is another ancient city in Andalusia that was a key site in the wars that led to the reconquest of Spain. Like most of the cities it gained prominence as a Roman city, stayed prominent when the Visigoth’s displaced the Romans and then when the Moors came over from North Africa and conquered Andalusia it was an important fortified city that withstood several sieges by the Spanish.
Conquering Antequera was an important step in the reconquest by the Christians, and the general who led the successful siege eventually became King Ferdinand I of Spain. He was referred to as Ferdinand of Antequerra in recognition for the importance of the conquest of the city to the Spanish.
The city is a prosperous looking place built across several hill tops which we criss crossed walking thru the city. It also has a striking rock formation outside of town called the Pena de los Enamorados which looks remarkably like a face looking towards the sky.
The town also includes two neolithic burial sites that are called the Antequera Dolmens site. It was a pretty good walk to get there and I debated asking Ton whether it was worth the walk, but in the end we went for it. After a 30 minute walk we arrived at the museum.
We were both pretty tired from the walk and were looking to buy some water, but they didn’t have any. So we were off to see the dolmens. They are two burial mounds with an opening to place the bodies. As burial mounds go they are very important, but for us they were holes in the ground.
Ton asked how far to François and I was afraid to tell her that google estimated it would take 45 minutes. Two things about googles estimates, first it is not based on the pace of two senior citizens, but someone much younger and fitter. Second, it does not seem to account for elevation change. Heading back we had to climb two significant hills.
About 40 minutes into our walk we both needed a break and fluid so we agreed that we would stop at the next restaurant we saw. We were rewarded for our perseverance by having the next restaurant be inside the Bullfighting Ring.
Neither of us are fans of bullfighting but we have been curious to see the interior of one as they are an important part of Spanish culture. So in this case by having a light meal at the restaurant in the arena we got access to the interior of what is considered to be one of the nicest arenas in Spain. Antequerra’s ring is still used for bullfighting which is unusual as it is estimated that only about 280 of the 1700 rings in Spain are still used for bullfighting.
We ended our day by driving a short while to a nice agritourismo in the mountains above Antequera. The agritourismo is run by a nice Belgian couple who made us feel welcome. There are four guests here tonight, one group are a Belgian couple who came over and said they are very confused. We of course are Americans in a French Motorhome, another guest were English in a Spanish Motorhome, and the last guests were Germans in a Spanish car. So besides them no one was driving a vehicle that accurately reflected their nationality.
