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| Bouganvillia from the gardens previous post. |
Vegetarians please pass by the description of the Museum and go directly to the monastery part of this post, where the pictures are!
Ivan drove us one hour north from Sevilla in Monesterio, a charming village, to the Jambon (ham) museum, here is the link www.museodeljamondemonesterio.com it has an English button. Yes, friends there is a museum devoted to ham. Jamon Iberico is a very large part of life here in the Province of Sevilla. The industry employs thousands of people from farmers to factory workers and every self respecting bodega has hocks hanging from their ceilings for patrons of the restaurant. The museum is very modern and interactive with it's guests showing videos and explanations of the process of breeding, raising the pigs, what they eat, prime black ones feast on acorns which gives the flavour to the meat. Videos showed the old family method of slaughter and curing and the new mechanized methods. Every single part of the pig is used from the head and down to the tail and I'm quite sure I wouldn't eat some parts! It was a very informative and enjoyable visit. More information in this link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamón_ibérico
Ivan's parents had recommended a restaurant for lunch and the intended one was opposite the one we at at, oh well, food was good anyway. There was a dog who came to mooch lunch had his act down well, tilting his head and being cute, he certainly was but his act didn't wash with us, no human food to animals is my policy.
I bit into a piece of sausage and one of my teeth broke! Darn and not pleasant although I was quite upset thinking of the dentist visit to come I tried not to let it ruin the day for us all. Subsequent visit to the dentist was easy, he just glued it back in! No guarantees how long it will stay but at least I don't have a hole in my smile now.
We drove to the monastery which seemed to be perched at the top of the world, truly! A long winding narrow road going up and down, steep cliffs on one side and few guard rails! Along the way we saw farms with cattle, pigs, goats, sheep, horses. As we got to the top it was a 360 degree view of the surrounding mountains! No pictures because of the haze that hovered over, but truly we were at the highest point and it was amazing! Birds of prey, not sure what kind, hovered over the mountain in flocks, beautiful to see them soaring above us, not so, for whatever animal they were searching for below.
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| I wouldn't want to live there, no windows. |
The monastery named Monastery de Tentudia de Calera De Leon is currently under restoration, although some modern parts have already been added like bathrooms and glass to the atrium. There was talk of making it into a parador, the upscale hotels here in Spain but that fell through and now talk of making it into a luxury B & B location.
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| The atria |
Website, no English, http://tentudiahermandad.wordpress.com/ I am unclear about it's future, and maybe the Spanish people are as well, but it is being worked on and it is in a beautiful if slightly remote location. Another link which explains it's history, translated. https://translate.google.es/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=http://www.viajarporextremadura.com/cubic/ap/cubic.php/doc/El-Monasterio-de-Tentudia-293.htm&prev=search
There was a battle and the currently loosing side prayed to the Virgin to "stop the day" and as legend goes, the sun did stop setting long enough for them to win
In the early thirteenth century, during a battle against the Arabs, the master Pelayo Perez Correa, master of the Order of Santiago, came to see that night and did not get the victory, implored the Virgin screaming: Holy Mary, stop your day!. And tradition has it that the sun stood still on the horizon to allow the Christian troops to victory. The master ordered to build a temple for Santa Maria de Tentudía.
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| The Sainted Maria that stopped the sun from setting |
After we stopped at a jambon outlet to buy for Bruce some packages of it and a sausage he liked, I'm not too keen on either, I bought a bottle of wine, natch. Ride back into Sevilla showed us the smog layer hanging over the city, there hasn't been any rain for a long time to clear it off, but also the hills in-between with the red coloured earth on the berms of the highway were lovely.
Cheers, Bev, Bruce and Lexi Cat
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