We were packed up and ready to go by 9.56 precisely!! We bid a fond farewell to our lovely apartment and headed out of town to the N125 then took the A20 to the A22. It was strange watching all the place names on the signs with the last name in capitals- Espanha…Spain…that was where we were heading. We didn’t actually realise that we were in Spain until my phone bleeped and we had gained an hour. We also went over a fairly spectacular bridge so we thought this was probably the two countries land boarders……The road also changed names from the A22 to the A49…..So Spain here we are !!!!

We were fascinated by the storks nests at the top of virtually every pylon. We continued on until junction 50 when we turned onto the A483. The roads were all good, dual carriage ways. We suddenly dropped to a two way road and taking the sign to El Rocio we immediately started driving on quite deep sand. ……wow, wow, wow all the white buildings had wooden rails outside for tethering your horse. We found what we thought was the main Square and stopped to ask the way….we were sent in completely the wrong direction… and had to stop and ask again ….we were sent back to where we had come from…..we found a parking one of the much queued for limited spaces ….but we still couldn’t see our hotel. I went in a saddlery shop and the lady took me outside and said 3 doors down….it was a horse only road….so we left the car where it was and walked the short distance. Sure enough there was our hotel….Hospederia El Cazadero Real.
Checking in was a drawn out process, because, although we later found out most the guests were English speaking, the receptionist didn’t speak any English…..anyway after paying the €260 for 3 nights we were shown to our room. I had requested ground floor and had been told it was an inside room, I had asked if it had a window and was told the window had a buildings view…….ummmm If the window had opened, which it didn’t, it was boarded up, it would have looked at the breakfast serving area. There was a small double bed with about a foot of room each side so you had to walk sideways to get into bed. There was a chair at the bottom of the bed then the very bijou bathroom and shower. To be quite honest the shower was bigger than the rest of the bathroom and almost big enough to sleep in….to say we were disappointed was an understatement….weve not had a room this small before and I can assure you we won’t be having one again !!! But C’est la vive……there was a nice communal outside terrace overlooking the lake/ marshlands and the square where horse rides, and horse and cart trips take place.

All along the street there were Spanish dress shops and traditional riding dress shop, lots of leather wear…the flamenco style dresses were magnificent in all vibrant colours.

We decide to take a wander, to lift our spirits after the shock of our room…my dad would call it a Kyle room- very petite but with everything in the right place!!!!…… only trouble was it didn’t have anything in the right place!!! So we took off on foot, walked around to where the horses were and paid €20 each for a 20 minute horse and cart ride. The driver didn’t speak any English and insisted on smacking and playing loud music on his phone…. But we did see the town of El Rocio in a traditional way.

Our driver seemed to know how to ask for a tip, which we refused. We ate a plate of ham, which was a bit like biltong in the square for lunch. We then walked up to the church. Inside it was extremely ornate, very beautiful.

We decided not to siesta but took a rest on our hotels roof terrace. As supper approached we googled the restaurant the receptionist had given us and off we went…..it may have said 6 minutes walk but in that deep sand it seemed far further. We got there at 7.00 pm to be told it didn’t open until 8.00 pm…..so we walked all the way back and settled for a restaurant near our hotel adjacent to the church. It also didn’t open until 8.00 pm so we sat having a Coke Zero whilst watching the beautifully dressed ladies, in traditional Spanish Flamenco dresses, and their husbands in their boater type hats, coming and going to church. The restaurant owner was very kind and although he spoke no English he happily typed into my Google translator and hey presto we had lightly grilled tuna steaks with chips, followed by cake…..

What an amazing place this is…a real living throw back in time, it has refused to be modernised and their traditional way of life strongly lives on….we feel privileged to be here.