Visiting Estepa: More Than Just Mantecados

I sometimes confused Estepona, a beach destination on the Costa del Sol, with Estepa, a town nuzzled up to a hill at the far reaches of the Seville province. During the multiple car trips crisscrossing Spain’s southernmost autonomous region, I’d often watch the small village with its church spires punctuating the horizon pass by quickly. Being known for its holiday goodies, particularly mantecados, it’s always been a place in the back of my mind to visit.

Javi met us at the aptly name Hotel Don Polverón – a homage to one of the city’s baked moneymakers – and we steered our car along the roads of the industrial park near the highway, its streets named for the basic ingredients of the mantecados: Almendra, Azúcar, Canela. It’s common in Spanish households to have an anís bottle set out next to mantecados when the Reyes Magos come, so we feasted like the Three Kings for the better part of the morning.

The visit first brought us to La Estepeña, one of the most universally known brands.

La Estepeña features a visit to the factory, where a workforce made up almost entirely of women use traditional methods of preparing and wrapping the goodies, though the actually baking is no longer done in an oven. We visited the belén made entirely of chocolate and the small museum before marveling at the gorgeous Christmas tree in the foyer of the museum.

Most of the famous mantecado brands have been making the pig’s lard Christmas treats for generations, so Javi pointed us in the direction of La Despensa del Palacio, where the cakes are still baked in a wood-burning oven after being hand-kneaded. The mantecados are crumbly and leave your mouth dry, so we were then whisked away to the small anisette factory – the Spanish abuelo’s favorite – for a sampling of anís seco in Anís Bravío.

Cravings satisfied, we climbed Cerro San Cristóbal, the city’s highest hill. The rainy morning haze seems to have stayed in la capital – the day was bright and welcoming. Smack dab in the autonomía of Andalusia, one can see the provinces of Seville, Málaga and Córdoba, much like the Hancock building in Chicago.

Estepeños not interested in mantecados trek up the hill to the convent, where a turnstile still offers cloistered nuns peddling homemade treats, and the lavish baroque chapel not open to the public. Violeta was waiting for us here, key to the capilla in hand.

“They know me here, ” she smiled. “One of the perks of the job.” She and Javi accompanied us around the rest of the sites on the Cerro, including a small museum dedicated to the city’s culinary treasure that was once the kitchen the nuns used to make the sweets.

The adjacent Santa María church was originally intended for the Orden de Santiago, the church has been reconstructed and now contains a small religious art museum, complete with relics of petrified fingers and locks of hair.

A rickety octagonal tower sits just west of Santa María. This was the defensive tower used for the Orden de Santiago, and the views facing the Balcón de Andalucía, the pueblo’s mirador that looks down on the whitewashed houses that seem to crawl down the hill, were stunning after a few days of rain and a lucky break in the weather pattern.

Back down the hill, we found parking just in front of As de Tapas on Estepa’s main street. This is what I love most about the pueblos in Seville: good, hearty food, the steady hum of chattering in castellano and a cold beer.

Sending thanks to Javi and Violeta of Heart of Andalusia for their generous offer to show Caitlin and me around the Ciudad del Mantecado and the other lovely sites of Estepa. As always, all opinions expressed are my own.

Seville Snapshot: Bodega Marqués de Riscal in Eltziego (País Vasco)

As a traveler, I should take pride in really getting to know a city, to meeting and talking with its people and to finding its heart.

Travel Confession: I love kitschy sites, kitschy souvenirs and don’t always stay off the beaten path.

When it  came down to deciding what to do while in Spain’s Wine Country, La Rioja, we all agreed that wine was at the top of the list, while a sub category to wine was visiting a bodega. I called around, sent emails and was delighted when we got a last-minute booking for Marqués de Riscal, one of Spain’s most famous exports.

Elciego, or Eltziego in Basque, is a beautiful city in its own right. Nestled amongst vineyards, its burnt fall colors provide a dramatic backdrop to a stone medieval city whose claim to fame is the wine and the hotel commissioned by Marqués de Riscal, which was designed by renowned architect Frank Gehry.

The colors chosen – metallic silver, pink and bordeaux – are representative of the wine bottle, whereas the wavy steel plates and pale stone pillars are meant to represent a vine before harvest. Built as a millennial addition to the winery founded during the mid 19th century, it seems to blend in with the history while looking forward to the future.

We signed up for a 90-minute tour of the bodega, which took us first to the newest installations, then past their ancient fountain – outfitted with a digital clock and weather reader – and into their oldest cellar. The damp, musty smell and little light protects their oldest editions, which mustn’t be uncorked. A small butane stove is used to heat a metal ring, then cold water is applied, breaking the glass and allowing the wine to be poured. As someone who loves the craft of writing and is a geek about it, I think I could geek out about wine if I got to learn more about it. Sadly, we were tired after the previous night’s antics and in search of a bed. After our two glass of wine, we dipped out and back to Logroño.

If you go: Marques de Riscal bodegas are located in Eltziego, just 15 kilometres from Logroño. It’s actually in the Basque region, and not La Rioja! To take a tour, which are available every day of the year, making a reservation through email or over the phone is a must. the tour included a tasting of two young wines and runs 10,25. More information and contacts can be found on Marques de Riscal’s webpage. Tours can be done in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian and even Russian.

Seville Snapshots:Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo

Well, back to sweltering Spain. After a stint at the Travel Bloggers Unite conference in Porto, I lugged my 60+ lb. suitcase back to Seville (notably missing was my laptop, which I left in a cab and have yet to recover). It left me wanting fall, a temperate and dreamy time of the year in the South. Kelly of This Blonde sent me the picture below, plunging me into reveries of comfy sweaters, Kike’s army-issued PJs and the return of boots (want black riding ones, just like the pijas!).

In my world, the season of fall always arrives with color. Bursting from the trees, running down the mountainside, heralding the beginning of my favorite season. In southern Spain, fall is a different species. There is hot, and there is hotter. There are green leaves, and there are wet leaves. While I was daydreaming of bundling up in a sweater and a scarf, in reality I was peeling layers off as the days rolled on. It was here on the threshold of the Museo de Arte Contemporaneo that I found a very familiar scene.This photo is startlingly full of fall for a December day in Seville. The thick carpet of leaves, a woman (a student?) in a full length trench and hat wheeling her bike out into the courtyard.

Seville’s Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporáneo (Museum of Contemporary Andalusian Art) is located in the old Cartuja ceramic factory and monastery, which in and of itself is worth a visit. Reached by the C1 or C2 circulars, its hours are Tuesday thru Saturday 11:00 to 21:00 h, Sunday de 11:00 a 15:00 h. Closed Monday. Free entry on weekdays from 19:00 to 21:h; tickets 1,80 to 3,01€.

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Love taking shots? Been to Seville or Spain? I’m looking for travelers with a good eye to capture beautiful Spain and contribute to my weekly Snapshots section. Send your photos to sunshineandsiestas @ gmail.com with your name and a short description of the photo and look to be featured here!

Spain Life in Photos: Reales Alcazares, Seville

Cities like Paris and Dubai and Florence are all about indulgences. Smaller cities like Sevilla are all about sharing them. I had another language assistant in to visit Sevilla for the first time this weekend, and my mission was to convince her to move to Sevilla instead of Granada.

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Sure, the Alhambra and free tapas in Granada are pure overindulgence, but little else is. Sevilla, on the other hand, has so many small pleasures that make this city a great one to live in as an expat. Cheap food, a variety of nightlife and three UNESCO world-heritage sites in less than one block.
The Reales Alcazares, the royal palaces constructed at the city gates by Muslim conquerors, is a simple pleasure of the capital of Andalucía. Free to enter for students, residents or anyone born in Sevilla, the handiwork and bright colors stand out against Andalucía’s deep blue skies, and the palaces and extensive gardens are host to outdoors movies and concerts during the sweltering summer months.
Using Katie’s SLR Canon Rebel, I shot this picture to remind her that the best things in life are free.
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