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Into Andalucía

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 The museum at Barranda did not disappoint and luckily I timed my visit with a tour in which the guide played quite a few of the instruments. Traditional instruments from all over the world. The building was purpose built and the acoustics were excellent, such that listening to the sound vibrations was a whole body experience and left me feeling quite tingly. The guide explained that the reason that the town of Barranda was chosen for the site of the museum was because of the annual traditional music festival that is held there in the last weekend of January, called "Las Cuadrillos". The museum's website is also excellent and has several fascinating videos. http://museomusicaetnica.com/ There were still a few hours of daylight left after I left, so I continued cycling through Singla to La Almudena where there was a hostel marked on Google maps. My plan was to avoid the main highways to Castillejar, and as many mountains as possible, although in Spain they are never far aw...
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Belchite

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 This will be the hardest page of the blog to write so far because I have so many jumbled thoughts and impressions in my head from what has been going on today. And until today I knew nothing much about the Spanish civil war, so my learning is very incomplete and you will have to excuse any inaccuracies.  I discovered last night that there are two public tours every day around the ruins of the old town of Belchite , one at mid day and one at 5pm. I decided to go for the midday slot and spent the morning where I had slept in the new town of Belchite,  catching up on the diary and sorting out my stuff. I presented myself at the gate of the old town at mid day, to be greeted by this fellow in the 1937 Republican government uniform of the Spanish army.  Spain became a republic (for the second time) in 1931 but suffered from a lot of political extremism and violence in the years leading up to the civil war. Following the assassination of the official leader of the politic...
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From Castillejar to Granada

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 On my way south again Jenny and Al directed me to a quiet cross country route that by passed the main towns. The weather was very sunny and it was heavenly to get back on the bike again in such tranquil conditions. Just outside Baza I picked up another Via Verde trail, the old railway line between Baza and Guadix.  As I mentioned on an earlier page of the blog I've visited this area about seven times before and it's always very emotional when I leave. Whichever way you go it seems there's a quite specific moment when you leave the Altiplano. Maybe because it's more or less surrounded by mountains, and when you look down on it from above as well as being able to identify many of its features, there's also a strong sense of its "genius locii" or essential nature as a place. Here's one of my last glances backwards towards La Sagra, the mountain which dominated my view of the Altiplano, in the far north and at the centre of the background. To get some ide...
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