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  • TravelerSpain 2023 - Almeria/Cazorla
    1
    Day 25

    Vera: Bells

    April 3, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 66 °F

    We thought we were being smart this morning by getting to the main plaza just before 10 o’clock so we would have a chance to look around and then do a short video as the church bells rang the hour. As you will see, Ned started the video a few seconds before 10, panning across the facade of the fortress church that helped defend Vera against pirate attacks, and then he waited … and waited … for the bells to ring. Just after he finally gave up and turned the video off, of course, the bells began to ring. We were impressed with the sturdiness of the church with its thick walls and defensive towers at all four corners. All the windows are high, the door is stout, and I’d love to see the key that fits in that lock.

    Nearby we stumbled across a traveling exhibition about the mining history of this area, including one of the hoppers that carried ore along the aerial tramway to Garrucha - sort of like a chair on a ski lift. Mining profits paid for many of the fine houses near the main plaza here.

    Our final stop was at the water museum that contains a restored lavadero where thirty women at a time could have their own basin for washing clothes. It’s the biggest lavadero we’ve seen in Andalucía. It was fed by a fountain that has carried water from a spring since Muslim times more than 1000 years ago.

    Tomorrow, we are walking to Cuevas de Almanzora.    Read more