Thursday 15th October 2015 – Zafra, Spain

Those of you who read last Autumn’s blog will know that we acted as support vehicle for a charity cycle ride from Somerset to Portugal by our friends Les & Ian. Les and his wife, also Les, had invited us to stay in their timeshare villa in Vale Do Lobo in Portugal but we had to return to the UK because my mother became seriously ill. Very kindly, Les & Les have invited us again this year and this time we hope to make it!

Les & Les arrived in Spain by ferry a few days ago and are spending two nights in Zafra, so we have arranged to meet up. The rendezvous was the Zafra parador, easy to find as it is a Mediaeval towered building in the middle of the town. It was a happy reunion with much talk of goings-on in Somerset and are respective travels. We wandered around the town and found an intriguing restaurant for lunch, La Marquesa, housed in an historic building once used for olive oil production. The restaurant was made even more interesting by the fact that they brewed their own beer. We sat in the bar area surrounded by olive oil production equipment.

On our travel around the town we came to the Museum of the Santa Clara Convent where we learnt about Santa Clara, the history of the building and the life of the nuns. In a video about their life, we saw some of the nuns playing basketball and when we went to the nun’s shop to buy some cakes I was served by one of the nuns who had scored an excellent basket. I have never before had cakes baked by basketball-playing nuns!

In the evening we met in Zafra’s Plaza Grande, which together with the Plaza Chica, is a lovely area especially in the evening when the squares and buildings are floodlit. After a drink in the Plaza Grande, we headed back to La Marquesa, this time eating in the plush dining room with its glass floor covering a stone floor with many different sized holes. This was definitely connected to olive oil production but we were unable to ascertain its exact purpose. The meal was excellent and so was the company.

Photos: The olive press in La Marquesa; Zafra’s Plaza Grande at night; Les & Les with Jane walking across Plaza Chica; This Zafra gate is next to La Marquesa; Zafra’s parador.