Cortegana – a gem in the mountains

From the coast we headed north, past Seville, and into the mountains of Cortegana for a night.  We had booked rooms at a guesthouse style place called Casa Rural Villa Cinta.  We parked right outside the house and were greeted by the owner, a lovely lady who didn’t speak a word of English.  My ‘Spanglish’ is getting a bit of a workout!

The rooms were high-ceilinged, old Spanish rural style, well-equipped with beautiful views of the mountains and the obligatory Spanish Castle/Fort across the valley.  There was a large communal living room with a fireplace, dining room and kitchen where our host would provide us with breakfast the next day at precisely 9.00am.  We got ourselves settled in, then walked down (and I do mean down) into town to find some lunch, check out the area etc.  We really should know better by now – we always seem to try to see the sights and go for meals at the time when the locals are having their siesta.  We’ve done it over and over again, but we’re slow learners.

So, nothing was open – and I do mean nothing.    We walked all over this little town, and went past an unusual building in the centre of the square for the second time – there were older gentlemen standing at the entrance, who waved at us to ‘come in, come in’…. they had drinks in their hands, so we thought we were onto a good thing at last.  We went inside to a bar full of men – the main man who had invited us, indicated that we should go through to the main salon (Lorraine and I think that women probably weren’t supposed to be in the bar area, but who knows?)  


So we all sat in this huge room with a few older men playing dominoes, and I worked out with my limited Spanish that we were in the Gran Casino, which was a social club, and that anybody who behaved badly would be asked to leave, according to a sign on the wall.   We had a couple of drinks here, and were feeling quite happy, so we looked at the menu and went to order some food.  Wrong!!!  No food was available until the evening – what a surprise.   We finished our drinks and headed in search of anywhere that would serve us food.  All the shops and restaurants were still shut.  

We found a restaurant at the top of a hill which was open, so had a drink, then went to order food.  We were told ‘nothing till 8.00pm’.  So we finished our drink, went to order again, and were told ‘not till 8.30, maybe 8.45’.  Off we go again.

Heading back up the hill towards our hotel, we went past a restaurant hanging off the side of the mountain (it had been closed on the way down).  There was now a car in front of it, and they were opening the gates – yay, we were saved.  Food was about to be served…. it was about 8.30pm by this stage and we had resigned ourselves to cheese and biscuits back in our rooms, so we were happy travelers.  We ordered from a non-English-speaking waiter who was very helpful and cheerful – we ordered fish, ham croquettes, which were all very good.  Let’s face it, we were happy to be eating at all.

Next morning, Trev and I got up and had a swim before breakfast in the lovely little pool which looked out to the castle.  It was refreshing.  Breakfast was served  by our host promptly at 9.00am.  Coffee, toasted breads, jamon (a different version of our ham), homemade chunky tomato sauce to go on the toast before the jamon, marmalades, cheese, pate.  Very good.

We had a lovely stay in Cortegana, and got a taste of real, rural Spain.  If we hadn’t already booked accommodaton in Lisbon, we would probably have stayed another night.  Next stop, Lisbon.