[April 19, Arcos de la Frontera]
Arcos de la Frontera [map] is another camera-ready white hill town. Like Ronda, ownership has changed several times, from Roman through Moorish to Christian. What remains is a warren of tiny cobblestone streets (on which the local government insanely permits automobiles) walled by white-washed buildings. No famous events of history here, just terminally-quaint Andalusian scenes.
The town perches on the edge of a geologically unstable cliff. You can see a clear fissure striking back underneath the buildings.
In fact, the government-run parador hotel (pictured here) once lost part of its dining room over the edge. (Since rebuilt; no information provided on number of diners who were unable to finish their meals.) The parador incident was not Arcos' first brush with disaster. A 1699 earthquake caused structural damage to the cathedral and many houses in the town.
The cathedral was reinforced with these buttresses, and many houses were shored up by placing
arches over the narrow streets between the houses. In Spanish arcos, hence the name of the town. Having survived and compensated for the 1699 earthquake, Arcos withstood well the regional effects of the 1755 Lisbon mega-quake; naturally the residents of Arcos attributed this to the relative esteem in which the towns were held by the Divine.
We observed long scratches a few feet high at the corners of many buildings.
The cause of the scratches quickly becomes apparent even to newly arrived visitors. In days past, the propertied class had similar problems with careless donkey carts and
placed columns in the corners of many buildings for protection.
Arcos has one of the few remaining convents where nuns are fully cloistered, and their holy solitude is protected by
"no nun-sense" windows. (Pun not original with us.)
Here are a few more lovely views, requiring no comment:
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