A parrot in a sherry bar, Arcos de la Frontera

It hasn't been possible to sort out my images nor to 'Blip' whilst we're here on holiday in southern Spain. I will back blip all of the holiday when I return, and maybe before if the connections improve.

Today we visited the local town, Arcos de la Frontera in Andalucia, where we arrived yesterday for three days, after leaving our friends G. and B. in their wonderful home in the village of Feria, further to the north in Extremadura.

Our host in this terrific B'n'B gave us guidance for things to do and places to visit. The sea will be tomorrow's theme, as we're aiming for Cape Trafalgar on the Atlantic Ocean. We decided to explore the local town noted for its very old perched centre high up on a rock face above the river. It was worth the climb through the ancient narrow, moorish streets, hardly big enough for even one car in many places. 

The extreme heat, peaking at 41° Celsius at lunchtime, meant we had to get a drink in a bar. We spotted one in the old town in an area where there seemed to be fewer visitors. The landlord of the dark bar, which seemed to be focused on selling sherry and celebrating traditions of bullfighting, was very friendly and served us excellent cool beer. I couldn't resist taking a couple of pictures inside the very dark room.

When we were about to leave a couple entered the bar and we spotted this beautiful parrot perched on the man's shoulder. I motioned to him, as I can't speak a word of Spanish, if he minded me taking a picture and as he seemed to approve, I took a few pictures. The parrot was a bit wary of me, unsurprisingly but I loved the resulting picture with the colours of his beautiful plumage contrasting with the dark light in the room with its many pictures and photos hanging on the walls.

We returned to the intense light on the streets and grasped whatever shade we could find in the narrow passages and under trees before returning to rest/have a siesta back at the B'n'B. We have now just returned from a tapas bar where we had good food and beer once again and are readying ourselves for an 80 kilometre trip across country to the seaside, and more seafood hopefully. It may even be slightly cooler there which will be a bonus.