Sanlucar to Lebrija

It was a lovely bright if chilly morning when we left Sanlucar. I felt somewhat reluctant to leave the Palace!

We cycled past a big stork’s nest on a church and the town’s bullring. As as the doors were open, I had a peek inside.

The road took us through a residential area of small farmhouses and on the banks of the river we passed some big mounds of salt, looking a lot like stranded ice bergs.

We were very happy to find that we were actually able to cycle through part of the Doñana Park on the Sanlucar side of the Guadalaquiver River. In fact, that was pretty much our entire day. Initially, it was a beautiful pine forest with a paved bike path all the way through. It was a really stunning ride in the morning light, so quiet and peaceful with only a few other day cyclists on the path.

We then left the pine forest and entered the marshland area of the Doñana. It too was really beautiful, and so open and vast with lots of bird life, including our friends the storks in some very big nests. Again, very few people but a lot of cows at one point were out there with us. The forests and marshlands were popular hunting grounds for the Royal family and aristocracy. The marshlands have the highest biodiversity in Europe and are inhabited by over 300 species of birds, 130 of which breed here, as well as 37 mammal species, 21 reptile species, 11 amphibian species and 20 freshwater fish species.

Leaving the salt marshes which occupied most of the ride, we were riding beside hills again, planted with olive trees. As interesting as the salt marches have been, I realized that I have missed that type of landscape.

We had a short ride on a quiet road into Leibrja, a white hilltop town that we had been able to see in the distance for sometime. There was even a bike path to greet us. Eventually, we just pushed our bikes through the narrow cobbled streets to find our hotel. There seemed to be few hotels in the town so we hadn’t had much choice when booking. The Hotel Barrio Nuevo (55€) was on a little square with an adjoining restaurant. Not knowing how late the restaurant with its outdoor seating would be open, we asked for “una habitación muy tranquila” and we were shown to a room in the building next door. Good - not right over the restaurant! Our bikes went into a big locked common room in the main hotel building. It wasn’t the Palace but it was comfortable and clean.

We had a late lunch in a bar restaurant that used the little square across the road for their outdoor seating. We were in need of a good protein meal so after perusing the menu, Jim went in to order “dos brochettes” that we hoped would have some veg with the carne. He said they looked at him in horror when he asked for two and told him they were muy grande. That was good advice. One was plenty for us both and at least had onions and green peppers - along with the fries.

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We enjoyed sitting in the square watching the local population socializing on a warm Saturday afternoon. People went into the bar to order and get their drinks and if they had ordered food, the servers crossed the road from the bar but didn’t come down the steps into the square, just put the dishes on the wall and called the person’s name. It appeared that there had been a band concert or would be one, as the tables began to fill up with uniformed band members and their instruments.

We had a good walk around this very clean, well-maintained little town of about 26,000. Besides the square where we had lunch, there was another main square with a very upscale cafe and a large restaurant. We followed a street up to the very highest part of the town where you had long views in every direction and where there was a chapel and the remains of old walls. Interestingly, all the signage in places of note was also in English.

Founded by the Phoenicians, Leibja originally was a port on the shores of the Lacus Ligustinus, a large inner lake surrounded by the Guadalquivir River and its tributaries and coastal sand bars to the South. The lake later filled with sediment, and gradually gave way to the current Guadalviquir marshy lowlands or, in Spanish, las Marismas, that we had just ridden through.

The town has a very beautiful church, Santa María de la Oliva, considered one of the finest churches in the province of Seville that combines a variety of styles: Mudéjar, Renaissance and Baroque, dating from the 14th century to the 16th C. The campanile tower was inspired by the Giralda, of the Cathedral of Seville, and it is commonly known as "La Giraldilla" (little Giralda).

It has long been an agricultural town and still is as we would see when we departed the next day - beets, wheat, various fruits, grapes and surprisingly cotton. Apparently farms here were the first to grow corn when it was brought over from the Americas.

It was a place of agrarian reform prior to the Spanish Civil War, beginning with some collectivisation of farms and expropriation of land from absentee landlords. In the 1960s and 1970s, Lebrija, together with Jerez and Morón de la Frontera, became a focus of Jornalero protests (peasants without land) due to their poor living condition and expectations. As a result, a regime of "community work", guaranteeing a minimum salary during a few months every year, was established. Shortly after Francisco Franco's death, on 6 January 1976, around one hundred jornaleros locked themselves up in the parish church to express their political demands, only to be removed by the Civil Guard, but not before they have voiced their demands using the church tower loudspeakers several times:

"We want the miscultivated fields and lands to be given to jornaleros and small owners. We want subsidies for the unemployed all year round. We want collective agreements for the whole sector and a right to retirement at 60. We want trade union liberty and freedom for all political prisoners and exiles..."

And the biggest Flamenco festival in Spain apparently takes place in this small town. Interesting place Lebrija!

Our day - 44 km. Flat.