In the morning I went to visit the center of Palos de la Frontera, where a popular race was being held. This town is known throughout the world for being the place from where the sailors under the command of Christopher Columbus would depart to explore the unknown ocean and find a shorter route to the East Indies, thus discovering America.

I would first see Plaza de España where the police station is located. There I would report the theft of my car hubcaps the night before.



Then I would continue where the town hall would find me in the Plaza Comandante Franco (the brother of the dictator Francisco Franco). In it, together with that of Spain and the town hall, you can see the typical decoration of the area with local tiles. Afterwards, I would visit the church of San Jorge which, despite appearing from the outside to have nothing extraordinary, being in the 15th century Mudejar style, contains a great treasure inside. And it is that frescoes of Santiago el Mayor from the battle of Clavijo and the coronation of the Virgin are perfectly preserved, as well as an alabaster carving of the virgin from the 12th century.



Then he would visit the monument to the Discoverers and go inside the monastery of La Rábida where Columbus would spend days before traveling to America.



There he would recruit a good part of the crew, including many young sailors from Palos. Here you can learn everything related to their travels and see artifacts that they brought, as well as a replica of each caravel that is in a museum inside.
The beautiful church with a chapel with fully preserved frescoes and many valuable paintings. The ceiling is covered by a Mudejar polychrome wood coffered ceiling from the 19th century. In it is the Virgen de los Milagros, a 14th century carving of albrastro and Mannerist style.





Another of the most important elements of the monastery is its cloister, dating from the 15th century and which would be enlarged two centuries later. Some pieces of the original decoration, painted in fresco, are still preserved on its floor. The original staircase of the cloister stands out.



On the sides of the cloister is the Conference Room and the refectory where Columbus prepared his trip to the Americas.



Also noteworthy is the library where there are objects of high historical value, among which is important a world map by Juan de la Cosa where the American coast appears for the first time, as well as the replicas of the caravels.



Then you would pass by the monument to the Discoverers where all the countries of America discovered by the Spanish are represented in tile mosaics on the floor.



And finally you would arrive at the dock where the caravels are built in real size and you can go up and see some details. There is also a museum with everything that the sailors of that time carried, as well as where the trips that were made and where the crew came from are explained.





After seeing this, I would travel to see the towns in the area. I took the N442 road and went to Mazagon beach, one of the best in the province. There is the Parador de Huelva, and nearby the Doñana natural park.

Next, I will head towards El Rocío, a town born from the construction of a temple in the name of the Virgin of Rocío that gives its name to the town. To access this town, take a road parallel to the Doñana National Park. This town has soaked up all the Andalusian tradition, bullfighting, flamenco and religion. It is full of premises owned by societies called brotherhoods. During the April festivities, people from all over Andalusia make pilgrimages to this town to make offerings to the Virgin and to celebrate the festivities. The town is unpaved, completely filled with sand which gives it a western movie touch.





Among the streets of the town there are private houses and houses of the brotherhoods and it has all the necessary services to live, such as supermarkets, bars and restaurants, although many of them only open during the festivities in Abril del Rocío.



The town was born from the hermitage dedicated to Santa María from the 12th century. From the fifteenth century



They rent horses and sell any typical Andalusian item. In the festivities of this pilgrimage, the Virgin is turned over by the crowd in an act known as jumping over the fence. The virgin is normally found in the main church of Almonte, which is the town where the people reside since this town really comes alive during the celebrations, however due to tourism throughout the year there are people and the sanctuary remains open to be visited .






Later I went to Almonte and visited the Plaza Mayor and the Church of the Assumption which was just celebrating because the Virgen del Rocío was there. This church is from the 15th century and is mostly in the Baroque style, which would be restored in the 18th century. Although one of the chapels has the original Mudejar style.





Almonte has all the ingredients of the Andalusian character, in terms of typical costumes, crafts, decoration, potsherds and flowers, flamenco and bullfighting. Walking through the center you can see large features.



I also visited the city museum where I had a mixture of an explanation of Rocío and a review of bullfighting in the area, having a large number of bullfighter costumes.





Then I would walk through more peripheral areas to see the hermitage of Christ and the winery area.




Leaving behind the Andalusian paraphernalia, I would visit a medieval town with a lot of history. Niebla is a walled town where one of the last defenses by the Almohads was located at the time of the reconquest. Once the Alcazaba was conquered, it would be repaired and the interior walls demolished as the city grew, although most of the enclosure has been restored and is in good condition.





This city has as a relevant historical fact that it was the first Arab city to be besieged by gunpowder weapons, in the middle of the 13th century. They were the first bombards in which the precision was not good but the damage was good, for which they were used to tear down walls and battlements mainly. that after the reconquest, all the properties in the area would be claimed from Queen Juana la Loca, but the Duke of Medina Sidonia would refuse, so the city was besieged and looted.

These dukes were the ones who made the city great between the 13th and 16th centuries.
Inside the wall, the entrance gates as well as the entrance to the castle are in perfect condition. This castle dates back to Roman times but the current construction dates from the 15th century.



Of particular note are the ruins of the church of San Martín where the Gothic apse is preserved. Also the hospital of Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles which is today the House of Culture.



The main church is that of Santa María de la Granada, which was built on the old mosque of the town. Before being a mosque it was a Visigothic temple that can be seen in some of the columns. Inside, you can perfectly appreciate the remains of the mihrab and mimbar of the mosque. The fundamental style is Mudejar, with a beautiful coffered ceiling. This is from the 15th and 16th century. It is the true jewel of the town together with the castle and its walls.




Lastly, I went to Moguer, where the procession of the Nazarene was taking place the day I went. Despite being on alert for coronavirus, people were not afraid and took to the streets, crowding everything.





The most important church is the church of Nuestra Señora de la Granada, dating from the 14th century, although it would be rebuilt in the 16th century. In the 18th century it would be completely reformed after the damage from the Lisbon earthquake. The predominant style is baroque and neoclassical. The tower is decorated and they say that it is similar to the Giralda in Seville, although to me it looks more like the churches of Jerez de los Caballeros, in Badajoz. It is one of the largest churches in all of Andalusia and has great works of art, both paintings and sculptures.



Although the most important religious building that would give rise to the town is the Monastery of Santa Clara, which was founded at the beginning of the 14th century, by the first lord of Moguer. The predominant style of the monastery and its church is Gothic and Mudejar. It is one of the largest monasteries in all of Andalusia. From this monastery, different convents would be founded in different places such as Seville, Jaén, Córdoba, Osuna, or Jerez de los Caballeros. Because they sponsored Columbus's voyage and the fact that the Pinzón brothers were from the city, they have a lot of ties to America, and there are many religious buildings from there that were inspired by the architecture of this monastery.

The monastery would stop working with the confiscation of Mendizábal.

Walking past the house of the Pinzón brothers and the museum of Juan Ramón Jimenez, poet of the generation of '27.



At the end of the procession and seeing a bit of the town, he would return to Palos.

Day 4, from Huelva to Toledo

October 18, 2021