Esquivel

<< Mary, yesterday I went to Esquivel, which is another pueblo de colonización in the municipality of Alcalá del Río.

The day was crudo, as we say around here, it was cold, cloudy and even at the end of the morning there was a downpour that seemed to be very angry with the road that leads to Burguillos.

Although they have a very similar plan of arrangement, these villages each have an imprint that makes them different from the others. Esquivel has a cozy garden at the top of its urban layout, from where we can see La Vega and — if the day allows it — the first foothills of the Sierra Sur of the province of Seville in the distance. Surrounding this garden are the Town Hall, the church and some arcades where you can shelter from the rain in winter or protect yourself from the sun in summer. Mary, in our Andalusia it is rare to find these architectural elements, which are common from Madrid to the north.

At the time, the houses were designed to have two perfectly defined parts: a main door for the entrance of people and a rear gate for the transit of animals and agricultural machinery. We could say that the streets intended for the passage of people were prepared with the idea that they were as hygienic as possible, while the backyard allowed the exchange of clothes and work boots for clean clothes and shoes.

Nowadays, of course, most of the houses have been refurbished and there are new constructions with different designs and modern facades; but in the historic nucleus the whitewashed mud walls are still preserved where roses and hibiscus appear and those little greenish birds that you know so well perch.

One of the pedestrian streets

In a nearby eucalyptus forest, next to a feed cooperative, there are some stables that caught my attention. They are built with second-hand materials and the barking of the dogs warn when the owner approaches or a stranger — in my case — ventures to snoop to find the photo of the day. >>

 

     Y. a.

     Mary