Martos

Martos is the name of the town where we bought our house. The house was originally a large dwelling, which was then used as a girls school before being turned back into a house. We have a fair bit of work to do before we move in permanently but are looking forward to it. The major work of replacing the windows is about to get underway and when this is finished I will stay for a few months to complete tiling and painting.

We liked the area because it wasn't commercialised and was off the tourist track, in fact we were the first British buyers. The town is reasonably close to an airport and a large city and is not too far from the coast. Martos has all the facilities we want, from supermarkets, a swimming pool and a good variety of shops, bars and restaurants.

We had to adjust our eating habits as most of the restaurants and some bars don't open until after 8:00pm, although some cafe bars are open all day.
We find it very relaxing sitting at a table outside, eating and drinking and watching the world go by.

Listening to the mating call of the young Spaniards will take some getting used to, namely driving slowly along the street, playing crap music loudly and sounding there horns at anything in a skirt.

We were in Martos in early September and watched a religious ceremony going past our house. It was interesting to watch and listen to. Thirty men carrying a religious statue through the streets with a band playing, following the band were literally thousands of locals all carrying lit candles. The men carrying the statue danced in time to the music while carrying it. They danced for a few yards, placed the statue on the grounds and then disappeared into houses for refreshments. This was repeated numerous times just on our street. Angela and I really enjoyed the ceremony and it took an hour just to go past our house.
Anybody have any ideas what the ceremony was. I think it was the second Sunday in September.