DREAMING OF ISTÁN -- part 6

DREAMING OF ISTÁN

Walk up the steep streets. Notice so many old people walking that the early evening hours look like a retirement village outing. Or maybe there are so many healthy seniors out and about because they stay fit walking instead of driving, downing fresh mountain water instead of high fructose corn syrup sodas. Look up at the Sierra Blanca Mountains or out across the Rio Verde valley. Watch how different the greens and purples and other hues become as the sun softens after 7 p.m. Marvel at that Andalusian sun. In late May/early June, it trades midday intensity for a warm, glowing, photographer’s dream light from sevenish till total sundown about 10 p.m. Wonder along the streets. They are now full of children, families. Many are gathered around the little kiosk selling snacks by the beloved Mirador del Peñón, a lookout point. The air is cool, crisp, fresh and more pure than the auto exhaust fume-choked winds off the sea below. Walk back up the hill and a cathedral bell rings. It’s the real thing, coming from the beautiful Baroque-steepled Iglesia de San Miguel – a parish church built in the 16th century on orders of the archbishop of Sevilla and named for the village’s patron saint (not the popular on-tap cerveza of the same name).