ROAD TRIP: Alcantra, Spain, Guest Post by Susan Kean

My friend Susan Kean and her partner George recently went on a driving trip from Lisbon in Portugal, through Spain, to the Dordogne region in the South of France, where they visited friends and toured the countryside, including a visit to the famous painted caves of Lascaux (a replica). Susan has graciously agreed to share her photos with The Intrepid Tourist. The first three posts appeared several weeks ago. Here is a final post with Susan’s account of their visit to Alcantra, Spain. Susan writes:

Inside the beautiful Conventual de San Benito in Alcantra.

Conventual de San Benito, Alcantara

Here is one more post from our adventures last month. We took a two night trip to Alcantara, Spain… a short distance east of the Portuguese border. Our primary purpose was to see the beautiful Roman bridge that is built across the Tagus River, but as with much of Spain and Portugal, there is a lot more going on.

Hospederia Conventual de Alcantara. Hotel dining room with flour mills.

We stayed in a hotel that was a converted convent, with some time being a flour mill!

Four of the main Crusade groups.

This area was very involved with the Crusades and Order of the Alcantara still exists today. 

Rainy day view of Tagus Bridge

The Alcántara Bridge is a Roman bridge at Alcántara, in Extremadura, Spain. Alcántara is from the Arabic word al-Qantarah meaning "the arch". The stone arch bridge was built over the Tagus River between 104 and 106 AD by an order of the Roman emperor Trajan in 98.

The Tagus Bridge has had challenges during war times when armies would blow up an arch to prevent the enemy from crossing.

Alcantara Bridge

Road surface as it’s been for 2000 years. Maybe the Romans could teach us something. They are finally building another bridge nearby as heavy traffic is taking its toll.

View up the Tagus River, away from the bridge.

Hydro-electric plant near the bridge.

BALI, A TROPICAL PARADISE: Guest Post by Tom Scheaffer

Bali, Indonesia

My brother Tom spent three weeks in Bali in January and has generously shared some of his photos and impressions from his trip. A short video is at the end of this post. He writes:

The hotel we are staying at, Uma Dawa, used to be a museum where an artist lived. It’s peaceful and Bali style--and feels very tropical. 

The hotel has a nice pool and there are few people. We are just a five minute walk from the main hotel so it’s very convenient. It’s quite warm here, but if you stay in the shade it’s good.

I am sitting on my front porch looking out onto the jungle view. It has rained a little bit but otherwise the weather has been good. 

The Balinese culture has a real sense of beauty, and everything they make is artistically done.

We all move to the next location in two days, and that hotel will be by the ocean.

Tom made a short video of his three weeks in Bali. Enjoy!

This is Tom’s second trip to Bali. He was there in 2017. You can read about his previous trip at these two posts: SUDAJI FALLS and ULUWATU TEMPLE.

ANCIENT PETROGLYPHS IN THE ATACAMA DESERT OF CHILE, by Caroline Arnold at The Intrepid Tourist

Petroglyphs in the Atacama Desert in Northern Chile

In December 2009, Art and I spent five days in the Atacama Desert in the far north of Chile, staying at Tierra Atacama in San Pedro de Atacama. Each day, our hotel arranged tours to sites in the area.

The focus of our second day’s trip was an ancient petroglyph site in the foothills of the Andes. This turned out to be a private tour, as no one else from the hotel wanted to go there that day.

For thousands of years, a large rock outcrop at the foot of Andes has been used by indigenous artists to make drawings of people, animals and other images.

About an hour’s drive north of San Pedro, we approached an open valley surrounding a semi-circular rock outcrop. A caretaker was inside the small visitor center, but otherwise we were the only people there.

A life-size drawing of a llama, with a smaller image inside it.

Even from a distance I could see the outline of a llama on the first boulder. Deeply incised on the vertical surface, it was nearly life size. The surprise, as we got closer, was that there was another smaller llama drawn inside the larger one, perhaps to indicate fertility.

Puma

Although it is difficult to date rock art, it is believed that some of the images are thousands of years old.

Drawings were found all over the site.

Scrambling up the boulders we saw petroglyphs of more llamas, big and small, as well foxes, pumas, jaguars, snakes, flamingos, and human figures with feather headdresses.

Seated person with feather headdress

As we stood there in the shadow of these ancient images, it was easy to imagine prehistoric hunters resting here on their way to the next oasis.

Foxes

The extremely dry climate is ideal for preserving rock art, and in many cases the drawings appear as fresh as if they were made yesterday.

Our shaded lunch spot in Rainbow Canyon

For our picnic lunch we went to nearby Rainbow Canyon, named for the unusual variety of colorful rock formations. Shade was in short supply, but we found a large rock whose shadow was just big enough to set up our lunch table.

Terraced fields in the village of Rio Grande

For our final stop we drove to the remote village of Rio Grande for an example of terraced farming. The contrast between the small but lush fields at the base of the river canyon and the stark, steep walls that contained them was huge.

Village church in Rio Grande

On the way back to the highway, we spotted a group of guanacos, the wild relatives of llamas and alpacas, domestic animals that are kept for their wool and meat.

Guanaco

A full report of our visit to the Atacama can be found in these posts from May 2011:
Chile: Atacama Desert, Part 1, Flamingoes, Oases and Volcanoes
Chile: Atacama Desert, Part 2, Ancient Rock Art, Llamas and Geysers