Today is a national holiday in Spain. It’s the ‘Feast of the Immaculate Conception’. We’re restricted from accessing the boatyard, so instead we’re heading inland to explore the region.

The small village of Felix …. is set amongst the rugged, arid hills of Andalusia, around 10kms inland from the coast. The mass of white houses, presided over by the ruins of an 11th century Arabic castle, are hewn from the surrounding rocks and seem to occupy every nook and cranny of the stepped hillside. They roll down the hill like a cascade of falling dice. The current population is around 640 – there used to be more. Legend tells that the old castle – el castille es ‘de la matanza’ (… ‘of slaughter’) because the Moriscos who fought against the Christian troops in 1568 threw themselves to their death from the top, as they chose to die rather than convert to Christianity. Not us though! Instead, we threw ourselves into a tiny local café for tosdadas swathed in queso e jamón and the usual café con leche double. To my mind, a far better option than either certain death from jumping from the ramparts, or conversion to Christianity.

We aimlessly wandered around the village and soaked in the sense of time standing still. The architecture nods decisively towards its Arabic past and the little box dwellings squeeze into the tiny lanes and cobbled pathways, restricting passage only to those on foot.

Once upon a time there were 5 lead smelting complexes in the village but today the locals cultivate olives and almonds mostly for their own consumption and make a living from working in the vast acres of greenhouses that surround nearby Almeria.

It all began here …