Our visit to the dolmens was a highlight of our time in Antequera. It was an easy walk there – about a kilometre – just on the outskirts of town. We breakfasted at the same place we’d lunched yesterday, right next to our Hotel Manzanito (€50 double) , with a mollete bread roll, typical of Antequera, butter and jam and another very strong cup of coffee—seems a trait in this town. Then groceries at the Día and a loaf of rye bread at a nearby bakery completed our provisioning. We were breaking this stage in two to allow us time to visit the dolmens (which are closed on a Monday) and to get a night at the lovely sounding Cortijo Carrillo.
The Antequera Dolmens Site – a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2016 – is free, but you need to register and get a ticket. A left luggage locker (€1) at the site was great so we could leave our packs and poles and visit unencumbered. And there were excellent bathrooms that we partook of both before and after—a real perk as any pilgrim knows.
The first dolmen (Viera) was a little disappointing with just a small entry and a place to look in. But then you get to Menga and wow! Stunning! Huge rock slabs and pillars create an open oval. The friendly staff person in the room explained that its size made it likely it was a temple rather than just for burial. This Neolithic dolmen is apparently one of the best in Europe and we would add our vote to that.
We lingered in Menga for quite a while and then reluctantly dragged ourselves away, skipping the museum as we wanted to get going and it had already gone noon. The day was warm, but it was flat and after some roundabouts, an underpass under the freeway and an overpass over a highway, we settled into a landscape of olive trees. Some were very old trees, where it looks as though the centre is gone and it’s just peripheral trunks left. But there were also newly planted trees and, in one place, holes ready for planting out saplings.
The peak of Peña de los Enamorados, with which the dolmens are aligned, kept getting closer but, like Torcal, was difficult to capture in photos. We were glad of the shade of a stately, old olive tree for our lunch break. The temperature forecast was for 26° and it sure felt it.
It was 4:00 when we arrived at the delightful Cortijo Carrillo (€63 double, including breakfast), which is just about a kilometre past the small town of Cartoajal. This was a bit of a splurge, but one that was well worth it. We had a warm welcome from our host, then enjoyed an excellent shower in our huge room, followed by a cold drink from the self-serve bar in the comfy chairs on the terrace admiring the view and the lemon trees.
We’ve just done bread and cheese and cucumber for dinner to save us walking back to Cartoajal for a restaurant. We’re so glad that was our call (and that we’d planned that ahead, hence the extra provisioning this morning). A cup of mint tea and some chocolate made a lovely dessert. The evenings are really cooling down after these hot days so we had our simple dinner in the spacious lounge room rather than the upper terrace. I slept great last night so I’m hoping for two in a row.