COLOUR SUPPLEMENT: An evening in Chinchon, by JD

Another retread from my archive first posted at Nourishing Obscurity in 2011, I think. (As long ago as that?) Not sure of the date of the visit to Chinchon, it was probably December 1999 or possibly the following year.

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One very cold December evening we decided to visit Chinchon, about 20 miles or so to the south of Madrid. No particular reason for the visit except that I hadn’t been there before and even if it was cold and dark, that was no reason not to go.

For those of you unfamiliar with Spain, Madrid is about 2000 feet above sea level and so in the winter it can be very very cold. On the plus side is the fact that it is dry with very low humidity in both winter and summer which makes the extremes of heat and cold bearable. The locals like to joke that they have 'nueve meses del invierno y tres meses en el infierno' which is not strictly true but you get the idea.

Arriving at our destination we are greeted with the splendid sight of a beautifully illuminated Plaza Mayor-

We then stopped off in this bar/restaurant http://www.cuevasdelvino.com/CuevasVino4.html for a small refreshment, after first visiting the cuevas which were filled with very large barrels full of vino.

Even though the fire was no longer ablaze, the fireplace in the background had stored the bulk of the heat (which is what fireplaces are designed to do) and was radiating a wonderful warm glow throughout the room.

We enjoyed a vino in that cosy ambiente and as you can see we are somewhat pixellated.

Later we had a look round the Parador de Chinchon which has been converted from an old convent and very elegant it is too. http://www.parador.es/en/cargarFichaParador.do?parador=030

Had a stroll in the gardens and took a few photos. Did I mention that it was cold? They were sitting on a cold stone bench and telling me to hurry up and also laughing because I wanted a picture of their backs.

But I knew what I was doing with the above photo because I had ‘seen’ this, which I painted much later. This is a quick watercolour sketch which I did shortly after our viaje while it was still fresh in the memory -

And then a few years later I did this larger version in acrylic paint. The two 'models' in the photo have prints of this painting which are framed and hanging on their respective apartment walls.

(The original painting is better in reality, this digital version looks a bit washed out lower left for some reason)

And so, time for more vino and tapas. In this bar we had what can only be described as an instant hot-dog. A sausage cooked inside a large baguette, rather like a sausage roll but with dough instead of pastry.

Fresh from the oven and cut into slices it was delicious.

A very pleasant evening in what is obviously a nice location. Must go back in daylight sometime to see what it looks like.