Cordova - fantastic

Mon 31st March 2014

Lazy start to the day, warmer than we have been for awhile, and a promise of good weather for the day so no coats!!!! Ended last night about midnight in Lyn and Lindsays’ motorhome after a couple of wines, they are from Noosa but leave their motorhome in England in storage when not travelling Europe, which they have been doing for the last 7 years. Of course their motorhome was a newer model and a 2 berth so they had more room in it than ours which of course Jo had to point out on numerous occasions!!! Poor old Priscilla I hope she didn’t hear. Walked into Cordoba about 3 kms and what a city, had a great feel to it straight away, the streets are all well looked after and in the older parts the houses are painted white and a lot have beautiful flower boxes full of colourful plants, mostly geraniums. We went into a couple of the entrances of homes that were members of a patio society and liked to show off their colourful courtyards (patios). Just enjoyed walking around the streets and enjoying the warm weather. Went into the huge Mosque that was the original building before Christians overran the city and decided to build a massive church right in the middle of the old mosque, the different building designs are certainly interesting. Walked over the old bridge that crosses the very fast running river, and had our picnic lunch before carrying on our walk. Stopped in a lovely little park in the shade and enjoyed watching the world go by. Nearby was an old castle looking building that we decided we would pay out the E7 each to have a look at and were so pleased we did, we got right up the preserved original tower and had a wonderful view of the city and realised that we had some magnificent gardens to look around. These gardens were obviously of a later period than the ruins as they had a very symmetrical French design with huge conifer trees lining water features and immaculate gardens, a wonderful oasis within the city. Slowly made our way back through the city and on to the campsite, returning about 6.30, and had a lovely evening meal before another catch up with the “ neighbours “ .

On the road to Cordova

Sun 30th March 2014

Left the Camping Merida in bright sunshine shame it wasn't like this yesterday morning for taking photos. Set off heading south towards Cordova. Forgot to mention yesterday that all the roman ruins we visited are heritage listed and weren't excavated until 1910. Also when they began the footings for the Museum they came across the original roman road which joined Merida to Cordova over 250km long! Other buildings and tombs which they have kept as is and now it forms the crypt of the new museum, this is now a work in progress slowing excavating what they have found. Our drive today took us through open plains full of olive trees. The soil is a beautiful red brown rich colour.the last few days on the road we have seen vast fields of solar panels. We crossed the boarder into Andalucia and most of the villages seem to now be white villages which look stunning against the green and browns of this now more arable and livestock land and not so many olive trees. Driving along we spotted a castle ruin on top of a lonely hill that was standing out like a sore thumb. So if course we had to pull over and park up in a beautiful village ( houses were all white and most had shiny ceramic tiles on the bottom half of the outside) and climb it! It was a steep climb but well worth it for the views. It was The Castillo de Belmez. Arrived in Cordova late afternoon, filled up with diesel and E2 gas LPG !!!! We managed to find the campsite right in the city without too much trouble (it helped it was a Sunday and no traffic). Expensive site E26 without power! Probably be here two nights. Motorhome pulled up next to us - Aussies' !!!!!! Had our dinner and then went next door to them for a drink and to swap stories and places of interest. 

2000 years ago .......

Sat 29th march 2014 Cycled into town - 3kms away. It had rained all night and was now overcast. Paid E12 each to visit all the historic Roman Ruin sites in the town. So glad we made the extra days drive to get here as the preserved sites were spectacular. Have never seen anything like it before and was so nice to walk around with hardly any other people. Everywhere in town were manicured orange trees full of fruit. Not sure if anyone can help themselves? Visited the Roman Theatre/Amphitheatre/Diana's Temple/The Citadel/the Bridge over Guardiana River/Mithreo's House and The National Museum of Roman Art. The house was so well preserved that still had mural we all paintings and huge mosaic floor coverings. In the Citadel we went down through an opening to an underground well which they used to syphon the river water through gravel. This was hard to get your head around the fact that all this was over 2000 years old and how advance all their building technics were and a lot of them are still used today. The Bridge was our picnic stop and the sun had now come out. The Temple of Diana was amazing and of course it would be with a name like like! We finished our day off in the museum. The building itself was stunning and was built to replicate Roman brickwork and enhanced the artefacts in it. We haven't been to Rome yet and it will be interesting to see how this out of the way town (Merida) compares with it with its numerous well preserved buildings mosaic flooring and murals. Enjoyed our Cycle back , beer and well deserved dinner and cannot believe another day has now gone! Just realised all the trees covering this campsite are the same as Australian gum trees. Off to Cordova in the morning. 

On the road again

Thurs 27th March 2014

Very cold morning again but sun was shining. Got packed up and hosed Priscilla down as after 7 days she was covered in Poplar leaves. Did a shop at Lidl's then set off and managed to navigate our way through Toledo (I'm getting good at this !) fuelled up and headed east.  Stopped for a coffee next to a graveyard! The sun has now gone and it's very low cloud which is obscuring the mountains as we approach them. The countryside is vast green patchwork looking and many olive trees. It started to rain as we claimed higher and the roads became very windy. We crossed over the boarder from Castilla-La Mancha into Extremadura. The scenery changed again and we could've been in Scotland or Wales especially with the weather the way it was! Called into a campsite for the night but it was the pits and they wanted E23 so we decided to carry on to Merida.Got into Merida late and tried to find an Aires site from our book, what a nightmare, two one way streets we went up were so narrow with cars parked either side I don't know how we got through!!! Still had trouble finding the site and when we did we're told no overnight sleeping. So we then had get out of town to find a campsite which we did 3 km's out of town which is fine for E14 per night. Will get the bikes out tomorrow and visit the town as it has the best preserved Roman structures in Spain. Jo cooked a lovely curry for dinner and an early night after a big drive.