To Carmona by way of Córdoba

After a quiet and comfortable night, and a good hearty parador breakfast, we set off for our next stop, Carmona, just short of Seville. We planned the day so that we would have a good length of time to explore Córdoba on the way. The intention was to avoid motorways, but it didn’t really work out that way. The GPS is generally determined to make you conform.

Anyway, after a few sharp showers en route, we arrived in Córdoba in the dry, and found a central multistory car park, only a short stroll from the Mezquita, which is the main reason for visiting the town. It is a magical mosque, converted later into a Christian cathedral - rather crudely, to tell the truth.

It attracts hordes of visitors, mostly in guided tours, but it is so enormous that it swallows them all up, and only occasionally does one have to do battle with the selfy sticks. Some of our photos may give a feel for the place.

After our visit we decided we were in need of refreshment, so we headed for a bar recommended by the Lonely Planet guide. But it was not inviting when we found it, so we went on to another where we were able to sit outside. We ordered the famous Córdoba dish, salmorejo - a cold soup, rather like gazpacho. It was excellent, and we followed up by sharing a plate of croquettes. Washed down with a couple of glasses of good red wine, that made for a most satisfactory lunch.

From lunch we walked back along the river towards the ancient Roman bridge, which still stands firm over the swollen river Guadalquivir. A fine entry gate guards the old city at one end.

Then it was on to to the Alcazar, the fortress of the christian rulers of the city after the moors had been driven out of Spain in the 15th century.

The fortress itself was not very attractive, but its gardens were delightful - laid out on the moorish model, with pools and fountains, but dating from much later. Quite a lot of plants in flower, and statues here and there including one which we guessed was Columbus reporting to Ferdinand and Isabella, Los Reyes Catholicos, who lived in the Alcazar sometimes.

The car park was close by, so we decided it was time to hit the road again, and it was lucky timing, because a lashing rain storm set in just as we were leaving. It continued all the way to Carmona, where the parador is once again established in a magnificent fortress overlooking the plains below. We have a sumptuous room with a great view - or rather, the makings of a great view when the rain stops and the mist clears!

Tomorrow we move into Seville to stay for three nights in an apartment belonging to Maria, a Sevillana former colleague and friend from FAO days. It will be good to leave the car parked for a few days!

Down to Andalucia

We grabbed a quick breakfast across the road from the hotel, then retrieved the car and set off to find the modernistic science park we failed to reach yesterday. After a false start, caused by programming the wrong science museum into TomTom, we found it, and were bowled over by the amazing buildings. A couple of photos give a flavour.

With a long drive ahead, we decided not to linger, getting a good idea of the scope of the place from the road, but also realizing it would take an entire day to explore properly. So TomTom was instructed to take us to our next parador, in Ubeda, in Andalucia.

There was quite a bit of traffic on the motorway getting out of Valencia, but eventually we turned off onto a normal highway. We had thought of pausing for lunch at Albacete, however, a bit of research revealed that it has very little to offer the discerning visitor, being both modern and industrialized. So we decided to press on to Ubeda and hold out for a tapas lunch at a about 2 o’clock or so - a reasonable hour in Spain.

As we moved into Andalucia, we were amazed by mile after mile of olive plantations. Research online revealed that Spain produces half the olive oil of the entire European Union, twice as much as Greece and three times as much as Italy. After today’s drive, we can believe it.

Ubeda, renowned for its renaissance architecture, is a town of extremely narrow streets, which were tricky to navigate, and gave the GPS quite a bit of trouble. However, eventually we found the parador, a 14th century mansion, in a car-free square, and managed to park just behind it.

Then we headed for a tapas bar we had identified in the guide book, only to find it closed for holidays, but there was another close by, which proved to be just fine. After that we checked in, once again being given an excellent room, pausing to admire the central patio/lounge.

In the same square there is a handsome church, which we explored, before wandering around the town, enjoying views of the surrounding countryside - plenty of olives and snow  on the mountains, which made for a chilly wind.

 

We were able to wander through the impressive Town Hall building: not a bad place to work! And we enjoyed other interesting corners.

The highlight, however, was a 13th century synagogue, discovered, excavated and restored only a dozen or so years ago. A local developer had demolished three old cottages with a view to putting up an apartment block and underground car park. Then he started to find interesting remains. To his eternal credit, instead of pressing on and dumping the relics, he had the whole thing excavated. It is a fascinating find. Features include the women’s gallery, a bodega with giant storage vessels, seven wells, two still with water, and a miqve ritual bath.

Through the orange groves to Valencia

Bright sunshine greeted us when we woke this morning, so we breakfasted quickly and then hit the road. The drive to Valencia is only a couple of hours or so, and we decided to avoid the motorway and take the national highway instead. It proved a good idea, and took us through some rugged landscape, but also past vast areas of citrus plantations - one of the main products of the Valencia region. The trees were laden with oranges, some already falling.

We reached Valencia at noon and located our hotel, right in the middle of town on the central market square. Our room was not ready, but they have an underground car park, and we Just parked the car, left everything and set off, after a pause for refreshment, to see the sights.

First stop was the magnificent silk market, or merchants market. You enter through a courtyard filled with orange trees around a central fountain. The entry fee is a princely 2 euro, reduced to one euro for seniors! The architecture is gothic, and the quality reflects the power and wealth of Valencia in the 15th century.

I hope this small selection of photos will convey something of the place.

From there it was a short stroll to the enormous central food market. Spacious and immaculately clean and tidy. Lots of fish and seafood, of course, plus butchers, bakers, fruit and vegetables and so on. There was an inviting central bar, serving drinks and tapas, but it was mobbed, so we selected a bar just outside and ordered a few tapas and some wine, while a rather accomplished violinist serenaded us.

After lunch we headed for the cathedral, a mixture of gothic, romanesque, and some later baroque additions. A couple of striking Goya paintings, and, we were assured, the original Holy Grail!

After all that culture, we headed for the Turia gardens, layed out along the route of the river that used to skirt Valencia’s eastern edge. After severe flooding in the 1950s, the river was diverted and its bed made into a public park, which is evidently much used by citizens. We were heading down towards the modernistic City of Arts and Sciences - quite a hike in prospect. However, after a while it started to rain, which somewhat dampened our enthusiasm, and we caught a taxi back to the hotel, where our room was fortunately ready.

A sunny drive to Tortosa

After yesterday’s grey and dismal day, today dawned sunny and stayed that way. We set off for Lleida after an excellent breakfast, taking the back roads through the hills, before finally dropping down to the plain, which spread out before us, maybe all the way to Madrid. Lleida is another of these towns that were much knocked about in various wars - the Spanish civil war being only the most recent, if the worst. But several retain impressive fortresses, and sometimes churches, perched on lofty rocks above the town.

It was not easy finding our way through the new town and up to the castle, but it was worth it - even though, being Monday, the cathedral was actually closed. The only other visitors were a few disconsolate Brits wandering round the outside, like us. But it really didn’t matter. We were able to peer through an iron grill to see the magnificent gothic cloister, and also pause for a beer in the shadow of the bell tower.

After this excellent excursion, we set off south towards Tortosa, pausing a short way out of town to munch yesterday’s picnic, which proved none the worse for being a day old. Soon the road started to follow the course of the Ebre river, which passes through dramatic gorges all the way down to Tortosa, and after that, the Med of course.. Unfortunately places where you can stop to admire the view and take photos are few and far between, but we did find one or two.

Here in Tortosa, we had less trouble finding our way up to the Parador, which this time is built next to the castle ruins, though not actually inside them. And, still being Monday, they were closed today too. But our room has a balcony with a magnificent view and we are very comfortably chilling out.

On the road to Cardona

We set off in reasonably bright sunshine, though the wind was blowing fiercely. But the day rapidly deteriorated and by the time we were in Languedoc the rain was lashing down. However, traffic was light and we made good time down to the Spanish border - passing many of the places we had visited in a more leisurely way during our Canal du Midi cruise last summer.

We took one pit-stop along the road, during a break in the weather, but there was no respite for our planned picnic lunch, so we kept on going all the way to Cardona. We turned off the main Barcelona motorway after Girona and passed through what was probably fairly spectacular scenery - but the clouds were low, cloaking the hill and mountain tops, so no photographs, I’m afraid.

This is where there should be a dramatic photo of the castle looming above us on a steep rock - but the blog software is playing up and I cannot upload photos for the moment. So you’ll have to take our word for it. If I can figure out the problem, I’ll add the photos later. The road up was very steep and winding, but the castle, which contains the parador, was worth the climb.

Outside it was cold and wet, inside, warm and welcoming - and my Spanish proved serviceable. Lorna had kindly arranged a very superior room for us, and alsoa welcoming bottle of wine that we will broach this evening. So we repaired to the bar for an interim glass or two and some raciones to build up our strength for the sightseeing tour. Actually that was well worth it too. The castle dates back to the 8th or 9th century, and was particularly important because of the wealth provided by the prolific salt mines just across the valley - still in production today.

Work on the church apparently started in 1019. It has a variety of styles, but is considered a prototype of early Catalan Romanesque. Our final visit was to the tower, originally twice its current height, but even so it provides splendid views of the town and the surrounding country - obviously good farmland - and, of course, the salt mines.

LATER

Inspired by a excellent red wine, we have found out how to post some pix: so here are a few. Not all, only the ones I took. I haven’t managed to capture the ones on Diana’s phone yet.

This is the view of the cloister from the corridor outside our room.

And here from ground level.

Here is one of many views from the ramparts.

And here the inside of the church

In the top left of this picture you may just make out the saltmines.

Iberia 2018

Introduction

This is  a diary of our three-week road trip around the Iberian peninsula in April 2018. We are leaving on Sunday, April 8, heading south-west across the border, and will spend the first night at the castle parador at Cardona in Catalonia. In fact, we will be staying several paradors on this trip, thanks to an old Lymington friend, Lorna, who represents the parador chain in Ireland. She has provided lots of good advice, and made good value bookings: April is low season, and there are good deals for "seniors".

I have scanned a map of Spain showing the paradors, but I think it is probably too small to read the names. In principle we will be going clockwise around the peninsula, stopping at Valencia, Sevilla, Lisbon and Porto, Galicia, Bilbao and many places in between. We are skipping Madrid and Barcelona, which we have visited and enjoyed in recent years.

This time we will using our iPhones for photos, which is something of an experiment, but most people seem to manage so I expect we will too.