Thelma and Louise....or I mean Michelle and Mary

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So, once Matt left us to go back to England Mum and I started planning our road trip. When we had first started talking about it it was going to be three weeks but actually we realised that we only had 8 days. But gosh did we fit a lot in!

day 1 - Sunday - Cordoba

we left mid morning and drove straight to Cordoba - a beautiful walled city with a newly renovated bridge crossing the Guadalquivir river. The cathedral used to be a Mosque so it's an amazing blend of architecture with Moorish arches and big brass doors and then Spanish tiles and lots of very intricate Catholic idols and alters. We had a lovely wander therough the Jewish quarier and found little hidden Arabic tea houses and more Moorish architecture. we had dinner in a local restaurant dedicated to Bull fighting so there were great photos and memorabilia everywhere. The town was really quiet and it was only the next day that we realised that there was a guitar festival in town and that everyone was probably at any one of the various venues featuring famous flamenco guitarists ....damn... Ah well, the next day we managed to catch a number of random players on the steps of the Cathedral and in a little square where we were having our breakfast. It was only toast and coffee but the live music made it a feast!

Day 2 - Monday - toledo

after brekkie we head for the hills straight for Toledo. What a cool place although a bit scary to drive in as it's a tiny medieval town with roads about big enough for an old fiesta and all at 65 degree angles! after driving around for ages looking for somewhere to stay, we found a cool little inn right in the centre called the Santa Isabella which included brekkie for about E50 and 3 course dinner for E7 - bargain!

Day 3 - Tuesday - Salamanka

Lots of driving today so by the time we reached Salamanka we just wanted to chill out. I had a swim in the pool and mum had a relaxing bath. Feeling more refreshed, we got the local bus into town and had a wonderful evening in the Plaza Major - this is the town squre where virtually everyone tourist and local alike hang out. If you've got money, you sit outside and eat your dinner and watch the world go by. If you're a wee bit more frugal, you do as we did and go to the upstairs part of the bar/restaurant and pay a number of euros less for everything on the menu. We actually had a table right beside some big open French doors so we had a wonderful aerial view and were able to watch the whole evening's entertainment begin to unfold. After dinner we had ice-cream outside and had great fun watching the various bands playing. I think they were called Tunas - very funny, young guys dressed up in velvet jackets, feathered hats and knickerbockers! I even got to dance the cha cha with a very lovely gentleman!

Day 4 - Wednesday - Luarca

Driving north, it was amazing to watch the dry sandy landscape of the south give way to lush green mountainous views. We were trying to get to Gijon on the coast but got a bit lost. We stopped for dinner in a pretty little seaside town nearby ( and marvelled at the messy, tall cider pouring techniques of the very surly waiters...we didn't sample any). we eventually settled on a place to stay in Luarca which is on the way to Galicia. really nothing much to say about Luarca - ooh apart from the amazing house tortilla (like Fritatta) in the pub next to the hotel we stayed in.

Day 5 - Thursday - A Coruna and Santiago de Compestela

we got on the road fairly early so that we could get to A Coruna and possibly on to Santiago. We had a gorgeous Japanese lunch in A Coruna, in a restaurant overlooking the water. A Coruna is huge - it's a very prosperous port town and although it looked lovely we decided to push on. We managed to book a really beautiful hotel for the night. It's called the Abetos de Santiago and it was E68 for the two of us and although it says it 4 star, it's closer to 5. The bus man (a Pete Postlewhait look-alike) brought is in to the city and gave us running commentry along the way...I think he took a shine to mum! So Santiago is where all the pilgims end up after their huge walk through the Pyrinees and down through Spain. There are walkers hobbling around everywhere looking tired but very happy. The cathedral in the town centre is heart of the place and every day there's a pilgrim's mass where two huge incense pendulums are released and swing right the way through the congregation. Apparently that tradition started because all the poor pilgrims were so smelly!

Day 6 - Friday - Sanxenxo

after a very nice night's sleep in our luxury hotel, we hit the road once again for Sanxenxo. This is a small town outside of Pontevedra and is where my brother Cillian's Spanish family spend the summer. it was so nice to finally meet them. After getting a wee bit lost trying to find their house (think Devon roads but all one way and no sign posts), we eventually got there and had a beautiful evening drinking wine that had been made from grapes in the garden and catching up with our almost family. Carmen senior loves Cillian like another son and was full of really funny stories (sorry Cillian!) and Carmen Bebe (here Daughter) had all the drunken nights out stories. Victor arrived pretty late and had the new puppy with him as well as a couple of friends. They dropped us back at about 1am on on their way to a disco (apparently the largest in Spain) - I was very tempted to go with them and then thought of the 5 hour drive we were going to do early the next day and whimped out....ah welll, next time.

Day 7 - Saturday - Drive to Salamanka

we pretty much drove all day and just spent the night in a hotel on the outskirts of the town. Poor mum was wrecked after all the driving and fell asleep at about 7pm. I spent the evening in the hotel lobby catching up on emails and then surreptiously enjoying wathcing the very flamboyant Spanish wedding that was taking place. It was great, while I was sitting in my very daggy travelling clothes in the corner of the bar, a parade of tanned, be-jewelled, silken-clad, big-haired wedding revellers paraded by and kept me very nicely entertained.

Day 8 - Sunday - Seville

we had had such a lovely trip and we nearly didn't go to Seville but I'm so glad we did as it was my favourite stop. we managed to find a brilliant little hotel only 5 minutes walk from the Cathedral called Hotel Adriano - only E50 for the two of us. They tried to sell us some expensive dinner and Flamenco night but thanks to the recommendation of my friend Petraea (thanks Pee!), we went to a very cool little club called Carboneria. Thankfully we had directions or we would never have found it - there's just a big red door and no sign. It's free in and the music and dancing were just out of this world. Petraea had asked me to say hello to the long black haired guitar player for her. I went up to him afterwards but alas, a different guy. he was very cute though! After the club (and several house Vinos) we were still in the mood to party. We asked a guy on the street and he ended up coming with us to give a personal tour! we also got personal seranades on the street and an invitation to come back to his place to view his personal collection of Flamenco music. good fun but we passed on the final offer!!

Day 9 -Monday - Seville and then home

After our coffee and daily croissant (very healthy i know) Mum treated me to a bus tour of the city. It was so hot - probably 43 degrees. but it was wonderful to sit on the top of the open bus and watch beautiful Seville glide by. It's a wonderful mixture of ancient and very modern and it's just buzzing with activity. If I were to move to Spain, I would definitely want to live in Seville.
So, after a lovely tapas lunch and a bit more sight seeing (we had to see the Cathedral where Christopher Colombus is supposedly taking his final rest), we set off for home. We took the scenic route through Rhonda and then arrived back in Marbella just in time for a very yummy Indian meal at the Taj Mahal.

It was with a happy but heavy heart that I said good bye to mum at the airport on Tuesday. We'd had such a lovely, action packed trip but even though we'd had 3 weeks together, it was sad saying goodbye.

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Photos

gourmet lunch
egg and onion sambos and a nice cool rose!