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Sevilla It was Friday night when we arrived in Seville and we were lucky enough to come across a church procession complete with a large decorative float carried by eight or so guys underneath. It was also the night that the town has it's traditional serenading competition and we happen to come across the square where they serenade. About a dozen groups all dressed up in gowns sing songs to guitar music and spin a flag around to serenade the judges (i.e. A bunch of woman) up in a balcony. Although we couldn't understand their Spanish singing, they were all pretty good. Apparently the tradition stems from the days in which suiters would hire a band to come around and serenade a lady on their behalf. When the lady then came down to let the suitor in, the band would leave.
The next day we checked out some plazas and the Alcazar (palace) with its extensive Islamic decorations and large gardens. Seville has orange trees littered throughout the city complete with ripe oranges although we didn't know whether we would be locked up if we took one so we didn't. That night we ventured to the Medieval Fair that was
in the local park. We were amazed to see some rather floppy bellies being thrown about on the stage under the cover of “belly dancing” and also the collection of live ravens, owls, hawks and eagles that were on show. Some of the birds were massive and there was even a Bald Eagle there. Apparently they don't like flash photography so we didn't get a photo of the birds. The next day we headed up to...
Toledo (via Cordoba) On the way to Toledo we stopped off at Cordoba with the purpose of visiting the vast cathedral that was originally built as a Mosque. I was like a scene out of the Amazing Race as we rushed through the city streets trying to find the Mosque before it closed for Sunday prayer. With the assistance of a couple of Aussies we came across in the streets (and the only ones we have met so far) we made it in time.
As we headed further north we came across a hill in the middle of a plain that contained a castle and number of windmills. After doing some research using the Lonely Planet we decided it was worth stopping
for, so we backtracked the 30 kms and arrived just in time for the opening of the castle which has a couple of rooms restored to their formal glory. The castle had a orchard, a couple of water tanks in case of a siege and great views across the plains. We believe the mills were for grinding grain but none had been fully restored.
In Toledo we did the usual trek around the old town. Fortunately it was international museum day and so all of the museums were free, so we visited a couple to fill in the day. We had an interesting experience at dinner time as we decided to pop down to the local shopping centre for dinner. The waitress didn't speak a word of English and we didn't understand much of her Spanish so she called over another customer as an interpreter, and then again for the desert menu. I think it would have all gone much better if she just let us look at the menu and make an order before harassing us but in the end we got fed so all was well.
Madrid Now this was an expensive city for us. Initially
parking was going to cost 28 Euro (about $50) per 24 hours so we relocated to one that charged 15 Euro. A spirit down at the local touristy plaza is 7 Euro and the hotel that we are staying at even charges 1 Euro for every time we use the safe in the room! After a hard day at the “not to be missed” Prado Art Museum we decided to save a fews dollars and had dinner at KFC, our first American chain restaurant so far, but it still cost us 20 Euro.
The Prado Art museum was fairly enjoyable as we gained an appreciation for Spanish art painted by the likes of Goya. El Greco, Murillo and Velazquez. Lynelle was also excited to see a Rembrandt. We also checked out out the gardens (el Retiro), the palace, spectacular rose gardens, an Eqyptian Tomb, Goya's resting place, bla bla bla.
On one of the nights we went along to a Flamenco show to get a taste of the traditional dance. The singing, music and dancing was all quite good but we didn't understand any of it and appeared a bit fake for my liking. At the end they
made out that they were ad libbing as an encore, all a bit hard to believe when they do 2 shows a night, 7 days a week. Never-the-less it was kind of interesting.
After Barcelona we headed west to Salamanca. On the way we stopped at the Valley of the Fallen which is a magnificent temple carved into the mountain side to honour those who died in the civil war and where Franco is buried. The basilica is at the end of a huge decorated tunnel that has been bored into the mountain rock. On top of the mountain is a 150 m cross. We then stopped off at Segovia where we spent a couple of hours admiring the huge aqueduct and the Alcazar which inspired Walt Disney's sleeping beauty's castle.
Salamanca Like all the old towns Salamanca has a main square, Cathedrals and historic University. The main square is apparently one of Spain's most beautiful. Whilst in Salamanca, it was their Art Festival and one of the features of the festival was to have pink mannequins placed in odd spots through out the town.
After seeing enough cathedrals, palaces and roman walls to last a good
Seville - Medieval Fair
They really get into their Belly Dancing. while, we decided it was time to hit the beach and the preferred choice was Costa Bravo which is north of Barcelona. On the way we stopped into Avila, surrounded by a rock wall and 88 watch towers. It was a bit of a quick stop as it turned cold and we were on a mission to head back across the country.
To get to Costa Bravo, we headed for Barcelona but knew we wouldn't make it in one day so decided to stay a night in Lleida. It turns out that rocking up to a town at 6 pm and trying to find a reasonably priced hotel is not the best way to go. After about an hour of searching we settled for a dodgy one on the motorway. It was ok but as it turned out, having dinner at the motorway diner was tempting food poisoning. Anyway, the poisoning was not to eventuate and off we set the next day for the Costa Brava. At the first road toll collection station we discovered that the hotel was meant to provide a special piece of paper since we'd entered the motorway some 14 hours before we exited it.
Cordoba - Cathedral
Was previously a Mosque. That would be the piece of paper that we left on the counter at reception since it just looked like another receipt. After a few minutes of “confused discussion” with the lady at the station, I think she in Catelonian, and we in Spanglish, she eventually let us through but not before taking our receipt for the hotel and license plate number (and Lynelle thinking we had a flat tyre as she kept pointing to the car). Mental note for next time - we should probably pick up everything that is given to us when we check out.
So we headed past Barcelona and up to the lovely little spot where we've booked a unit for 5 nights on the Costa Brava at a place called Tamariu. Cute little beach with crystal clear water surrounded by rocky headlands. This is where we spent the rest of the week drinking Sangria and following a daily ritual of going to the beach and getting fresh bread from the local shops. We couldn't however lie on the beach all day so day trips included trips into the local town, heading up the coast to take a boat trip out around the Isla
Medes, kayaking and snorkeling.
On Friday it's back to Barcelona to return the car and catch a flight on Saturday. All up we would have driven more than 5000 kms and probably paid a couple of hundred Euro in motorway tolls. Here's hoping for a trouble-free flight back to Brisbane.
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