Issy gets up before me, which is a bit unusual. I've started to notice that this only happens on mornings when we're leaving somewhere, and she then makes sure that she packs and locks her suitcase before I do. I think she's working on the theory that if she forgets to pack something it will then have to go in my case. This is a very cunning ploy; she always seems to forget to pack something. I also seem to have inherited the large plastic bag with all our dirty clothes in it. Admittedly they're nearly all mine, but my suitcase is now starting to bulge at the seams. The Toledo station still looks like a church. All the windows are stained glass, and it has the same sort of tower as every other church in ... read more

Issy sleeps in, so I read an article on Spain and time zones while I wait for her to stir. It seems that Spain is in the wrong time zone. It's west of most of England, but is in the same time zone as European countries that are east of England. It's been in the wrong time zone since early in World War 2 when Hitler came to Spain to try to talk Franco into Spain becoming Germany's ally. The two leaders agreed that an important first step would be for them both to be in the same time zone. I'm not quite sure why they thought that this was an important step, but it seems that this first step then became the only step. The article says that Spaniards sleep nearly an hour less on ... read more

The breakfast room is full, but the lights with the motion sensors still go on and off at regular intervals. I think that they need put up some signs telling people that they need to keep moving while they're having breakfast. I'm not sure the alternative of putting up signs telling people that they're not allowed to move at all would be all that practical. First stop today is La Casa de Pilatos which is about a ten minute walk from the hotel through some very narrow and windy streets. We read that this palace was built in the early 16th century as the residence for the Mayor of Andalusia. It's now in private ownership and serves as the permanent residence of the Dukes of Medinaceli. I'm not too sure who they are; there seem to ... read more

Issy sleeps in. I tell her that this morning I'm not going to go to breakfast until she wakes up and comes with me. We have breakfast late, although we start to wonder whether maybe we're just getting in tune with Spanish breakfast time. Our hotel serves breakfast between 8am and 11am, which seems to confirm our previous suspicions that Spain really is about two hours out of sync with the rest of the world. We read that Seville is by far the largest city in the south of Spain, and is the capital of Andalusia. It looked from the bus coming in to have very extensive suburbs, whereas there seemed to be hardly any suburbs at all in either Cordoba or Granada. Seville also looks to be virtually dead flat. As we've done in other ... read more

Issy sleeps in again. I don't know how. Someone started jackhammering the road outside our window in what felt like the middle of the night and they're still going. I have breakfast by myself again, the same as I did yesterday. I think the staff at the restaurant are starting to feel sorry for me. We decide that we'll try to hike down to the bottom of the gorge. Issy says that if we're going to do this she needs to buy some more suitable shoes. We Google "shoe shops" and find one nearby. Just as we get there Issy remembers that she doesn't have any socks with her to try the shoes on with. She spots a pair of shoes she likes and the shop assistant appears with a box in her size. He takes ... read more