To get to our next campsite we didn’t have to travel too far, so we enjoyed our olive grove view over a very slow breakfast. We also enjoyed the free internet; it seems Austria won the Eurovision Song Contest with a bearded man dressed as a woman……hmmm…..I hope the song was good, because it wasn’t a good look!
Next stop Cordoba, a Spanish town twinned with……… Manchester?!! And for the record, Terry, this morning’s shower only lasted six seconds and slowed to a dribble whenever a loo was flushed.
We were now crossing Northern Andalucía on a freeway divided down the centre with oleander bushes flowering pink, or red, or white and beyond them, all we could see were olive trees. They were laid in lines across every mound and hollow, as far the eye could see. As we travelled on for many miles, we wondered how many olive trees there could be in Spain. Apparently the answer is currently around 300 million !!!! The line of oleander bushes stopped occasionally, but the olive trees continued for 60 kms all the way to Andújar. A big Carrefour sign beckoned us off the freeway and we did a satisfyingly good restock of all the cupboards, then got back on the A4 which continued to be oleander lined and still surrounded by olive trees. According to our guide book, we were in the heart of a region which has ‘elevated olive oil almost to the state of a religion’. With the way the olive trees blanketed almost every inch of the landscape, we could well believe it. Around 85kms in to our journey, we started to see a bit more variety in the landscape, with fields of corn, wheat and red poppies, but there were still olive trees marching over the higher ground. It wasn’t until we were 25kms from Cordoba that we finally saw a real change, with small towns and more industry and then we arrived at Camping Brillante. Not so brilliant, but okay and pretty handy for the city of Cordoba.
After a late light lunch and a bowl of our first cherries this season, we caught the No.10 bus into the centre of Cordoba. By 5pm the temperature had climbed to 37°C and on the way back at 9pm it was still 33°C. It was too hot to wear sunglasses, mine kept slipping down my nose and my face felt hotter with them on! Our exploratory stroll took us right around the Mezquita/Catedral (Mosque/Cathedral), down narrow alleyways full of shops and cafes, through wide plazas and small, along the Rio Guadalquivir and over the roman bridge. Rodney considered visiting the Museum of Torture displaying instruments and methods used by the Spanish Inquisition, but nobody was expecting him…..
We stopped briefly at the Café el Extremeno in Plaza Benavente for a double dose of Bacardi and a Cerveza glugged down with tapas. We were sat under orange trees and a jacaranda tree in full purple blossom. Through an open window behind us, two girls in red leotards were practising ballet to gentle classical music. It was a lovely way to feel slightly woozy and relax at the end of a very hot day.
The mosque/cathedral is free to visit between 8:30 and 9:30am for a ‘silent visit’, but Rodney didn’t think we could stay quiet that long, so we went along at 10:30am and paid to go in. It is an amazing place, definitely worth a visit. The outside walls are Moorish and the entry is through a gate which opens up to a lovely courtyard filled with orange trees. As you enter the building, the light is quite dim and, at first, all you can see is row upon row of Moorish arches; not quite as plentiful as the olive trees, but apparently there is a forest of about 850 of them holding up the roof.
Then in the centre of the mosque is a dazzling white and golden Baroque style cathedral. It’s not separate in any way; it is literally inserted in the middle amongst all of the arches. It’s so strange, and yet somehow it seems to work, because it is all so stunning.
Outside again, we stopped for drinks and huge cakes (they didn’t seem to sell any small ones?) and we had a chat with a couple who live near Crawley in Sussex. They gave us tips from experience on driving a campervan around California and then it was time for us to continue our meanderings. There was a spring in our step to start with, but by early afternoon the temperature had risen to 38°C and our steps were definitely more sluggish. You find yourself constantly seeking out the shady side of every street and just a tree or lamppost to stand under while waiting to cross a road.
The Alcazar De Los Reyes Cristianos was also worth visiting. It was a lovely small palace/fortress built in the 14thC and the terraced Arabic style gardens were refreshing to stroll through, almost as refreshing as turning your pillow over to the cool side on a hot night. Running water and flowers definitely seem to give a cooling effect, even if only in the brain, but I did wonder how many people have thrown themselves in to one of the pools, because I was certainly tempted to jump in. It’s only May, how hot does it get in the summer in Cordoba?!!!
- In the Alcazar De Los Reyes Cristianos
Each year Cordoba holds a Fiesta de Patios and we picked up a map showing where to view the patios that put on beautiful flower displays, each hoping to be the best. We decided to wander through the narrow streets near to the Alcazar, but unfortunately it was siesta time, so all the gates were shut. We peeked through a few gates and many of the houses do adorn the balconies at the front too, including the winner from last year, so a lot of the narrow white-washed streets look particularly pretty.
Feeling thoroughly overheated and cooked, we caught the 4:30pm bus home for our own late siesta. Six and a half hours of wandering completed, and it was still 35° inside Eileen, so the fan was turned on and I collapsed on the sofa with a wet scarf over me. A pleasant little breeze blew through Eileen around 11pm, but it didn’t amount to much and the temperature didn’t drop until 5am. At breakfast time we glowered at the air conditioning units on some of the other campervans around us, and then I tried to remove some of the dust and grit that was spreading its way around inside Eileen.
But, despite the heat, we really liked Cordoba, it was very different from the cities we had visited so far in Spain; I’m very glad we went there.
