4/3/12
slow wake to sound of bird twitter (not something we’ve noticed much since leaving Oz), kids and Jeff out for a dune play and skate, then brekky in the sun before drive just up the road to Bolona, small seaside village that has the “most complete Roman city ruins on the Iberian Peninsula” essentially established as tuna fishery & exporter.
Gorgeous sweep of beach with turquoise rolling surf and a fantastic museum to the ruins, housing lots of the “bits” including statues, coins, an awesome sundial, lots of pottery and lots of explanation of the way the town worked in Roman times as a fishing (tuna) centre, where the catch was huge and was then salted for export to the rest of the Empire. Stroll through the ruins was very relaxing and the kids are getting better at imagining how life might have been for them Roman kids.
Drove on with our goal Seville where we hoped to see the Cathedral and some Flamenco dancing but needed to pull up at at McDonalds to wi-fi and get info re a campsite in this big city.
Tom (Tom) took us to the closest Maccies on the outskirts past a bull fight or 3 hosted in massive,rather grand white ‘rancheros’ (must be what they do on Sundays), only to find that this Maccies doesn’t have wi-fi ........ que?! And it doesn’t do shakes!!! So we looked to the guide book, punched in the coordinates and Tom (Tom) took us right into the CBD to an undercover carpark for which Eddie was way too tall.
So we asked Tom (Tom) where the next closest campsite was and he took us to a ruined defunct site way out of town. So we asked him for another one and he took us across town to one that had also closed and had become a vege garden. So we asked him one last time and he took us to the other side of town we still hadn’t seen, through the departure lane at the airport to a campsite that is also closed/defunct. Half of Spain seems closed down if not for seista, for Monday or just plain abandoned.
On the bright side thank God it was Sunday for the lack of traffic. Exhaustedly admitted defeat and with the sun on the horizon decided to set Tom (Tom) for Cordoba (next big city) .Pulled over in the next small town and found a little area on the side of the road to have a ploughman’s dinner and hit the sack.
Becoming a common theme - lack of info, and incorrect info, and so many things closed down (?the economy). We’ll catch some flamenco elsewhere.
5/3/12
Headed off early (about 8) Cordoba-wards, sun just rising and spectacular palate of dawn colours across the extensive fields all ploughed/planted, layers of fog sitting in the valleys we sat mostly above as we headed along the autovia, church steeples and castles dotting the hills above.
Kids jumped into their schoolwork with positive gusto and after an hour or so we pulled into the Maccas outside Cordoba, jumped out armed with all the Apples (2 laptops, 1 iPad, 1 iPod, 1 iPhone) almost broke noses on the auto glass doors - doesn’t open till midday!!! Que?? So had breakfast, kids did more school, looked at cheap bikes in the nearby sports store, and then hit the Maccas where we finally managed to get some wi-fi and do the Blog for the last 12 days aswell as some meaningful research re whats to come especially accom in Toledo and fast trains from there to Madrid.
Back on the road, filled fuel at the next Repsol, dumped the toilet waste down a man-hole into the sewer,
and with the kids travelling as ever as little legends moved on towards Toledo (just south of Madrid, famous city in Spanish history), past unending rolling fields farming olives and grapes and the sun, listening to music on the Spanish radio (trying to comprehend the way too fast talking DJ’s, all the songs in English and well known to us), chatting about life (Lybia’s political history,Spain’s seeming disinterest in tourists, Australia’s contrasting strong sense of NATIVE plants & animals as we lack the textured conquering history & periods of re-definition), how to save $, how to make $ (Wil getting keen to get a job!) and then with < 100km to Toledo and the sun getting low pulled off at the next little town where we found a quiet little gravel road beside a famous part of Don Quixote’s route along the top of an ancient road (Roman, maybe not, could be!). How restful. Camped alone by a pond, across a field from the town church.
Big salad dinner, espresso coffee, an episode of Blackadder, a good long read....
dice roll
Wil (best taste)
tonight’s salad & big crunchy dried corn kernels ( our usual afternoon snack along with carrot,strawberry,dates & nuts)
Kel (best part)
having a little sleep in Eddie in the afternoon as we were driving. I was wrapped
up in a blanket and dreaming of sleeping in fields of flowers.
Jeff (best word)
rain - lluvia - pronounced ‘ yuobia’
Jen ( best natural thing)
the colours of the dirt- oranges,reds,golds all sewn with spectacularly orderly patterns across endless hills. The west of Spain is so much easier of our eyes than the more popular Valencia and east Andalusia. We’re starting to think of making for Scandinavia for more natural beauty and walking rather than for Greece & Turkey. Cities are just exhausting, dirty and stressful.
6/3/12 Holy Toledo!!!
wonderful sleep. Up for exercise and slow breakfast before maths and then on the road to view the 9 Molinos de Vientos at Consuegra as they sit atop a hill alongside the 12th century Knights of Malta castle - very picturesque
.Apparently these gorgeous dumpy little flour windmills messed with the fictional Don Quixote’s mind in Miguel de Cervantes’ book - we’ll have to learn more about this character. Short drive through fertile fields & on to Toledo, Spain’s spiritual heart where about 27 significant monuments displaying over-sized, over-whelming blended architecture of visigoths,jews,moors,romans,christians - the best example so far of Spain’s extra-ordinary historical ability to work reverse alchemy, turning it’s silver/gold riches into stone. Welcoming,organised campsite where we finished off work,played and the kids cooked a pasta dinner with local chorizo & presented us at a set table with flare.
Tomorrow we’ll explore this amazing city.
7/3
walked along pretty streets to the mini Spanish ‘Rome’. Perched up on a showy hill almost completely surrounded by the moat-like enormous Rio Tajo. The river banks are dotted with attractive ruins of stone mills & pump stations which clearly effectively harnessed the river’s power. Fascinating remains of aqueducts have us all guessing ‘how things worked’.
Once again, there are many grand gates to the city all heralding at the architectural mix ( visigoth,roman,moor and christian ) that characterises this charming working ‘toy town’.
Everything is so pretty,cobbled,neat,picturesque with grand spires and bells peeping out high above the horizon of the narrow windy streets. Playgrounds next to plazas at every turn make the largely uphill exploration very enjoyable for the kids. Trinket shops abound along with stupendously magnificent marzipan outlets ( THE most unbelievable taste experience so far in Spain - soft,nutty, mildly sweet - the best variety is made in the convents here) make this all seem for just tourists but cars with clergy collared drivers , school and local residents getting about their day realize this also as a ‘normal‘ lived in town.
We explore largely by walking , photographing and circumnavigating points of interest but choose to spend some hours in the El Grego museum and the Catedral . The former is thoroughly informative, engaging and allows to learn of this artist’s skill and his expressionist & naturalistic influence on art. Most of his work is commissioned paintings of religious figures (the commanding Jesus the Saviour) and nobility with his distinctive elongated, sad forms. His biggest work was the Catedral’s main altar. The latter is overwhelming and almost disgusting - what would Jesus think?
We ended up sharing a fine dinner together before being guided home by the light of a full moon and the halo of the Holy up-lit city. Satisfied, to bed.
8/3
home day of washing, school,play and cooking.
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