Valencia to Cordoba, by train - a journey that took up most of the day. We had a leisurely breakfast at the bar over the road from the hotel and then off to the station, pulling our luggage behind us. It was a little confusing as their seemed to be two trains leaving the same platform at the same time, but eventually light dawned - the train would split in two at some point and travel in different directions in Andalusia. We found our carriage and just got our luggage sorted, which didn't quite suit a voluble spanish woman but we couldn't make out what she was saying so left her to it. All seemed well enough in the end.
We had bought some bocadilla and couple of other things for lunch on our trip as we were not sure that Spanish train food would be any better than Australian train food. When Rob went up to get a couple of beers for us to have with lunch he reported that the attendant was making up what looked like quite good bocadillos (baguettes) in the cafe car. Hope for the sake of the other passengers that they were as good as ours.
The trip was uneventful as we travelled through some very flat farming land, olives, orchards, sunflowers in spots and some wheat. Large areas looked like home, and just as dry. We saw irrigitation channels and dams and wondered how these farmers were getting on. How was their water going? Kate told us that some time ago Barcelona had eventually been reduced to buying a shipload of water to ensure that the city had any supply - and the day the ship came in the skies opened and the rain came down. Two weeks later the announcement was made that the drought had officially broken. It was interesting to watch a restarauteur last night hosing down the tiles in front of her premises with a ton of water washing over them. We hadn't seen that in a long long time at home - or anywhere else for that matter.
We had been warned that the temperature was going to be above 40 when we got here and it was. This time our hotel was just too far to walk in the heat so we took a cab, with a very nice, very solicitous driver. Our Hostal Alcazar is lovely to look at, sort of shabby gentile, and the concierge a very cheery man delighted to hear that we are going to barrack for Espana in the semi final of the soccer tonight. Much shaking of hands and chanting, Espana, Espana. The room is once again small, with a tiny bathroom built into one corner, and is clean and cool. The furnishings are sparse but the mattress is firm and comfortable. We have been in twin rooms until now and have had pillows that are the width of the bed and the pillow cases open at both ends which I think must make them easier to put on and off. It was a surprise however to find that our double bed also has one pillow the width of the bed, something we hadn't come across before. Comfortable though - so another welcome siesta.
We arose and decided to walk towards the river hoping for a bit of a breeze, it was very slight when it was there at all. We crossed the old Roman bri
dge and walked back along the river to the next bridge and found a quiet taverna where we settled in to have a bit to eat, a glass or two and to watch the all important football. We moved on at half time, but happily passed another bar just as the cheer went up for Spain's match winning goal so we didn't miss anything. We sauntered about a bit but the heat did us in and we took ourselves off to our air conditioned room for the night.
Valencia to Cordoba, by train - a journey that took up most of the day. We had a leisurely breakfast at the bar over the road from the hotel and then off to the station, pulling our luggage behind us. It was a little confusing as their seemed to be two trains leaving the same platform at the same time, but eventually light dawned - the train would split in two at some point and travel in different directions in Andalusia. We found our carriage and just got our luggage sorted, which didn't quite suit a voluble spanish woman but we couldn't make out what she was saying so left her to it. All seemed well enough in the end.
We had bought some bocadilla and couple of other things for lunch on our trip as we were not sure that Spanish train food would be any better than Australian train food. When Rob went up to get a couple of beers for us to have with lunch he reported that the attendant was making up what looked like quite good bocadillos (baguettes) in the cafe car. Hope for the sake of the other passengers that they were as good as ours.
The trip was uneventful as we travelled through some very flat farming land, olives, orchards, sunflowers in spots and some wheat. Large areas looked like home, and just as dry. We saw irrigitation channels and dams and wondered how these farmers were getting on. How was their water going? Kate told us that some time ago Barcelona had eventually been reduced to buying a shipload of water to ensure that the city had any supply - and the day the ship came in the skies opened and the rain came down. Two weeks later the announcement was made that the drought had officially broken. It was interesting to watch a restarauteur last night hosing down the tiles in front of her premises with a ton of water washing over them. We hadn't seen that in a long long time at home - or anywhere else for that matter.
We had been warned that the temperature was going to be above 40 when we got here and it was. This time our hotel was just too far to walk in the heat so we took a cab, with a very nice, very solicitous driver. Our Hostal Alcazar is lovely to look at, sort of shabby gentile, and the concierge a very cheery man delighted to hear that we are going to barrack for Espana in the semi final of the soccer tonight. Much shaking of hands and chanting, Espana, Espana. The room is once again small, with a tiny bathroom built into one corner, and is clean and cool. The furnishings are sparse but the mattress is firm and comfortable. We have been in twin rooms until now and have had pillows that are the width of the bed and the pillow cases open at both ends which I think must make them easier to put on and off. It was a surprise however to find that our double bed also has one pillow the width of the bed, something we hadn't come across before. Comfortable though - so another welcome siesta.
We arose and decided to walk towards the river hoping for a bit of a breeze, it was very slight when it was there at all. We crossed the old Roman bri
dge and walked back along the river to the next bridge and found a quiet taverna where we settled in to have a bit to eat, a glass or two and to watch the all important football. We moved on at half time, but happily passed another bar just as the cheer went up for Spain's match winning goal so we didn't miss anything. We sauntered about a bit but the heat did us in and we took ourselves off to our air conditioned room for the night.
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