0435 Cordoba to El Chorro

Sun 28^th Feb 2016

Crowded Cordoba, and then some mountains !

Got up ready to head into Cordoba, with the guide books all raving about it. It hadn’t rained during the night, and looked reasonably fine this morning, although it was still cold !I headed into town, trying to get as close as I could to the Old City and its Mosque, the Mezquita.  After a couple of false starts, I eventually found some free parking that was seemingly right opposite the area I wanted to get to, so I then set off on foot.

0434 Merida to Cordoba

27^th Feb 2016

Cold, wet, snow, hail, and some incredible Roman Ruins !

Last night was cold.  In fact, it was the first night I actually used two sleeping bags, and I was then as warm as toast.  Maybe the “downstairs” bedroom is colder than “upstairs” !!  This morning was cold too – But at least the rain seemed to have gone, so much better than yesterday.  Why had I stopped in Merida yesterday ?  Because it was a convenient place to stop, that’s all.  But on the way back from the shower this morning I chatted with a German guy who did part of the S America adventure a few years ago, and he said Merida had some fantastic Roman Ruins (amazing what you learn on the way back from the shower !)  Apart from the German and I, everyone else in the campsite wad Dutch – About 20 motorhomes – So I asked one of them if they were on a group tour – Answer, Yes.  20 Dutch motorhomes having a month in Spain, and all travelling together to an itinerary.  Hmmmmm !!

0433 Lisbon to Merida in the Rain

26^th Feb 2016

Janet flies back to Aus, and I head off in the rain.

With Janet’s flight back to Aus leaving at a sensible time (1.30 pm), we had time for a leisurely breakfast – Luckily I packed everything in the car before breakfast, because by the time we were ready to leave, it was POURING !  How lucky were we to have had a dry day yesterday for exploring Lisbon ?  We left slightly earlier than planned (we were told 15 minutes was plenty of time to get to the airport), and it was lucky we did – The freeway to the airport was solid almost the whole way – Crawling at best ! Whether it was because of the rain or an accident, I am not sure, but eventually we got through the mess and arrived there just about on time. Still raining, so I dropped Janet off and then waited just up the road until she texted me that she was checked in and through, and then I headed out in an easterly direction.

0431 Estoril to Lisbon, via Sintra

24^th Feb 2016

Sintra is an amazing town !

It was pretty miserable in Estoril, with rain showers and cool weather, so after we had packed up we moved up to the restaurant where they had good coffee and good wifi !   We were only planning the short drive into Lisbon today, so there was no hurry, although looking in the guide books it sounded as though the little town of Sintra up in the hills looked interesting, so we planned a short detour there en route.  But with the rain continuing, we ended up staying in the restaurant and eventually had our lunch there before setting off.  On the way up to Sintra we passed the local F1 (cars and bikes) race track at Estoril – Couldn’t see much due to fencing but it nestles in the hills above Estoril and seems quite an undulating track – I will have to pay more attention next time a race from there is on the TV !

0430 Evora, and on to Estoril

22^nd & 23^rd Feb 2016

A slaughterhouse, human bones, a Roman Aqueduct, and 7000 year old stones !

And if that isn’t enough to keep you going for half an hour or so, I don’t know what is !!

A cool but sunny day in Evora for us to spend the day wandering.  We tried to do wifi again but it was S-O S-L-O-W we gave up, and instead got a few chores done (like laundry, and even cleaning part of the car !), and decided to walk into town – About 2 kms.  There was a bus, but it didn’t seem to be there when we wanted it, so we walked.  Evora, (apart from being the model of a Lotus !) has quite a history and is known as one of the most impressive and enjoyable cities in Portugal, with Roman ruins from the 2^nd C AD, and Moorish influence soon after.

0429 Ourique to Evora

21^st Feb 2016

A late start, then a surprise castle

If I have said this once, I must have said it a hundred times – It never ceases to amaze me how surprise things turn up just when you don’t expect them, and they turn out to be better than anything you could have planned !  Well, it happened again today.  Woke up to a sunny but chilly morning in the most relaxing campsite we have been in for a while, and with only about half a dozen other cars there, made it even better.  We weren’t sure whether we would stay 2 days, so made a late start, but in the end decided to drive just 120 kms north to a place called Evora which sounded pretty promising in the books.  And since the Evora is also a model of Lotus, I had to go there, didn’t I ? !!  So we eventually left about noon, and started wandering north.  Nothing planned, so there was no hurry.

0428 Faro to Ourique

20^th Feb 2016

The Algarve fades, and we head into the peaceful countryside

The sad campsite in Faro didn’t look a lot better in the morning, although at least all the facilities and their wifi worked !  We packed up and went for  drive down the beach – Very pleasant, although a bit windy and cold at this time. 

Several people were beach fishing, and a few others were surfing.  The rest were well rugged up and just enjoying a morning walk down the sandy beach. We then headed out of Faro, planning to wander along the beaches of the Algarve coastline.