Day 7: Cordoba and the road to Grenada;
Soutpiel Safari
John & Jenny
Fri 12 Nov 2010 05:13
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Day 7: 11 November 2010. Alcaudete, 80 km NW of
Grenada. Apartmentos T Rurales via Verde del Aciete. N37 36.691 W004
07.197
Last night was bitterly cold and we were very glad we
hadn't camped. The 1 star hotel was a bit of a barren barn, the room had a
small electric heater which tripped the circuit breaker when switched
on to 2 bars, and the restaurant didn't open until 2100! This morning when
we came to check out we found that breakfast only started at 0900, so we drove
down to a more friendly bar (Meson Rural,) which was warm and had lovely coffee,
before setting off for Cordoba.
Once the sun came over the hills it warmed up fast and
became quite hot with the cloudless skies. We probably turned off the N
432 into Cordoba too early and soon became lost in narrow streets in completely
the wrong part of the city. A friendly motorcyclist, shaking his head, soon
put us right and we eventually managed to find a vacant parking space in
the branches of an olive tree - that's why no one else had taken
it!
Old Cordoba, and
particularly the Mesquita, was absolutely wonderful and we walked around for a
couple of hours marvelling at the designs and the craftsmanship and especially
the contrast inside the Mesquita of the 12 th century cathedral blended into the
7th century mosque. Quite amazing.
We then continued SE towards Grenada with firstly
thousands of acres of arable farmland stretching as far as the eye can see with
a tree in sight, then wall-to-wall olive trees, just millions of them. One
guide stated that there were 150 million olive trees in this small province
alone! Jenny picked a few black ones but soon found that they were fare
from ready to eat!
We were fascinated by the sight of the village of
Alcaudete with it's walled castle perched on top of a very prominent hill and
turned of to have a look. After circling the place on the main road we
ventured off into side streets trying to get near the top but the streets
weren't built for heavily loaded Land Rovers and we were fortunate to get out
without getting irretrievably stuck. As it was, I am sure we disturbed a
few siestas with our turbo diesel growling between the houses.
We had been debating the various types of Spanish
accommodation and all the time looking, unsuccessfully, for a Casa Rural or
B&B style farmhouse. On the circuitous way out of Alcaudete we
happened across a modern house on top of a small hill, surrounded by olive
trees, advertising itself as Apartmentos T Rurales. On investigating, we
found a charming "mine host" serving a delicious looking lunch to a few guests,
surrounded by a display of home produced olive oils at 2 Euros a bottle and a
range of other delicacies. The apartments are beautiful appointed and, above
all, warm! There is also Wi-Fi!
Photos have been deleted
to reduce transmission time by Sat Phone
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