My name is Marion Vermazen. I am a traveler, hiker, reader, Sun alumnus, computer geek, YouTuber, Spanish and French language student, knitter, weaver and genealogist.
This morning we took the train from Sevilla to Cordoba. We are changing our plans. No more public transit. We will rent a car tomorrow. No Madrid or Barcelona. We plan to stay out in the country, limit human contact and take it easy until we head home. We don’t know exactly when that will be but it will be earlier than originally planned. As of today most things are closed down here.
The Sevilla train station.
Once we had checked in to our hotel in Córdoba we went out and bought groceries. We are planning to eat in the room tonight. We walked along the River for a bit. Córdoba is a beautiful city.
The Cathedral is very near our hotel so about 10:30 we walked over and stood in line to go in. The Sevilla Cathedral is the biggest Gothic Cathedral in the world and the third largest Cathedral after St Peter’s in Rome and St Paul’s in London.
Standing in line to get into the Sevilla Cathedral Christopher Columbus’ Tomb
This afternoon we had our last beers with Rick and Elaine while sitting in a street cafe people watching.
Eventually we headed back to our hotel. The hotel called a taxi for us and we all went to the airport and Duke and I saw them off on their trip home. We took the bus back into town and walked through the park back to our hotel.
We had a wonderful dinner in a nearby cafe then walked by the museum we want to visit tomorrow to check their hours. Unfortunately this sign greated us. It says they are closed for 15 days because of the rules from the ministry of health.
We returned our rental car in Sevilla this morning. The final few streets to the hotel were very narrow and quite nerve racking. After dropping off our friends and the luggage Duke and I took the car to the train stain to turn it in then walked back to our hotel.
The street we came down to get to our hotel.
Our room wasn’t ready so we took a horse and buggy ride around the old town.
In the Plaza de EspañaThe Catedral de Sevilla
Sevilla’s center is a wonderful place to walk or sit and have a snack.
Our friends are cutting their trip short and heading home tomorrow. We of course are not going to do the Italian part of our trip. Duke spent the afternoon cancelling reservations.
After dinner we walked around the Cathedral and enjoyed the peaceful and beautiful setting.
Tonight we are staying in the Parador de Carmona a little east of Sevilla. Before we left Arcos de la Frontera this morning we walked around the town. We checked out a view point and a church.
The drive from Arcos to Carmona was over relatively flat farm country. The crops we could identify included carrots, wheat, olives and grapes. There were also many crops we couldn’t identify.
In Carmona we are staying at a Parador on the sight of the former city wall and castle.
Parador de CarmonaAdmiring the view from our friend’s room
After enjoying our welcome drinks we went out exploring. We checked out the Carmona city museum. This area has been inhabited for six thousand years. The museum had exhibits about the people who have lived here over those years.
Mosaics in the Carmona city museum
We had dinner in the Parador dining room.
Duke had fish cooked in a salt crust I had venison in a strawberry sauce.Chocolate fondant and mint ice cream
Today we drove west again (about 60 mile) to Arcos de la Frontera, another one of the white hill towns.
Before we left Ronda we went for a walk.
Duke in a garden overlooking the gorge in Ronda
About half way to Arcos de la Frontera We stopped at an artisanal olive oil mill in Zahara de la Sierra. Of course there is nothing much going on right now but it was fascinating to see all the equipment and ask questions. After the thousands of olive trees we have seen over the last few days we had lots of questions. The man behind the counter was very knowledgeable. He said his grandfather was a bull breeder for bull fighting. He had lots of very cool pictures.
Duke with one of the olive oil presses
Next we climbed up to the Castillo de Zahara de la Sierra.
Castillo de Zahara de la Sierra
A little bit farther down the road we stopped for a picnic lunch.
The road to the Parador in Arcos de la Frontera is very narrow. Duke pulled in the mirrors on the car and we made it to the Parador with no scrapes. We ate dinner at a wonderful little restaurant called La Carcél. We shared six plates including goat cheese and marmalade, stuffed mushrooms, prawns, and octopus.
The Parador of Arcos de la FronteraThe octopus we shared as part of our dinnerThe road to the ParadorThe view after dinner from the Parador terrace
Marion's Blog 