To Quote Bilbo Baggins...

"Stepping out on the road is a dangerous business. You have to keep you feet under you, or before you know it you'll be swept off to who knows where!"

Or at least something similar to that was Bilbo's take on adventure. We certainly had a bit of adventure ourselves this past week. We had several days of holiday and so we decided to rent a car and drive to Lisbón, Seville, and Córdoba for 4 days. This took us down the Atlantic coast into Portugal, then east back into southern Spain. Now the only road atlas that we were able to obtain was four years old. It might as well have been of a different country for all it was worth. Most of the roads we used apparently didn't exist according to the map, and nothing had the same name anymore. Also, it was very evident to us that the Spanish and Portuguese road systems were developed by some one who was neither an engineer, nor had ever driven a car. At one point, while attempting to use secondary highways in Portugal that would not be tolled, we were driving down a major highway which suddenly became a goat path. We thought we must have missed a turn somewhere, but there had been no turns at all. After winding our way through a pueblo and through a mountain pass, we crossed a one lane bridge and were suddenly on a major highway once again. Cement and everything. Surreal.

Complaining aside, we had a great time and saw some breathtaking cities and countryside. In Sintra, Portugal outside of Lisbón, there are two Portuguese palaces and a Morish castle on top of the mountain overlooking the ancient village. Lisbón is a busseling metropolis of highrise apartment blocks with a great waterfront full of cool forts and monuments to explorers.

Seville is also a large city, but much less a modern. Never plan on parking over night there. At €60 every 24 hours, you might as well park in New York City. We drove around until I found a place to parallel park on the street for free. There's way too much to see in one day, but we managed to squeeze in the palace and gardens, a walk through the old downtown by the cathedral (which was closed), and the Plaza de España( my favorite building in the world short of Hagia Sophia in Istanbul).

Córdoba is really more a really big town than a city. It's just as old as Seville and just as interesting, but not as touristy. I've been wanting to go see the Mezquita there for a long time. It's a huge Moorish mosque with a 17th cent. gothic cathedral smack in the center. Very weird, but captivating. The inside gives the impression that your in a forest because of the huge number of pillars and the low level of light. Some of the pillars are even from ancient Carthage! (Way cool!)

On the 15 hour drive back to Santiago, we stopped in Peñarroya. It's a small backwater pueblo in the middle of no where, but I had stayed there for two weeks with some friends freom England in the summer of 2000. I had lost their contact info and so hadn't talked to them in four and a half years. So we just stopped by and knocked on their door. We had lunch with them and caught up with one another. Not much had changed in Peñarroya since I'd left. :) It's always good to see old friends.


Later that night, we had a lot of problems getting back because of heavy fog, bad maps and crazy road signs, but we managed to finally hit the sack about 3Am... normal bedtime for Spain. :)