On the road again…just can’t wait to get on the road again…
Today was our last big bus day…and we’re happy to be off the
bus. Today was a 2 hr drive up to
Córdoba, a beautiful city along the river with a Mezquita to visit. A Mezquita is a mosque, but what makes this
one unique is its design. It has a courtyard full of orange trees and a
beautiful minaret tower in the corner. But it’s what’s on the inside that
distinguishes it…the red and white striped arches of the barefloored mosque. The most intriguing feature is the church in
the middle of the mosque. Yep, in the
middle of the mosque is a huge altar and choir.
Really don’t ever see the mixing of two religions in one building. Afterwards, we got to take a tour of the
quaint town of Córdoba, see the Street of Flowers, wander through the narrow
alley ways, and get some lunch.
Back on the bus we went for about a 5 hr drive up to Madrid,
our final Spanish destination. :( We did make a pit stop along the way in
Puerto Lapice, aka Don Quixote land. We
stopped at a Venta that is actually mentioned in the book and were able to
explore the little village as well as the museum. Driving up through La Mancha gave us an idea
of what Cervantes trekked through on his way up to Madrid, which is reflected
in his book. New fact for me: Don
Quixote is now the 3rd most translated book in the world…used to be
2nd behind the Bible. The new
#2….Harry Potter. :)
Our hotel in Madrid is up in the north, and actually
attached to the train station we’ll be using Wednesday when we take our night
train to Lisbon. After check in, we
grabbed the metro and off we went for dinner on Gran Vía, a major artery and
shopping street. Our after dinner walk took us to Plaza de España where there
is a monument dedicated to Cervantes along with statues of Don Quixote and
Sancho Panza.
Tomorrow we’re doing a city tour of Madrid, sans Royal
Palace as the coronation of the new King, Felipe, is taking place sometime
soon, so they have closed down the Palace.
Travel teaches flexibility, and how cool to be here with all that going
on. I say that now as who knows what the
streets will be like, but I imagine busy.
I’ll report back tomorrow (hopefully as this internet is slooooooowwww… no pics...loading will take forever...lo siento)
~steph :)
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| Inside the Mezquita |
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| Rubbing some feet for good luck! |
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| Praying before dinner |
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| Plaza de España, Madrid |
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| Claire & Liza with Don Quixote & Sancho Panza |
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| Greg going for a ride |
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