Nice room, quiet with a HUGE bathroom in Carmona. No children to wake us up in the morning! We packed, picked up the bikes from the store room and headed off for brekkie at a bar by the circular plaza. Salmorejo with cheese and jamon at unearthly prices.Coffee for Christian, tea for me. Caused a moment of panic as I explained that tea takes cold milk – a look of total disbelief and a frown as if to say: Englesas! Received a small coffee cup half full of hot water with a tea-bag …. well it was right, sort of … and a jug of cold milk. So couldn’t complain. Tostadas were yum. Then looked around the town, which is a lovely, quiet, narrow-streeted, white fronted old town within walls and surrounded by a small newer town, with a large, ornate late 19th century theatre. Flagstones to ride on: great for the cellulose. Discovered the the USB adapter wasn’t working and so headed out to Audi in the hope of getting one. Found a largeish multiple adapter with a couple of USB ports, so bought that and set off. Lovely day’s riding: from the town we descended through citrus groves and acres of vegetables and sunflowers in undulating very pretty countryside. Lovely to see these groves and fields, which although on an industrial scale, nevertheless still bespeak the work of people used to the land and a countryside that has been cultivated for thousands of years. We rode for a couple of hours, some of the way off road along a stone track by a canal, still bounded by vegetable fields. At a small bridge with trees and shade we stopped for lunch: lovely fresh bread rolls with butter (huge proportions), cheese, tomato and lovely chorizo. Food rarely tastes so good. We packed up and set off, reaching the highway again shortly and continuing for most of the way on very quiet roads to Palma del Rio. Not a long or difficult ride at all. The very last section through a Camino rurale, a small wood of lovely big trees, before we came to the town. Hearts sank a bit, since it looked a bit fatal at first: white fronted, barred cottages, with paving from wall to wall. Typical of these towns in fact. The hotel was close by: just on the old town walls in a renovated monastery, which, once entered, was delightful: high walls surrounding a beautiful large paved courtyard with small white tables interspersed among large trees. A small swimming pool at the end, and views outside the walls of the cathedral spire. The concierge was lovely, like everyone here so far, polite, helpful and evidently happy. Stowed the bikes, showed us our room, which was shady and lovely with large comfortable beds. After the blessed shower, we headed off to explore the town a bit, looked into the cathedral and followed some of the old walls around. But what we really wanted was to sit in the sun with a beer and a plate of olives, which is exactly what we did. Absolute heaven, just by the side of the square, far enough from the children to be relaxing and only a couple of steps to the tapas restaurant where we headed for what was Christian’s favorite meal so far. Chipirones (squid). Solomijo de Cuervo, patatas bravas & profiteroles. And a bottle of Ribera Creanza wine which was heavenly. We managed to finish that off and then staggered back to hotel and bed.
