The temperature during these days have been very kind with us, and for this reason we are not out riding at the crack of dawn. We took our time and had breakfast at the fantastic hotel where we stayed the night before [HOTEL NAME]. The fellow at the reception was very friendly and chatted with us while he served us a “tostá” (a toast, which is “tostada” but the Andalucians “se comen” (they eat out, omit) certain letters as they like to speak very fast.
The ride was incredibly pleasant – riding through fields of crops with very little incline and almost no traffic. The route that was plotted was amazing as it took us through side roads or not busy highways with big shoulders. The only real scare was before arriving Córdoba, where the road narrows down to a bridge and you have no shoulder. Combine that with cars swerving by you at 120 Km/hour and it’s enough to make you think if you chose the best life insurance for the trip.
We had picnic at “Almodóvar del Río” after going up the only significant hill of the day which offered majestic views of the “Castillo Almodóvar del Río”, a place worthy of Game of Thrones as Peter rightfully said.
Getting to our AirBnB was a piece of cake with the fantastic app we have been using : BikeGPX. Central Córdoba is a maze of narrow paths which we navigated as if we had been living here for a long time.
The town itself is very big with lots to offer. I do admit I miss the tranquility of towns like Palma del Río. Córdoba is a lot more touristy (but not overtly) with lots of restaurants and bars to choose from.
We had tapas at the “Mercado Victoria” which is a very modern version of the Spanish market. Once again we had “patatas bravas” and something new“albódnigas de cetas”, both hit the spot. Tomorrow is a rest day and we’ll use the time to go around with our bikes and get to know the city. It’ll certainly be a relief to leave those panniers behind!
