Days 45 - 47 (13th - 15th Oct) - Cordoba to Lisbon to Valencia

Day 45 (13th Oct) (6.62 km) Cordoba to Monsaraz:

Pete and I left reasonably early on our way back to Lisbon to return the hire car. It was still raining unfortunately,  but we decided to try and see the Medina again,  even though it was in the opposite direction to the road to Portugal. 

It was well worth the visit.  From the museum,  you catch a bus to a 12 hectare shire of what was once the bustling stronghold of a Moorish calif. Situated on an elevated site at the base of the hills,  the city has a wonderful view over the plains to Cordoba. Sentries would have been able to see who was coming for a long time before they arrived.  

There are still vast amounts of this 12 hectares site yet to be fully investigated, but the ruins certainly give you an idea of how well developed this place once was. 

As with most of the Moorish buildings,  the place was used as a quarry once the Muslims were kicked out and so little of the marble, tiles our anything useful (columns) remain.  Much of it was reused in churches and other public buildings in Cordoba. Rain shortened our time here as did the fact that a reasonable portion of the site was inaccessible due to some works being carried out there.  Unfortunately,  this part included some attractive gardens.

We then had to start on our way back to Portugal by circling around the city of Cordoba. The first interesting thing we saw was a storks' nest at the a set of traffic lights immediately after leaving the Medina, the first we had seen in Spain.

Further on,  we passed flat plains and gently rolling country with weird little hills cropping up around. Some had forts on top. This part of Spain looked very much like wheat and barley country. 

I had booked a rural stay about two-thirds of the way to Lisbon at a place called Monsaraz (in Portugal),  not really knowing what it would be like. As it turned out it was wonderful.  I think we were the only guests there, in a large rambling home converted into accommodation with lovely gardens,  a good view to the hilltop village of Monsaraz and so peaceful.  We wandered through the garden and drank in the view before going out to explore the village of Monsaraz itself. 

Just below the village is a lovely lookout of a huge lake (or more correctly a dam) that is in this area. It is called Alquerva and any amount of water activities happen in and around it.  

Monsaraz itself is a small walled village on top of a hill,  which can be seen for miles around. Very picturesque.  There is a castle that is free for all to access. At some stage in its history,  the castle lord were sacked and the people of the area converted the castle into a bullring! It would be a great venue for plays and other events. 

Pete and I wandered the streets for ages.  As it was close to sunset,  the light on the buildings made them particularly lovely. 

We stayed for dinner then headed back to our accommodation. 

Day 46 (14th Oct) (9.41 km) - Monsaraz to Lisbon: Oh I could have stayed in Monsaraz for a week.  Such a lovely quiet spot and out accommodation was so pleasant.  But Spain beckons so we Reluctantly packed up again for the drive to Lisbon.  

We had plenty of time up our sleeve so we decided to take a scenic route to Evora before hitting the big smoke. Before Évora we passed lots of cork tree plantations. I believe Portugal is the biggest producer of cork in the world.

Evora is another historic town with ties to Augustus' Roman era. There are substantial ruins of a Roman temple,  the most complete Roman ruins other than bridges in Portugal. 

We were also attracted to this temple since there were rumours it was also associated with the goddess Diana but that proved to be an unfounded myth generated by some 17th century priest. Nevertheless, a nearby garden is known as the Garden of Diana,  so of course we had to have lunch at the eponymous cafe.

We wandered the streets for a while,  peeked in at the cathedral (with someone begging for money outside as its often the case), then headed through the town,  past the university,  to charge our car again. 

On the way out of town we passed an aqueduct that Evora is also famous for.  Built where the Romans had one,  this aqueduct dates from 1537, still pretty old!

The subsequent trip to Lisbon was uuneventfulbut we were pleased to cross the massively long Vasco de Gama Bridge again.

We were able to drop off our bags at our Lisbon accommodation before returning the car.  This was just as well since it was a 50-minute walk back. We broke our walk at a little cafe cart somewhere in the Lisbon suburbs.

Our accommodation was on the 7th floor of one of the many unit blocks like these we had seen in the suburbs of Lisbon.

This was our view at night though,  a good view towards the Vasco de Gama bridge. 

The apartment was just across the road from a good old suburban shopping centre.  We spent our evening there deciding that a shopping centre in Lisbon doesn't vary that much from one in Australia, and finding a suitable place to have a pre-dinner treat, then another for dinner. Kebabs it was.

Day 47 (15th Oct) (5.83 km) - Lisbon to Valencia: It was a full day of travelling today despite the relatively short distances involved. 

We began by breakfasting with a fellow apartment-mate from the USA. When I mentioned Trump she started making excuses for him and saying nothing would change etc. I didn't have the heart to say what I thought of him as a person etc. but then again,  I don't have to live in the USA.  

After our as-usual late breakfast,  we headed to the nearby metro station to catch a metro to the airport from where we would catch our two flights to get to Valencia - via Madrid.  Lisbon Airport was slow but pain-free and we got to our plane easily and for once it looked as if it would be in time.  Not to be.  We waited on the tarmac for about an hour so,  with the one hour time difference between Portugal and Spain,  our wait time between flights was reduced from about an hour to zero.  Fortunately for us, the whole of Madrid Airport was running late with a storm having delayed countless flights.  This meant another delay for us.  By the time we left,  we were in a queue of 18 planes. We were number 12 in the queue. I'd never seen that before.  It was quite interesting to see the planes all lined up,  waiting their turns to glide down the runway. 

Once we arrived in Valencia we had a 12- stop metro ride and a 7 minute walk to our accommodation - except ... we were hit by a very big downpour.  

We sheltered in one of those glassed-in bank ATM rooms until the storm passed,  then walked the final 150m to our accommodation.  We would have been absolutely soaked if we hadn't got to that bank. 

So,  all in all, a tiresome travel day with a few interesting moments thrown in.