DAY 4 –TOLEDO->CóRDOBA ->CARMONA
“OK… Now What???”
“How should I know, I didn’t stick the bloody thing in there!?!? What possessed you to stick it in there in the first place?”
“ Don’t ask… it was stupid I know!” But look, it says …. Well you can see the picture.”
“Hey… don’t look at me… I’m just a stranger here too!”
“Well we need to do Something, I’m not leaving HERE, with IT in THERE… here hold all the stuff, while I go find….”
Oooopppsss…There I go again… getting just a little bit ahead of the story. Lets start this off correctly.
9:30AM – Toledo
The day started when I bolted from bed whining about turning off the alarm too soon, and forcing the very bed cozy Dragon Lady [with the South American Accent] to roll out of her warm snuggly bed into the crisp Toledo air. As I ducked into the shower, Illy took a last vista shot with a rainbow in the background. It may not come out too good as it took too long for her to find and set up the camera.
We did the usual quick pack so we could hustle off to a very lavish buffet breakfast before striking a trail for Córdoba and a scheduled Half Day escorted city walk.
We were sure that we had good instructions on how to find route CM400 from Toledo to National Highway E05 leading to Córdoba … but somehow Navigator Illy got us on N400 to Ocaña which did get us to E05 eventually, but added 30 kilometers to the trip.
Now Córdoba [with the accent on the COR and NOT the doba as the natives are quick to correct] is supposed to be a 4 hour drive according to Mapblast, and other sources. Of course with Chuckie’s increasing comfort level with the well marked and usually well maintained Spanish Highways, coupled with the fact that one must do less at least 160-180 kph in the 120kph zone, or risk getting run over by a Mercedes, we made it in under 3+ hours. Hell, even the Ford Focus’, which must have missed the last recall, try to haul ass with the big dogs. And… heaven forbid you don’t watch the big semi’s on the many twists and turns and you may have a big tanker in your front seat. [They seem to have programmed all the twists and turns into the routes to keep most timid drivers honest as there seem to be no other reason.] The Spaniards also make great use of the [Redonda] traffic circle to control the speed on the rural highways without using semaphoro’s, [traffic lights] especially on Illy’s N400, so any attempt to make up lost time was foiled by a redonda every 2 kilometers for the total 39 kilometers from Toledo to Ocaña.
We took advantage of the long ride, with some really great vistas at certain points along the way, to dictate the previous NOWAT about Toledo. Illy is convinced that we did not put enough info regarding the splendor and flavors of that marvelous influence in time. She hastens to add that you must plan more than a half day’s tour, and take the time to have a glass of wine, shop a little in the ancient shops and get more of an “up close an personal” feel of the city.
We still recommend the afternoon tour if you go anywhere near high season, or before November. The tour buses from Madrid overwhelm the city in the mornings and you could spend a lot time waiting to get into the monuments or get stuck behind some overweight tour groups in the very narrow streets.
One of the narrowest streets, Calle Jon del Torro, narrows down to just
27 inches across. There is a legend that goes:
Once, a young man was coming down the cross street with his arms loaded with fragile goods when he encountered a mad Bull that had broken out of its pen. He could not drop his cargo, he could not go back
because the bull would follow, so he turned into the narrow street that gradually drops 2 street levels from top to bottom and narrows from 6 feet across to less that 30 inches at its narrowest point. The bull followed and got his horns stuck between the narrow walls. The neighbors were able to kill the bull and feed the neighborhood for a month. As with all Legends… it is ob
viously suspect but is always good for a chuckle as you pass through the area. Now… this isn’t the narrowest street. The narrowest measures just 23 inches across.
[Look out Overweight tourists!!!]
2:45PM - Córdoba.
As we approached Córdoba, we did not stop the dictation on Toledo in time to hit the exit that
our Mapblast directions indicated and unfortunately when we got on the right track, there were more unplanned detours in our way. By now we were running up on the time to meet our Guide at the Hotel Maimonides [named after a most influential Physician to the Arab rulers] across from the Cathedral and Mosque. So the ever-observant
Illy spots a street name that she thinks is the right direction and screams at the last minute…
“Turn right here!”
Uh-oh…. This don’t look so good!.!.!
The next 15 minutes were filled with more Ooffff’s, Eeeek’s…Yeeeegad’s…and Owieeee’s!!!, then ever before as we careened down streets almost as narrow as Toledo, and one was just wide enough as to allow 6 inches on either side of the tires and just barely enough room in one spot for the side mirrors to pass on either side. Twice we met cars or motor scooters coming the other way where we had to hold tight to a turn until they passed or back up slightly to allow them to turn into the smallest garage openings I have ever seen. After getting directions from a polite young man that the Illy startled half to death by rolling down the window and grabbing his coat… [He was really that close] and begging for directions out of this labyrinth. We were able to find a road wide enough to pass two cars together, but not very far apart, and onto a broad boulevard divided by a large park that would take us to our rendezvous… except…
We were headed in the wrong direction!
Soooooo… we found a place to reverse direction and head towards our destination when, the now panicking [demoted again to "Apprentice" Navigator] Illy decides we must take a left before a critical traffic circle, and not around it…. Putting us back on the route in the Wrong Direction again!!! By now Chuckie has lost it. He hits the brakes, grabs the very limited map… points out the correct route and landmarks and proceeds to make the same pirula, for the 2nd time. Once headed in the right direction after making the proper turn AFTER all important traffic circle, we begin to follow the signs to the Hotel Maimonides, where there may… or may not be available parking.
After passing several parking lots along the way with “COMPLETO” [LOT FULL] signs, Chuckie spots an open spot on the curb around the corner from the Hotel and pulls into it. Now we are 30 minutes late for this tour… [What happened to the 1 hour we made up on the highway????]
Ok… so we get out the travel voucher for the tour, load up the camera and mark extra film, stow the laptop and everything else in the trunk, make one last check before locking the car and head off to the meeting, only to discover that we must buy a parking permit from a master parking meter down the street. No problem… we have these back home and it should be no sweat… accept… the instructions are in a combination of Local dialect and pictures and here’s where the real fun began!!!
Chuckie looks at the picture indicating that one should insert your Tarjeta [card] in the slot indicated. OK… we’ve done that before at the Hollywood Circle.
Soooooo Chuckie whips out his Visa card, slides it halfway into the slot and of course it is gobbled up by the machine.
Now while he tries to figure out exactly which button to push… the machine is making grinding noises as it attempts to read the magnetic strip on his card. He turns to Illy and asks…
“OK… Now What??? What does this say to do here? I just stuck my Visa card in the slot and it doesn’t seem to work AND… it doesn’t want to give the card back!!!”
“How should I know, I didn’t stick the bloody thing in there!?!? What possessed you to stick
IT in
THERE in the first place?”
“Don’t ask… it was stupid I know, especially before I had you translate the instructions. But look… it says … Well, you can see the picture that indicates: “Put the card here” and I thought it worked just like the ones back home on Young Circle, in Hollywood. Hell… they even look the same except for a different language.”
“Hey… don’t look at me… I’m just a stranger here too!”
“Well we need to do Something, I’m not leaving
HERE with
IT in
THERE… here hold all the stuff, while I go find our guide and let him know we are here and perhaps he can help or may know who we should call or what we should do.”
Off I head to the Hotel Maimonides, and after 2 stops to insure I was headed in the right direction, I find Angel, our guide waiting outside the hotel. He spots me hustling up in a panic and introduces himself. I apologize for our tardiness and explain the current crisis. He hurries to the parking meter with me and ascertains that the slot was indeed for a card, but for a smooth side local residential prepaid parking card the locals buy for frequent use in the area. Apparently the raised letters on my Visa card are probably keeping it stuck in the machine. In the meantime as we are trying to retrieve the card with a variety of implements, Illy spots a Uniformed sanitation worker and drags him down to look at the two of us fiddling with the meter. The handsome fellow is alas a Deaf /Mute but manages to communicate that there is a fellow down the street, around the corner, that might have a key to the machine.
Angel and I are already on the way to find this fellow with the magical key. We find him in a parking lot behind the mosque [where Chuckie should have parked had it been empty… it sure would have avoided this current catastrophe!!!] and after explaining the problem; he dispatches another fellow to help open the machine. Of course the young fellow following us obviously was paid "by the hour", not "by the piece" as Chuckie and Angel were already back at the meter while the young man was just rounding the corner, 300 meters down the street. [Ok… Chuckie and Angel both tend to walk a tad fast!]
Señior “Magic Key” finally arrives, opens the machine, scratches his head, Looks at us and says “Yo no Se”… [Local lingo for “Beats ME” and then gets on his radio to the other guy down the hill, with the Cordoban version of, “Houston… We Got Una Problema”.
OK…so by now, while Señior “Magic Key’s” back is turned, Chuckie has the guilty part of the machine half out when Señior Magic Key spots this, panics and begs Chuckie not to cause him to lose his job if the thing should break… Reluctantly, Chuckie relents and waits for BIG Señior “Magic Key” to arrive, who upon arrival does exactly what Chuckie was about to do...reach in and pull the offending part out, flip it over and push the card out the back... and Halleluja!!!! Or Praise Allah… or some other appropriate exclamation comes from Angel and Señior Junior “Magic Key’s” lips [we will not repeat Chuckie’s or the Cuban Lady’s comments.]
After effusive and hearty “Muchisimas Gracias” around, including special thanks to the handsome Sanitation Worker, Angel slipped the right prepaid resident parking card into the “offensive” little slot, selected the maximum parking tariff, placed the prized little ticket on our dash and we were off to the Mosque of the Ancient Rulers of Spain.
$@#$#%^% Machine.!.!.! could be heard from no one in particular as we headed off on the tour.
Angel was another of those locals, who studied for several years and passed the appropriate
exams just to squire around Wacky American [or other English and French speaking] tourists through the magnificent splendor that was once the Arabic Capital of Spain. His knowledge and enthusiastic rhetoric were filled with t
idbits of legend and fact that helped to make the stone and marble dating back to 757 AD come to life.
We learned that the Mosque and eventually the Cathedral was built, remodeled, rebuilt and expanded 4 times from 757 AD through the 15th and 16th centuries and finally completed in the beginning of the 17th century. Most of the materials used in each phase were
recycled from various areas of the civilized world
including pillars from Greece, Italy, Arabia, and other demolished or conquered worlds. It is considered more than a historical and archeological monument, it is unique embodiment of over eight centuries of architectural and artistic change, and
contains elements representing the peak of Hispanic-Moslem style alongside Hispano-Flemish vaults and arches, Renaissance Cupola,
early baroque elements and other treasures from the predominant Christian Styles of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth century. It’s shear enormity is mind boggling and to put it in perspective, we are told that one could put 4 football stadiums within the walls without affecting the adjacent Orange tree patio which is equal to ½ the interior space.
Angel then lead us from the “Mesquita/Cathedral” to the Alcazar, former palace of the Caliphs of Arabic Spain and eventually the Palace of Ferdinand & Isabella, the "Catholic Monarchs" from where they organized the recapture of Granada
from the Moors and expulsion of the Arabs and Jews from Spain. It is also where they dispatched and subsequently received and entertained often, one Cristobal Colon,
[aka Chrisopher Colombus] discoverer of the New World. The gardens of the Alcazar are Extraordinary, with gravity fed fountains and pools, sculptures galore and a splendor that must be seen to be appreciated. However Chuckie did his best to capture as much on film as possible. He is well through over half of the 14 rolls of film he brought and will have to reload in Seville.
The interior of the Alcazar was as ornate as many as we’ve seen. We were able to photograph the excavation of ancient ruins in one of the courtyards that went down two levels below the current street level. These ruins are believed to date
back to Roman occupation of Córdoba. So many layers of each successive conqueror and civilization are built on top of each other in this area that it is impossible to buy property and develop the land without uncovering more archeological mysteries. If you should happen to uncover something, you are required to notify the authorities. Should you do this, the development may be held up for a very long time. In the meantime, while the archeologists are reviewing the findings, you are still required to pay the builder and maintain the property properly. As a result most developers of older property, should they encounter suspicious findings, throw dirt on it and pretend it never happened.
Angel then took us through some of the ancient barrios of Old Córdoba were we were able to get a feel for the architecture and variety of influences through the ages. Passing through an artisan’s courtyard, Illy scored her much sought after "Jaron". [A large ceramic vase] for which a prized spot in her new wall unit had been reserved. The elaborately decorated ceramic piece was hand fabricated by the old woman who sold it to us. Of course now we had to lug the bloody thing along the rest of the tour!
Prior to the Spanish Inquisition and their subsequent expulsion in the late
1400’s by Ferdinand and Isabella and the Dreaded Spanish Inquisition, the Jewish population lived in harmony with the Arabic conquerors [whom they helped to invade Spain]. The Jewish community numbered close to 100,000, however the current Jewish population of Córdoba is no more than 60-75. Since the Jewish Temples were mostly destroyed or turned into Cathedrals by the Catholic monarchs, the current population now worships in a room 12-foot by 12-foot. It still has the separate balcony for women and children, but we were told that no more than 30 people worship here now.
Quite a contrast to the great Mosque; Remember… 4 football stadiums plus in size that serviced many different religions throughout time.
Our enthusiastic guide then took us to “Los Baños de Caliphs” – or the Baths of Arabic Caliphs. As we approached the entrance we realized that the excavations were found well below street level. Many areas were still intact, having been buried for over 5 centuries. In fact, more excavation might have
been done and they expect much more to be discovered, however it would have undermined several modern buildings built over the suspected area. As it was, special supports had to be built under the edge of two buildings to keep them from collapsing in on the baths and excavation. These supports were visible from the baths.
After a walk through the ancient Jewish quarters we concluded the tour and invited Angel to join us in some seriously needed [and quickly consumed] Adult Beverages. We invited him to join us for some Tapas, but he had an English class for guides that he needed to attend.
We bid him farewell, retrieved our car – with no further incidents with the
“#!$%@$%” parking machine, Señior “Magic Key” or the handsome sanitation worker.
Finding our way out of Córdoba was imminently easier than the arrival and we sped the 100+ kilometers to the Parador Carmona.
We spotted the Parador from miles away and upon exiting the AUTOIVIA, easily followed the signs up the winding road to the summit. What we were not prepared for was the fact that the
Parador was at the summit of Ancient Carmona. We entered the
medieval city through giant gates in the still standing wall, and wound our way to the Parador up the same kind of narrow streets that we found in Cordoba. Illy was still Oooofffing and Eeeeeking all the way up, but the way was well marked and we passed through the 2 giant outer gates of the former Alcazar [Fortress] of Carmona to come upon the most Magnificent of the Paradors yet.
7:30PM - Carmona
After check in and dumping the bags in our mini suite where pictures were immediately taken for the archives, we found the view, even at night was outstanding.
We got a recommendation from the excellent staff for a place to eat in town and began the trek down the winding streets to the center of the Ancient town to
find the right spot for
excellent Tapas, wine and Cheese. It was so much fun, we went around the corner to the second recommended bodega and had a night cap of Tapas, wine, and Cheese. A local Siamese cat and a Mutt, stopped by to see if we were as nice as we looked and found a few scraps that suddenly appeared at “Tree Hugging” Illy’s feet.
After an even longer trek up the hill to the Parador, [our trusty navigator
was convinced she knew the way back] we grabbed a Cognac nightcap and headed to our room to complete and edit the NOWATS from Toledo. In between time, we charmed the nice desk clerk into letting us use his Internet connection to upload the Final Madrid NOWAT. They also had an interesting Internet connection for guests that was in a closet next to the front desk and which was in a set-up that resembled a Video arcade game. After 2 reboots and some serious effort [reminds me of the terrible system at the hotel Oxford in Rome] we finally got it to work to check mail and send some other notes, before we headed up to crash.
This NOWAT, started in Carmona, finished on the road to, and finally edited in, Granada will be sent on Friday when we can get to the Telefonicas office around the corner from the Hotel ANACAPRI either before the tour of the Alhambra or shortly there after. By then we hope to have finished a brief note regarding the Trip to Jerez de la Frontera and the Gonzalez Byass Sherry Bodega tour.
Gotta crash…. These late night exercises are really taking their toll but we hope y’all are enjoying our ramblings and the trip as much as we are.
Ciao 4 Now
Chuck, and the aching [but still slightly South American accented] Illy.
