Yesterday's weather locally was cloudy all day so we decided to drive to Cordoba where the weather forecast was good and there was an attraction we wanted to see. Last year we visited the Mezquita in Cordoba which is an amazing place. Not far away is the Alcazar de los Reyes Christianos which is the old castle and gardens. Having heard that the Alcazar was not great we were only interested in visiting the gardens. I had found a photo or two on the web that looked interesting, but the real thing was so much better. The woman in the pay office spoke in Spanish whilst pointing to the wheelchair but we said we would go in anyway. There were a considerable number of steps in the nearer part of the gardens and then it was all virtually level. I scouted around and found the ways down that involved the least steps. Pauline can manage steps and it is the distance walking that she can't manage. Where we had a few steps she got out of the chair and I carried it whilst she did the steps.
Much of the gardens comprised water features - mainly long canals of water with fountains along the sides playing across the water. One canal was bordered with what resembled marigolds and these made a great statement. There were shady avenues of orange trees which helped your intrepid wheelchair pusher to recover from the effort in the sunshine!
One very unusual feature was the avenues of conifers clipped to resemble wide pillars and occasional sculptures to add to the interest. There were many formal gardens with geometric shapes and walkways to explore. It was a peaceful garden full of beauty. By this time, however, the dahlias were well past their best. We came out of the garden thrilled to have been there. Admission was a mere 4.50 euros each.
It was then time for a spot of lunch so we popped in a nearby bar where we had beer and sandwiches. As the food was being prepared the owner brought us a small plate of home made crisps. We knew they were home made because they were still warm and didn't conform to the usual shapes that come in packets. When the sandwiches arrived they were the equivalent of baps but with crunchy crusts. We think they were also home made. What lovely sandwiches!
Outside, we took a taxi back to the car park on the Avenida de Los Custodios and drove back to El Romo and Finca Manolo. On arrival we discovered that it had rained whilst we were away so this made the trip even more worth the effort. The day was complete once I had barbecued some Sea Bass I bought the previous day.
Today has returned to wall to wall sunshine and we are swimming to cool off. Our local weather forecast for the remainder of our stay is sun, sun and sun. Wednesday is supposed to be a scorcher with a maximum of 37 degrees Celsius!
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