Cordoba, Spain. - Monday October 13, 2014

Unfortunately we had to leave the luxurious Parador in Toldedo this morning.  The stay there was fantastic and we thoroughly enjoyed the breakfast again today.  By 10 AM we were on the road to Cordoba.  We stopped along the way in the town of Talavera de la Reyna, which is known for their pottery and ceramics.  After browsing a bit in the town we were on our way to Cordoba.  As usual, we turned of “highways” on the GPS and took the back winding roads through the hills and mountains.  At some points we drove through acres upon acres of olive orchards. Additionally we saw a lot of sheep and goats roaming the fields. The scenery was great, but unfortunately it was a very cloudy day with showers on and off throughout most of the drive.  I would have loved to stop and take a lot of photographs, but the winding roads had extremely narrow shoulders with huge drop offs and almost no place to pull over for just a few minutes.  I managed to take a few shots.  We arrived in Cordoba by about 5 PM and then the nonsense began………….it was almost impossible to find our hotel and I was forced to drive through some of the most narrow, winding streets I have ever seen.  It was a nightmare getting through the streets of Cordoba with the car.  After stopping several policemen and trying to get them to understand where we wanted to go, we finally arrived at the hotel.  It was totally exhausting!  I would not recommend to anyone trying to drive through Cordoba.  Our hotel is directly opposite the famous Moorish Mosque that was built starting in the 8^th century AD.  Tomorrow morning we plan on touring the Mosque before leaving Cordoba for Seville.  After checking into the hotel we strolled the narrow streets of the old city of Cordoba and had an enjoyable dinner in a Middle Eastern restaurant.