(Excerpt from our journal covering our trip to London, no post) and posts in Paris, Barcelona, Granada, Seville, Cordoba, Toledo and Madrid)

Wednesday, 7 October 2009 – Up at sparrow’s fart to get ready to drive to Toledo from Cordoba. So early, in fact, that Antonio is not even up yet and the place is in complete darkness! We eventually get out the front door and luck is with us as someone else opens up the garage so we can get our car out. I go back to shut the hotel door and luckily Antonio is now up because we would have forgotten to pay for our parking. We go out the same way we came in, don’t care if it was a one way street or not. Just as perilous going out as coming in!! Scary time trying to find the road to Madrid (we had thrown out the maps of Cordoba). Eventually located the right road after a deviation or two and one way streets. Freeway journey the whole way – 120 kph traffic and we can’t stop on the freeway as there is no shoulder. Although the sign says 120 it means +-50 as well. Most cars were driving about 170 and at one stage, it felt like the car behind me was in the back seat. I can’t find a McDonald’s for a coffee or breakfast and the choice of truck stops along the way was terrible – typical. We finally stopped at a no star hostel for truckies that had reasonable coffee. Later stopped for diesel at a servo – no self serve, the attendant didn’t speak English and Howard doesn’t speak Spanish so his attempts to communicate with him were a dismal failure. I bought what I thought was a sandwich but it was incredibly bad and even Howard commented that it was horrible. Getting back on to the freeway was another scare - initially it seemed like we were heading back to Cordoba as the freeway on/off ramps went for kilometers. We finally found it though, only to realize that once on the freeway the police had set up roadblocks to search thru people’s cars – perhaps looking for drugs? We were very lucky to pass straight through without having all our luggage rummaged through! We arrive in Toledo which has streets that are even narrower than Cordoba which is going to prove to be a challenge in the Citroen! Not only are these narrow but they are very hilly and I film a Japanese couple who are having a difficult time getting their car up one of the hills! He keeps popping the clutch and traffic is starting to bank up after him. We are going to park in the hotel’s parking lot (Hotel Santa Isabella) which is underground. Manuel (whose English is composed of very little and I’m sure is inclined to not learn any more) guides us into the carpark. It has an extremely sharp incline and a very low roof so much that we will need to use the suspension raising button on the car – did we even know that we had this function?? Manuel did and after conversing and much gesticulating we find the button to 1) raise the car to get it halfway into the garage and 2) drop the suspension so that we can get down the incline. This takes us all of about 30 minutes and Howard is very nervous. The locals are watching us, maybe it’s a neighbour thing to watch the tourists park their car!! Later on we realize that there is another garage that the hotel owns across the street which is drive straight in – no incline at all. Why we didn’t get to park there is beyond me. Once we are parked we are told our room is not ready so we go to the town center to have lunch. Afterwards we go to visit the Alcazar only to be told it’s being renovated and to come back next year! We get back to the hotel and get our stuff from the car, the guy who had parked next to us is from Richmond (Melbourne) and works in Ashburton – what a small world, hey? The hotel room is nice and the view from the rooftop terrace is fantastic. Later on we went for dinner at Meson la Orza – great value for €53!! We both had the local soup – ham, garlic and egg, followed by lamb (Raegan) and partridge (Howard) with marzipan and chocolate truffles for dessert. Cowboy cocksuckers on the house plus 5 glasses of wine, all for €53 including mineral water and bruschetta! I asked to buy a bottle of wine but am completely misunderstood or maybe I misunderstand. Toledo is supposedly the base of Catholicism in Spain but there is no Bible in our room! The hotel is very nice and is a former convent from the 11th century. Evidently the nuns around here sell marzipan and sell it from their front doors – capitalism and Catholicism – they seem to go hand in hand!

Thursday – 8 October 2009 – In the morning we get up and try to find a McDonald’s for breakfast but they don’t open until 12. Getting out of the garage proved to be a disaster, couldn’t get the suspension up in time and so we drag the engine over the incline. The dashboard says that the system is defective and Howard is concerned that we have damaged the car. Finally get out of there and Howard sees some liquid coming out underneath. We stop and the leak has stopped. Once I have turned the car off, the defective warning also goes off. So we make our way to Talavera, about 70 kms away to look at the ceramics. Uneventful drive and we get there starving but McDonald’s is not open until 12 and Burger King at 1. We visit some of the ceramic warehouses and make a few purchases. This is a really pretty town. I inadvertently go into a car park and have to pay 50 cents to get out! We head off to Madrid and we have no idea where we are going as we have no map of thei city itself. (post continued under Madrid forums)