This is gonna be the first half of the road trip, bu it actually starts with my walk in Cordoba from my house to the train station where we picked up the car. 

This is part of the 'Cruces de mayo' festival (crosses of may...)  There are crosses all over the city made of flowers.  it's really pretty, and is getting the city in the mood for the festival of the patios when the city is covered in flowers!!  This is in Tendillas which is one of the main plazas in cordoba. 

 

 close up

 

 this is another one in the plaza near my house called the Correderayep,

 

 yep! those are all flowers!!

 

 some men setting up the one in the square right by my house.  you'll see it all set up at the end of the 2nd set of road trip pics when i'm walking back to my house!

 

 a memorial to a couple who used to feed the birds...i think...

 

 as always, translating doesn't do it justice but "To two people, to their humility and sacrifice during their lives, For their 'unbetterable' (dunno what the best word would be in english) heart and good deeds for others.  The grandparents of the ducks.  Victoria and Sevi"

 

 A park.

 

 And then we hit the road!  I'm behind the wheel again!!!

 

 Fanny and Kesari

 

 they have these big flamenco guys all over andalucia now.

 

 

 

 this is in Toledo.  It's a cable ferry for crossing the river.  Toledo was the favorite of the 3 cities we visited.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 well.  i like wells.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 we went to a workshop to see how gold jewelry is made.  he's pushing a gold thread into a black background which he said is iron but i'm not sure if i believe that...

 

 

 

 

 

 that's the gold thread wound around that piece of paper

 

 here you can see it better

 

 and then to get the gold to really stick he hammers it in/on

 

 and then to put the texture in the wings they hammer it with a pointy tool.  the one on the left has not been texturized, but the one on the right has.

 

 that's him putting the texture in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 this markets was one of the highlights of the trip for me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 cooking pig legs!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 we were too cheap to enter the cathedral, so this is as close as we got...

 

 

 

 yep, that castle in the window is made of marzipan!!!

 

 and this one too!!

 

 me and my man Cervantes

 

 

 

 

 

 Cider!

 

more marzipan!!

 

 

 

 the river and a bridge

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 another well

 

 octopus!!

 

 this is what we ate for lunch. 

 

 

 

 and Allison and I split a bottle of cider

 

 

 

 

 

 they were baking right there on the street!

 

 we bought marzipan from a convent.  the nun was SUPER scared of my camera.  i wasn't going to take her picture though.  i was actually really surprised that you could see the nuns in this convent.  usually there's a revolving door thingy and you can't see them.

 

 

 

 ooooh, yummy!!!

 

 

 

 me in the hotel that allison stayed in with her family when she visited years ago.

 

 

 

 the gateway to the city

 

 our second box!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 toledo on the left, spain middle, castilla la mancha on the right

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 most noteworthy in this picture is the look on kesari's face (far left) and the fact that i'm in mid sentence telling allison to hurry up and take the picture because the man that walked up to Kesari and Fanny and showed them his naughty bits was still following us!!

 

 toledo in the mist.  magical!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Cathedral at night

 

 pillows in spain are huge.  yes, this is ONE pillow.  they are always SUPER long and ALWAYS take up the ENTIRE width of the bed.  i guess it's a good thing it's just strange...

 

 allison by our car!  i had to parallel park the manual car on this downward sloping hill on the opposite side (we usually park against the right hand curb) directly in front of the hostel while being watched by the owner.  at night.  it took me 3 tries, but the 3rd time was perfect.  it's harder than you might think!!!

 

 toledo from the freeway

 

 these castles are all over the place!!

 

 this HUGE stone cross is a monument built by Franco's prisoners of war commemorating the fallen soldiers of the Civil War.  Franco is now burried in the basilica there.  on the anniversary of his death you can still find a huge number of Franco supports there.

 

 Roman acqueduct in Segovia!  Not a drop of mortar was used and it's still in pristine condition!!! those romans sure were awfully clever!!!

 

 very impressive!!! all original!!!

 

 this is the COOLEST merry-go-round i have EVER seen!!!  Check out what the kids are actually riding!!

 

 sweet dude.

 
here's a video so you can see more of the things on the merry-go-round maybe...

 model of Segovia

 

 really adorable.  so cute i felt like i was in disneyland!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 art school.  artsy.

 

 

 

 well.

 

 ceiling in a 16th century home

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 used to be a royal prison.  now it's the public library.  go figure!!

 

 

 

 

 

 catedral!!

 

 if you want to see the castle that disney modeled sleeping beauty's castle after, look at the next chunk of pictures!!