Portugal/Spain trip day 3: from Monsaraz Portugal to Cordoba Spain

 Before we left the rustic inn with low doorways and stone floors, I took a few minutes to walk through the lush gardens with orange trees and a variety of flowers.

We could see Spain across the Ria Guadiana from our hotel in Monsaraz, and it wasn't long before we rode across the long bridge and entered Spain.

Once in Spain we rode on quiet, curving 2-lane roads through agricultural areas with sheep, pigs, goats and cows around just about every corner.

We stopped for a photo opportunity outside Jerez de los Caballeros where a Moorish wall with 6 gates surrounds the inner city. Fun fact I just learned writing this blog: the explorers de Soto (Yucatan Peninsula and South America)  and Balboa (first European to cross Panama from the Atlantic to the Pacific) are both from this town.

A short ride later we stopped in Fregenal de la Sierra for coffee, and were pleasantly surprised to see several stork nests on the towers of the Templar castle, and storks flying overhead.

riding into town through narrow, brick-lined streets

look closely to see the storks!

Celtic ruins have been found in the town area, and the Muslims controlled much of Spain until the late 1200's when the Templar Knights took back this town. 

We went into the castle built in the mid-13th century, and walked around the top of the walls surrounding the bullring (added in the 18th century) in the center of the compound.

We had amazing views of the tiled roofs in the town from the castle walls.

Today's ride was about 200 miles, so we stopped for a quick lunch and then continued on a busier 2-lane highway up and down through low mountains. We passed larger agricultural areas that reminded us of the large farms in rolling hills of western New York state - complete with a big John Deere tractor store.

Riding into busy Cordoba, a city of about 322,000 people, was a bit challenging, especially with many tourists here for the upcoming Easter holiday. As we turned into the historic part of town, we rode down narrow, brick paved streets filled with people. Our hotel is directly across from the Great Mosque and a short walk to the Roman bridge across the river so after dinner (at 8:30pm which is early for the Spanish but late for us) we visited both.

Tomorrow morning our motorcycle group is visiting the inside of the Great Mosque before we get on the motorcycles to ride a couple of hours to Granada. We're looking forward to seeing more of Spain over the next few days.