Another day off the bikes, which seems to be happening with increasing frequency lately. The plan for the day is to take a walk in the countryside together somewhere, and then possibly split up while Rachael wanders farther afield and I double back to the city to explore it at my own pace.
First though, we decide to wait for the day to warm up a bit, because it’s only about 40 when we wake up. Then, we decide to wait even longer, because the sky looks like this:
Does this look like a wise time to go wandering out there? I don’t think so.
A half an hour later we hear loud rattling outside our window, of pouring rain splatting on the patio below. Pleased with our decision to hold off on our walk we decide to wait until after lunch, which we have in the hotel cafe so we don’t have to step outside and get our little feet wet.
An hour later the sky clears up again, and we’re off.
Walking north away from the city. It feels like we’re descending into a vast, mysterious space.
This is the impressive formation we saw from the viewing platform last night. It’s described on the orientation board as Muralla de Carmona (the Carmona Wall).
The Carmona Wall. I can’t tell you more about it than you can see from the photos though. I tried researching it, but found only information about the city’s actual walls.
Here, we’re standing atop the Carmona Wall and looking southeast. Carmona and its ridge are off-frame just to the right. The whitish structure is a small Roman bridge.
And this is looking to the east at a small fortification of some sort. Beneath it to the right is a small herd of sheep and goats milling around. I walked over there, but by the time I arrived the livestock had moved on.
A longer look at the Roman bridge. For a change, this is an authentic Roman ruin, dating back to their occupation after they conquered Carmona in the Punic Wars. The bridge was a part of the Via Augusta.
With our late start, we don’t circle back toward the city until late afternoon. It stays light fairly late, so there’s still time for Rachael to continue walking northwest along the ridge - she’ll put in 11 miles by the time we meet back at the hotel - and, there’s still enough light in the day for me to get a bit of a look at the city, before most of its streets fall under shadows.
With not a lot of time, I stop at the first highlight I come to: San Pedro Church, just outside of town by the Seville Gate. The church itself isn’t the most interesting, but its tower is: the Giraldilla (the little Giralda), which was modeled after the Giralda, the massive but elegant tower of the cathedral in Seville.
The tower is impressive to look at from the outside, but even better is to climb its narrow corkscrew staircase to the viewing level just beneath its massive bells, encrusted with a heavy layer of pigeon droppings. In fact, the final tier of the staircase is so heavily encrusted that there’s no place you’d be comfortable resting your hand.
The views though are as stunning as you’d predict. Well worth the climb up and down.
The view northeast, looking toward the heart of the city. At the center is the Seville Gate and the Alcazar. The nearest dome is of San Pedro Church (the Church their tower is a part of). Rising above the gate is the tower of San Bartolome Church.
The view southwest, along the Los Alcores escarpment. This is the direction we rode in yesterday from. Rachael is probably in there somewhere, if you squint hard enough.
The most compelling and dramatic sights in the city all tower above you, but the streets also catch your attention - especially the narrow, whitewashed ones like this are too narrow (some are a mere three feet wide) for cars to navigate.
