• Madrid

    October 17, 2024 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    Hi All. Back to our starting point in Madrid after a lap of Spain including Merida, Seville, Cordoba, Grenada and Toledo. Some amazing sights and very interesting to learn some Spanish history. They were occupied by the Romans until about 400 AD, then the Muslim Arabs to about 700 AD then the Jews then the Christians with much blood spilt along the way. Have seen vast tracts of olives and grape vines. Olives here are now planted very close together in rows, pruned to a maximum of 1.5m high, the harvested mechanically the same way they do grapes in Australia. Commercial vineyards here seem to have the vines grown without trellising. They just spread out over the ground. Must be a pain to harvest.
    Lots of amazing cathedrals with Seville and Coimbra the highlights. Unfortunately you get a bit saturated with the visits.
    The rest of the group is heading to Morocco tomorrow, we are flying back to Porto to start our walk. Weather forecast looks OK fortunately.
    Hope all is well with everyone back in Oz.
    C&M
    Fun fact: Madrid is the highest capital city in Europe and also the driest with less annual rainfall than Adelaide.
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