Leaving Madrid

SARAJEVO: We picked up a hire car in Madrid and drove south, first through the plains of La Mancha which were, disappointingly for Kate whom I'd spoken so highly of them to, covered in a relentless drizzle. After we climbed through a mountain range marked with eucalypts that quenched our dormant homesickness, we finally arrive in Guadalupe. We weren't sure why we were visiting but I'd heard of it for some reason. Turns out it has a really famous monastery there. We didn't have time to visit it but we did visit a local church and then dine on a delicious three course meal with wine and spirits (that I couldn't drink much of) that cost us a song.

In the afternoon we drove through the empty lands of Extramadura with their stone walled pig farms. I stopped for a while to watch the Iberian pigs, from whom the wonderful Jamon is produced, as they grazed on their acorns. Then it was on to Truijjlo where we played in a historic castle for an hour or so before embarking on the remaining five or six hours to Seville. We arrived late, exhausted and then were abandoned by our taxi driver on some random piazza. Luckily some stranger on a BMX was able to direct us to our hostel.