We are so happy with our three choices of towns to visit in this after-Camino segment of our trip. Each intriguing. Each different from the other two.
Ronda is knock-your-socks-off beautiful, clinging as it does to the gorge of the Tajos River. The sidewalk cafes, bull ring, city parks, Spanish guitar concert, and meandering through the old parts of town each day, set off our relaxation time at our resort-like hotel.

Cordoba’s narrow, whitewashed streets leading to the amazing Mezquita, where we spent parts of two mornings, the synagogue and other sites to visit, were visit-worthy. But we were also in a town where people live and work, less of a tourist site, despite the Mezquita and all else we enjoyed seeing. That made eating different too. Small restaurants full of locals called to us.

Now we are in Toledo. A hilltop village with Roman, Muslim, and Christian history and cultures. There are more sites that interest us than energy to climb to all of them. The tours are everywhere from about 10:00 to 6:00. But the place is so vibrant and beautiful that the industrial-strength tourism does not ruin it for us post-Camino visitors. We take to the quiet corners in midday and explore before the buses of day-tourists arrive from Madrid and after they leave. It is as beautiful as Rhonda, with the hilltop buildings here impressing the way the nature-carved gorge did there.










Today is 56th anniversary. Toledo is a great place to spend it. An unexpectedly amusing highlight was to ride the touristic train, with a pushy old woman butting herself and three friends in line ahead of us and a loud wannabe-tour guide mother behind us repeating everything the guide said to be sure her eye-rolling teens didn’t miss a word! The views and the comedy of it all made for a great way to spend part of our day




Tomorrow we head to Madrid and step back into the travel zone, where fate and luck will be in charge. The town visits were spectacular. The Camino still rules our adventure-hearts.