Almodovar del Rio

On Saturday Kelly and I decided to take a trip to the town Almodovar del Rio which is half an hour away from Cordoba. The big draw is that there is magnificent castle on top a hill overlooking the town. We planned to take the 10 am bus and unfortunately missed it. We had to wait for the 1:30 pm bus. We enjoyed ourselves passing the time by eating churros and reading our guide books in the park.

We arrived on time and made the bus. Something on the bus made me feel nauseous. Have no idea what it was. Plus I got nervous about somehow missing our stop. Not the best bus ride but it was only half an hour. When we got to the town we got off at the second stop. We thought that was the last stop in Almodovar. We were wrong. We could have waited and gotten off right next to the hill the castle was on. Instead we had to walked across the entire town (which had plenty of steep road) to get to the hill the castle is on. Lesson number one: as the bus driver which stop is closest to your destination. So after making it through the town, we had to walk up the steep hill. It was about 80 degrees. We were both sweaty, panting messes by the time we reached the castle.

We only had about an hour until the next bus came to take us back to Cordoba because there is a reduced schedule on Saturdays. We set phone alarms and tried to move quickly. We had fun checking it all out and going up to the top of all the towers. I think we saw 85% of what was there. Will post photos on facebook. The views from the towers were lovely. There was lots of lovely, flat country surround the castle. The town was a clump of white buildings at the bottom of the hill. It kind of reminded me of the view of Toledo.

We saw the dungeons which weren’t that creepy as they weren’t very dark. There were (naturally) two dolls lining the interior, depicting the torture methods that were favored at the time. Chains were popular. No word on waterboarding.
After that we tried to find a bathroom. As I was trying to get a hand dryer to work (unsuccessful), our phone alarms went off signifying that it was time to head to the bus stop. We were over heated and flustered as we left the castle and descended the hill. On the way down, we ate two pears that Kelly’s host mom, Tony, had packed (life saver). We were less than 5 minutes away from the bus stop when we saw the bus whizz by. It was 15 minutes early. We missed it. This was the most FML part of the trip. Lesson number two: leave 30 minutes early to get to the bus stop so that you have plenty of time just in case the bus arrives early.

We waited for a few minutes at the bus stop hoping in vain that we were mistaken. We weren’t. So we set off trying to find the tourism office so that we could ask about getting a taxi. We dutifully followed the signs to the tourism office. It either no longer exists or is protected by a secret keeper a la Grimmauld place because it was most definitely not labeled in any way, shape, or form. We were both feeling exhausted and frustrated by this point. It really sucked. I was also quite angry that the signs mislead us. We finally found a bar that was open. We went in to ask about a local taxi service. Luckily, the bartender was super nice. I think he could sense our distress. He called us a cab and in 15 minutes we were on our way back to Córdoba. The ride was quick and only cost 24 euros which really wasn’t too bad. Unfortunately I forgot to get a receipt so I cannot be reimbursed by PRESHCO. Lesson number three: always get a receipt.