I’ve written enough thinking posts so this is more of a travel guide for cyclists and also for people coming to Spain maybe. Just some things I’ve noticed as I’ve pottered along.

When I left Ciudad Real and headed south over the mountains to Cordoba I entered Andalucía, for those not familiar with the terrain the area around Cordoba and Sevilla (the capital of Andalucía) has the ominous nick name the frying pan of Spain. I can vouch for this one, it is searing hot with midday temperatures at around 45°C on the days I was there in late June. Apparently August brings even more heat, something I don’t want to even consider.

Andalucía is an autonomous community of Spain. It is the most populous and the second largest, in terms of land area, of the seventeen such communities of the Kingdom of Spain. It, like all of Spain, has a load of convoluted history (much more than I can talk about here). One prominent and constant feature is the Islamic influence on the region, you get mosques everywhere that have been converted into Cathedrals during the Catholic rule later. Muslim castles (in Malaga, Gibraltar etc) and even some of the names of places still reflect the history just look south of Sevilla on a map and there are a load of places ending in de la frontera. The border towns of the christian and Muslim world.

I met a guy called Austin who had just been studying international law in Cairo, who gave me some interesting insight into how the architecture worked, like all the points where the elements combined from the cardinal directions and formed fountains sending water towards the heavens etc. After hearing that every place I went I saw more and more of what he meant and it brought a whole new interest to every Muslim building.

The whole of the coast is a massive tourist destination which has spread houses everywhere in an almost binge like fashion, massively built up areas dominate over beautiful cathedrals and parks. Really that’s where the problem comes in. There is a distinct dichotomy in the area. You get everything here from beautiful empty roads to screaming autovia, which while you’re allowed to bike on in some cases are pretty damn terrifying. In worst cases they don’t allow cyclists on to the roads halfway along but don’t mention it on the actual autovia only on the entrances so suddenly you pass an entrance and notice that you’re not supposed to be there anymore with no idea how long that’s been in effect.

Contrasting the beautiful modern clean tourist areas if you walk or bike just a little way out you can usually find litter covering the streets,  dilapidated buildings, sometimes windowless and packed with yet more rubbish and in the worst cases slums that look more like the favelas of Brazil than in a developed country (trust me, go to Sevilla and drive to the north section out of town you’ll see what I mean). There is a huge unemployment problem in Spain too at around 17.5% if I read the news report right. Yet goods still remain quite expensive unless you hunt around.

I don’t write that to put the place down, it’s been fantastic down here, you can meet every kind of person under the sun, from friendly locals in rock bars in Sevilla who invited me back to their home to party till the sun came up, to students who met up with me in Malaga and wandered around town just because I was an interesting person. The whole south section along the coast is more of an English colony than a tourist area. Out of 5 people I asked for directions none of them spoke Spanish (I asked in Spanish first) this wouldn’t be so bad but one guy had lived there 5 years.

The Terrain is mountainous in almost every direction and is pretty hard biking although east of Cordoba towards Sevilla is at least pretty flat. bordering the coast is mountain after mountain. Tyring to avoid motorways (the main routes that weave through them) is almost impossible without taking long detours or hard biking roads, on the plus side you get some fantastic downhill stretches that go on for 10-15km, pure joy.

Bull fighting seems to still be hugely popular round here with posters and banners letting you know about all the events. There also seem to be constant fiestas ranging from free to crazy expensive. Pubs are everywhere. Honestly I don’t know how they all can survive given the sheer number of them, licenses in most small bars run to 3 but you can often find yourself staggering into your hostel as other people are coming out to work.

I also should mention another cycle tourist I met called Brian who did a different route to me around the same area. We randomly met at a garage between Marbella and Gibraltar and parted ways today he’s off to Morocco while I’m heading to Portugal. He’s a great guy and we put the world to rights discussing the difficulties and successes of cycle touring in Spain. I wish him all the best in his tour I’m sure he’ll have a great time.

I’m going to try and write up what I think of places as I visit them from now on along with other mental stuff this is after all about the journey and I hope people will maybe visit some of the great places I had the pleasure of finding on my minor roads as well as the big cities. So I’ll tag posts like this with ‘travel guide’ as I go on. So hopefully I’ll do a write up Cadiz and all that’s inbetween when I get there .

So I’m in Cordoba, or amusingly ‘Cordova’ as Google maps calls it, I mean i understand it’s the pronunciation but why only do it on a few cities? Is it just to confuse the hell out of people who use Google maps solely as their route planner? Because you sure as hell wont see any signs pointing to the place you think you’re looking for. Thankfully I have my trusty Michelin maps they generally guide me right. I actually have far too many and must send some home..

Anyway, Cordoba is a fantastic place, it has long been a place tied up with religion, there are Mosques, Cathedrals and Synagogues here. With one of the most extensive historical heritages in the world (declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO). So it’s pretty damn cool to look around. Sells great tapas and I’ve met a lot of English speakers which is pleasant.

Also last night I watched flamenco dancing for the first time, flamenco embodies a complex musical and cultural tradition. Although considered part of the culture of Spain flamenco actually originates from Andalusia (where I’m presently situated so I’m watching it in one of the best places apparently). It’s incredibly interesting to watch and I’m sure I missed about a million subtexts that are hidden in the movements (and the lyrics I couldn’t understand). Amusingly during the intermission I talked with one of the singers and he announced me to the room saying everyone should clap me for my adventurous bike ride. A trifle embarrassing but it’s always nice to have a room of people clap you for your endeavours.

Well the riding here has been pretty evil mind you 40°C+ temperatures soaring while biking hard is no laughing matter. I have narrowed my distances even further and I’m attempting a 2 day jaunt to Sevilla tomorrow, we’ll have to see how that goes.

As for the second part of my post, I read this which got me thinking

“We believe that by simply improving external conditions we can be truly happy. Motivated by this belief, most countries have made remarkable material progress. However as we can see, this does not really make us happier or reduce our problems but instead creates more problems, suffering and danger”

Well I’m inclined to agree on the first part, not so sure about the suffering and danger, whoever thought that before materialism caught on that we were living lives with more problems and less danger is a bit slow. We like to think that simpler means better, not destitute starving, with a lack of hygiene and human rights. Anyhow, that’s off topic, I could write all day on how material improvements have improved our lives beyond belief, despite what luddites and others might say. Although its true not all societies enjoy the comfort we’ve obtained in the developed countries there’s much to say that the situation is improving.

One thing I would agree with though is simply obtaining objects i.e. material gain is in no way beneficial to happiness. Happiness is internal, so you can be (and this might sound strange) just as happy in a prison cell as you are on a beach or a holiday, it’s a mental choice, most people wont believe me on that one, and that’s fine you’d be wrong… There’s a huge body of evidence which I haven’t got the time to reference right now, to say that we create our own happiness and despair, despite the way the world is treating us. Now I’m not saying you can’t buy ‘comfort’ you can obtain a lot of that through money and lets be fair it makes most of us content in life. But depression is the most commonly medicated problem in England at the moment so either people are assuming drugs will make them happier, we are being misdiagnosed or we have a serious disconnect between how we think we can obtain happiness and what it actually is.

So where do I fit into all this? Why am I writing about it. Well I think I’m seeking something, maybe some enlightenment about what I want to be, maybe it’s just a slice of happiness or maybe I was stuck in a rut and I needed to do something like this to snap me out of it. Worse case scenario I’m just running away from responsibilities I don’t want to handle anymore. But either way just travelling and changing the scenery isn’t actually going to get me there. Sure the constant change, the sense of achievement as I clear the summit of a mountain, my confidence at dealing with the unknown and the time to actually consider these things is great. As long as I do consider them and don’t just drift along admiring the views thinking “this will change my life” just because it’s different.

So I’ve been thinking I have to do more, I’m not sure ‘what’ more implies though. I know a regular meditation and writing this stuff up would be a good idea. I even have a book of the main 21 meditations or the path of lamrim (I’m not Buddhist by the way but they do have some interesting concepts and the lamrim is incredibly well thought out and structured). I’ll also e-mail friends and probably ask some questions about what they think of me… I think I need to be honest with myself if I’m going to work out where all this is going, and friends are the best people to tell you what you’re doing wrong.

I am happy by the way, happier than I have been for a long time, but the focus is slipping and I feel the need to have reasons for something like this. As much of a pleasure cruise as it is, I feel that I can achieve more if I strive for it. Well off to Sevilla for me then. Will try and upload photos soon I have a huge number pending. Hopefully write up more as I think/meditate en route.