Beautiful enough to fall in love with

CARMONA. The first stop on our Silver Route – and it made quite an impression right away. “For me, the beginning is also the end,” Icke said immediately after our first excursion into the city. “Everything here is beautiful enough to fall in love with. I’m not going any further.” I must agree with her. There’s a reason Carmona is one of the oldest cities in all of Europe. It’s located 40 kilometers east of Seville on a hill, from which one can overlook the Campiña Sevillana for miles. We spontaneously decided to stay until the day after tomorrow, so I will only report on the many sights of this city tomorrow.

The decision to stay an extra day was not made solely because of the unique atmosphere of Carmona. An orange warning light also played its role: the brake pad warning light lit up on our Ducato's display. This wasn't the first time on this trip, but unlike before, it didn’t go out this time. Brake pads. Phew. That sounded a bit problematic. I called Cedric Ebert, Icke’s cousin, who runs a tire shop along with a car workshop in Angermünde. He was kind enough to take the time to help us with our problem. His advice: definitely have it checked. So we asked at the tourism office – where we also picked up our first stamp for our passport “Via de la Plata” – for a good workshop. It was quickly found and only three minutes’ drive from our parking spot.

The Servilia Motor Juan Siles Macias was an absolute stroke of luck. The boss was incredibly friendly, greeted us with a smile, and immediately summoned a mechanic for us. The mechanic disappeared with a light for 15 minutes under our vehicle and returned with an oil-stained face. The brake pads are okay, he said, but some wire had broken that was causing a short circuit repeatedly. That’s why the light would shine. He isolated the wire, and now everything is fine again. We gave him a proper tip, which he only accepted after a lot of persuasion. We went to his boss to pay. However, he waved us on with a smile from ear to ear and wished us a good journey.

And we will have one. It’s off to Seville. The day after tomorrow. Or maybe even the day after that – if at all. It all depends on Icke …