Sleeping in and hiking in Córdoba

Finally arrived in Andalusia! Accordingly, we rented a small 'Andalusian palace' for 6 nights. Affordable out of season ;-) And finally, the sun was shining! It's time to do some laundry - and on the Spanish 'Día del padre'!
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We are slowly getting used to the Spanish daily rhythm: Sleeping in, having breakfast, lunch at 1:30 pm or later, then siesta (we don't take siestas, but we are always amazed at how everything is closed) and a late dinner, and consequently going to bed late...
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The sun was still shining on Sunday! We went hiking!
We drove to a mountain village nearby. From there, we walked along the path: First, we discovered cork oak trees, later we took a detour to a spring, then we continued to our picnic spot by the stream. After eating, playing, carving, and getting wet, we continued: We saw more cork oak trees and then walked on narrow paths through jungle-like terrain. Later, we passed by the 'Minas romanas' (Roman mines). Suddenly, the sun disappeared and there were clouds in the sky. And on the ground, there were a lot more paths than on the map. We got lost. Then it started drizzling... When we discovered the ruins of a mill, we were reassured because it was mentioned in the directions. But even here, there were many paths and we didn't know which one to take. When people passed by, we asked them. They said all paths lead back to the village... so we arrived there ourselves some time later!

by Mauro, with the help of Regula
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The following days were again dominated by the extraordinary low-pressure system (climate change greetings) in front of Portugal, which brings too much rain and wind to the Iberian Peninsula and North Africa for this time of year, the weather :-(

So we never actually did what we discussed the night before... Either it rained so heavily in the morning that we stayed in the warm bed, or Mauro woke up with a stomachache, so we had to change our plans. 

So we were often in and around the house:
The older boys read Harry Potter for hours and eagerly await the package with books 5-7 from Switzerland, which we had sent to Córdoba when we noticed how quickly they were progressing... (Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa, it's not your fault, probably the Spanish post office's...)
Then we worked on school material, researched, and clarified some questions that came up (from the history of Spain with the Moors to the Middle Ages to the formation of cork and why the truck drivers in Spain are on strike, resulting in some empty shelves in the supermarket...) and cooked more elaborate meals. And every now and then a game or a commotion about something. We have more time for that now ;-)

During the dry periods, we also took trips by bus to the beautiful city of Córdoba or visited the nearby excavated 'medina azahara'. A lot of history and even more stories.