We had a fairly big 90km ride planned for today but the cool foggy morning conditions and some rain in the forecast delayed us to the point of let's make a reservation for lunch.
Mike and I started at the churros place when it opened at 8:30. We got the chocolate dipping sauce because at that time we thought we were going to be riding. Somewhere between churros and let's ride we didn't. The weather turned out to be pretty good in the end.
We got a reservation for 3pm in Lucena at Restaurante El Cortijo for good paella. That gave us time to drive there and on the way explore Priego de Córdoba.
Last time I was in Priego de Córdoba was on my Andalusia Tour and it was not a good experience. I was in the middle of a big climbing day and as I rode past the town I was getting drenched in a hard rain. I couldn't check my map because my fingers were wet and my glasses fogged. I made a wrong turn, doubled back and finally did the smart thing by stopping at a gas station cafe for a coffee. So while I had never actually been in the town I did not have a good memory of it.
Today was clear and sunny and we drove in past the gas station cafe into the town. I followed the signs to Centro and we drove through some quaint shopping districts with lots of people walking in their Sunday best. I parked and we walked back to Centro. There were many narrow windy streets and some wider more commercial ones. We ended up in some nice parks overlooking the valley. There were a lot of tourists - all Spanish - everywhere. It's a really cute town and seems to be a destination with a lot of restaurants and things to see. I would definitely put it on the list of local towns to visit and have lunch.
We then continued on to Lucena for lunch. Parking in Spanish towns is not something I have done a lot of and I'm never really sure if I am allow to park somewhere. I guess seeing some of the cars I have seen parked around here means I'm probably ok. I have never seen anybody getting in trouble here for parking. After getting excited for one spot it turned out too good to be true as it was in a zebra crossing. It was pretty faded but I let the guys out and drove around the block. It seemed to be a spot and the car was there after lunch, so, good, I guess.
Lunch was good, we probably didn't need the reservation but it didn't hurt. We had the seafood paella, some grilled chicken and a salad. We were full and happy. Mike slept most of the way home. After parking the car I got to have a beer, two actually.
Back at the house I finally solved my SF to ALR network routing problem. Yeah!
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