It's getting cold in the Alps, winter starts to move in - but there are corners on this globe, where there is still summer! Southern Spain is one of them. We are allready at day three of the Christopher Columbus Tour. Taking off in Malaga we experienced a few things so far.

- great weather

- great riding

- great food

- a great punch of people riding together with

Our rest day i Sevilla turned out to be a walking day - but it was absolutly worth to give the bikes a break and explore town - including the Tapas bars and Flamenco.

On day three we crossed the border into Portugal, looking forward to the days to come.

Ian likes his paela

Part of our group in Ronda ......

......exploring Sevilla.....

......and tapas

Portugal! Great roads, oak tree forrests and on our first day in this beautiful country Cabo de San Vicente was the big highlight. The most southwesterly point of its barren face, created by the Ocean and strong winds. We were lucky - a calm and perfect day to visit the cape. By the way, if you head West, the next shore you would reach, would be America - quite a long swim!

Cabo de Sao Vicente

Ian and the last Bratwurststand before America.....

......and Barbara got her proof

Great roads through oak tree forrests

Santiago do Cacem to Lisboa - an easy day! Rolling through oak forrests, later on following the coast to Troia, we finally reach the ferry to Setubal - a lively little town, overlooked by strongly reinforced castle. Cabo Espichel, located at the end of the peninsula south of Lisbon gave us a quiet brake befor we hit the bustling capital of Portugal.

At the fortress of Setubal

Is anybody out there? (Cabo Espichel)

..almost there (Lisboa in the background)

Restday in Lisbon! The group explored town and got to the result, that there is too much to see. Some started their excursion allready last night - so they got to to see the town's night life as well. All in all - a great place

Hard Rock Cafe

The following two days were at least as good as the past ones. Leaving Lisboa we crossed the Vasco da Gama bridge in fog heading east, back to Spain. Walled towns, fortifications, oak forrest and farmland compained us on our way through the Alentejo. And all over sudden, right before our lunchstop in Evora the tour guide set his right signal and turned into a cart track. We couldn't take our bikes out there, but we got the chance to race the tourguide and even pass him.

Late in the afternoon we crossed the border into Spain at Puerte Judya and cruised through the Estramendura towards Zafra.

Fog on Vasco da Gama

The race is on....

Today was a very good one! Curves and curves and curves interupted by a coffee stop and Scott's excellent picnic. We got to Cordoba early, so had the chance to see the old part of town including the Musqita

il gruppo

Everything finds an end, so did this trip. Riding through the busy morning traffic out of Cordoba we got pretty soon on the freeway to leave a pulsating, beautiful town behind us. The country side changed, thousands of olive trees covering the rolling hills stretching out to the horizon made us believe that Spain is one of the main producers of olive oil. The roads on route 2 became more narrow and twisty and close to Malaga Markus' group hit probably the only road in Spain, that is not subsidized by the EU - a series of potholes with some asphalt patches in between. But the scenery was outstanding!

The night was party night, stories and pictures were shared, everybody would have stayed for some more riding with new friends in a great area.

Olive trees as far as you can see......

.....just another great road

Sitting on my desk and looking out of the window to snowcapped mountains I better enjoy the tour's photos bringing back memories of a great group. Thank you very much!