"It doesn't matter how high your expectations are for a country, they will always be surpassed" ... Lonely Planet Looking forward to returning to Espana we have time to down our last "dosh cafesh" (two coffees) before puzzling two immigration officers as to why we don't posses entry stamps for Portugal. After many glances back and forth from the bikes and Australian passports they question "so where did you come from?" before giving a quick shrug of the shoulders and waving us aboard the ferry to cross the Rio Guadiana into Spain ... still with no stamps. We are discovering that the days that are planned as straight forward never turn out to be! After spending 2hrs in search of a local tourist office and a suitable road map, negotiating two deep excavations slicing across our route and battling the relentless headwinds and heat we ashamedly resort to eating lunch at McDonalds (sorry Aike) before pushing on to a campsite located in the middle of nowhere. Despite its remoteness it possessed 2500 plots and was virtually full! Fortunately we set off for Sevilla at day break because by the time we reached our destination the mercury had hit 43C. Along the way we were accompanied by two cyclists, one of them going out of his way to guide us directly to Sevilla's city centre. The remainder of the afternoon was spent wandering through the Cathedral, the world's third largest and also the home of Christopher Columbus' tomb ... which explained the hordes of Yanks. After filling the gap with a variety of tapas we moved on to meander through the tangle of narrow streets in the Santa Cruz area, filled with attractive old houses with decorative ironwork balconies. Enough of the architecture, what about the entertainment? Sevilla is considered the capital of flamenco and that proved to be believable after we witnessed an inspring and intimate performance within the confines of a small courtyard of a former mansion. The guitarist's nimble fingers and soloist's powerful vocals matched the ability of the dancers' feet. Whilst in the region we undertook a day trip to Cordoba to gaze upon one of the most amazing building's we have ever seen. The mosque-cum-cathedral that represents eight centuries of architecture had us in awe as we wandered beneath the arches of red and white stone. The extreme sights were not to be outdown by the weather ... a windstorm with gust of up to 70mph blew up as we about faced for Sevilla. Distance to date: 4552klms