We left the hotel to drag our luggage down the hill to the bus station and caught the 7:30am bus to Madrid. Arrived in Madrid and found out what metro lines we had to catch to get to the Renfe Atocha train station to catch our Altaria train to Jerez. The subway trains were so full twice that we had to wait for the next one, but finally reached the Renfe Atocha station with almost 30 minutes to spare! Lesson to be learned... leave yourself plenty of time to catch a connection! After a 4 hour ride to Jerez, we were met by my brother-in-law and his wife at the station, loaded up his car and headed to Chipiona, Manoli´s hometown. Its amazing how much can change in 17 years! Still, enough was familiar that I ... read more

Segovia Day 1: Took the bus from Avila at 12:30, arriving at Segovia about 1:30. We could see the Alcanzar, the castle that Disney World loosely copied for the Magic Kingdom castle. After heading in the wrong direction for a ways, we asked some locals and found one of the city tourist information offices. They easily got us oriented towards our hotel. After a pleasant stroll, mostly uphill, we found the Hotel Las Linajes and checked in. It is a very nice hotel, the best place so far. Tired from the trip, we decided to eat lunch in the hotel. A decent combination plate was only 7 Euros. After lunch and a rest, we strolled around town a bit and ended up at the Alcanzar, after seeing the aquaduct....wow, cool sights, both of them. Tomorrow morning ... read more

Took the early train (8:30am) from San Sebastian to Avila. The train wasn´t as nice as the one from Barcelona... no tray table or reclining seats, but it still had movies and a cafeteria. Arrived in Avila about 1:30pm and decided to walk to the hostal in the old city, about a mile or so. Didn´t have much trouble finding the hostal, Hostal Bellas. The hostal is very nice, although again, no internet available. Just been remodeled and our room was pretty and spacious, with our own bathroom/shower, and twin beds ( :( ). Took a nice stroll in the afternoon along the top of the wall, with some beautiful views. The Avila was is the oldest complete wall in Spain and I think even Europe. We have to see it from outside at night when ... read more

SanSebastian: Checked out of the hostel and headed to the train station early. They only give you about 20 minutes notice as to which track your train leaves from, so you have to be ready to go and paying attention. The monitors on each track platform show which train for that track, when its due, and display the car order so you can be waiting somewhere near your car. Got onboard and away we went..sort of. The train takes 8 hours to go from Barcelona to San Sebastian, and I bet half of that is slowing to a crawl thru populated areas and stopping at 6 or 8 stations along the way. They do give you little earphones for music and to hear the movies they show now and then. The car in front of ours ... read more

Sorry, still no way to upload photos. The computer in the hostal doesn´t have a memory card reader and there are few internet shops around, none of which have wireless access for my handheld. Will try again at Renfe train station before we leave Barcelona. Our first full day in Barcelona. The first stop was La Sagrada Familia. Unfortunately they were working on alot of it. Apparently this wonderful building is always being added to, and would have been much nicer without all the scaffolding. The architectural style is amazing, with pillars like trees and "flourishes" everywhere such as gargoyles, grapes, birds, etc. After a brief walk around the ground floor, I decided to climb the tower/spire stairs instead of taking the elevator. The stairs are free, much more interesting, and several hundred meters long/high! The ... read more