We came back to Madrid for the last two days before flying home. It was over 100 degrees cooking down to about 85 right before dawn. We walked around at night and tried to stay inside cool museums and cathedrals during the day. [View Full Entry]

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We drove 3 hours or so into Portugal and made day trips from our b&b: To roman ruins, to the beach and to the forested grounds of a former monastery. The b&b was run by a dutch ex patriate family. There was a great pool, friendly guests, a giant chess set, and kayaks to take out. We also learned that a cot is something else to the Dutch. I picture a fold-out bed for hardy souls, like soldiers or, in this case, Zerian. They think of fold out cribs for babies. Needless to say, Zerian couldn't fit, so the host was [View Full Entry]

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Salamanca is just about the oldest university town in Europe, and you can feel that energy in the place despite the collection of 500 year churches, monasteries, libraries and university buildings. [View Full Entry]

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Arrived after a long drive across countryside in Segovia. This rural house is in a small town just outside the town of Segovia. The house is very nice, with a lovely courtyard equipped with tables, lounge chairs and covered porch. The owners are a bit more formal than in Casa Tila in Clavijo, but very nice. We previewed Segovia and discovered an old Alcazar, very old majestic Spanish cathedral, and an aqueduct built during roman times. The aqueduct is simply amazing, as it is so tall, and it was put together WITHOUT mortar. How is it still standing? Why is [View Full Entry]

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We left the coast and entered a flat, hot valley, not unlike Yakima valley in Washington. As we topped the last hill before entering La Rioja, we could see colorful patches of vineyards and crops, small hillsides, and winding highways curling across the valley. The air was drier and a lot hotter. Compared the coastal climate, it was now in the high 90´s to low 100´s. Quite a change! We stopped along the way at Laguardia, a quaint (we keep saying that don´t we...) town perched on a hill top and enclosed in castle walls dating back to around the [View Full Entry]

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Our trip to Basque Country Minette and Craig Hola! Travelling always presents small challenges.. like figuring out how to get around, or where to find a grocery store that is open during the lunch hours (which lasts 2 to 3 hours here). We found out about a bus that picked us up from near the house in Mimizan and took us back to the train station in the middle of nowhere (lahouyere?) but it was at 6:00 in the morning. Argh! Way too early! We didn´t have much of a choice though as there were only a couple buses leaving [View Full Entry]

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Another lost entry, adding pictures, no text [View Full Entry]

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Minette and Craig's Honeymoon Minette and Craig We had an exciting time getting to Mimizan from Bordeaux. We took an noon time train to a town we still can't spell or pronounce, Labouyhre. Unfortunately, even though we knew a bus travelled from there to Mimizan we couldn't find a schedule. I think they didn't put it online because the schedule is so small. The bus goes in the morning once and back, then again in the evening. We missed it and didn't want to wait. Thankfully, we were able to get a ride with a someone else trekking to the [View Full Entry]

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lost entry, I'm just readding the pictures [View Full Entry]

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Problems at travelblog so our entry was lost. Not retyping the entry now, but am posting pictures. [View Full Entry]

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