Blogs from Cuenca, Castile-La Mancha, Spain, Europe

On the night before we left Madrid I woke up in a panic! I had a sudden realization that our ticket to Cuenca had us arriving at the station on the outskirts of Cuenca, not right in town like I had studied on Google Earth! As soon as we woke up I fired up the ipad and sure enough, we were to arrive in the Fernando Zobel Station, which was 5 km out of town! I quickly looked up the best way to get into town and felt somewhat calmer after learning that we could take a bus. We then completed the hateful job of packing. Curtis is pretty sure his weighs much more than when we arrived! We tidied up the apartment and arranged and re-arranged our bags until zippers were zipped and loaded onto ... read more

We eagerly headed to the train station, excited to use our Eurail passes for the first time. However, we were not prepared for the mad rush of the European trains. With signs as poorly marked as our tickets, we spun in circles trying to find the train bound for Cuenca. What was not explained to us was the “minor” detail that we first needed to ride the local train to a location just outside of Madrid. Our hearts sunk as our departure time came and went, leaving us frantically searching the platforms. Luckily, the connecting train departed every few minutes and we found ourselves on board racing against the clock to catch the Cuenca bound train. With a stroke of good luck and a heavy sigh of relief, we made it to our seats on the ... read more

In Alcaniz my hosts were a couple named Jesus and Carmen, who went by the odd nickname Mamen. We hung out at their apartment for a while, and Jesus made me the Spanish version of a fried egg, where you heat up a pan of oil, then drop in an egg, immediately turn off the heat, and let it sit there for less than a minute, and it was really awesome! After a while, we went out to walk around the town, where I saw a stork nest! It was up at the top of the church’s tower, and at first I thought it was some kind of weird decoration, because the nest and the birds were so huge. Jesus was like, “oh yeah, we get a ton of those… sometimes it’s dangerous because the nests ... read more

Travel blog 19 Monday, 24th March 2008 Easter Monday Determined to see Toledo today, as driven a long way to get here. Dosed myself up and headed out of campsite just as bus came along so hopped on for short journey into the town which is entered by one of three bridges. It really is the most picturesque place. Decided I would visit the cathedral at cost of 7 euros, so agreed to meet Andy later. The cathedral was definitely worth a visit. I thought it was splendid and one of the best I have ever seen. The massive choir stalls were something in themselves. Hundreds of amazing wooden carvings at a lower level depicting scenes allegedly of the fall of Granada. Poor old Granada! Cannot believe that these related to the book I am currently ... read more