Day 3 - A Quiet Day on the Bus, Relaxing on the Way to Portugal

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After the hectic pace of yesterday, today promised to be slower and more relaxed. We woke up at 6:45, showered and left the suitcases outside the door at 7:30 while we checked out and ate breakfast. By 8:30 we were on the road, outbound from Madrid. Today was also seat assignment day. To make it fair for everyone on the bus, we initially choose seats with friends or loved ones either in front or behind us, but not across. Every day we move 1 seat towards the rear, so that everyone eventually gets to sit on both the left and right sides and at the front and back of the bus.

None of this is important, and most people don’t really care where they sit, but the most important part of this exercise is that we now have a decode sheet that we can use to figure out the first names of each person on the bus that we had been talking to for the last couple of days while we had already forgotten their names 5 minutes from introducing ourselves. We are now finally certain that the nice PHD couple from Texas is Bill & Mary, the 2 couples from dinner last night are Dave & Debbie and Bill & Cheryl. The embarrassment of having to ask them their names and promptly forgetting it again has been resolved.

As we head out of Madrid, the countryside changes rapidly. No longer the bustling metropolis of Madrid, we are now in farm country. Spain grows lots of wheat, grains, and sunflowers. Rural Spain looks pretty much like any farm in the Great Plains of the US, maybe just a bit hillier and rockier, and the farm equipment is yellow instead of John Deere green. Spain doesn’t have a lot of heavy industry as part of it’s price for joining the EU, but it does survive mostly on farming and tourism.

Our first stop of the day is in Segovia, but our actual first stop is at a coffee shop for coffee and a restroom break. One thing we have noticed this morning is that it is very cold! It’s like 10 degrees Celsius or like 55 degrees F. Of course Jody and I are wearing shorts and t-shirts, not very pleasant for an outdoor coffee stop. But the coffee was good, and it gave us a chance to meet John & Linda from Virginia. Poor Linda has been without luggage since the start, since it was misdirected somewhere. The airlines are tracking it down, and hopefully it will be returned before her trip back home.

Back on the road, and its not long before we reach Segovia. The first thing you notice when entering Segovia is the HUGE Roman aqueduct cutting through the center of town. Built in the first century AD, it still stands looking perfect and has never been restored. The granite blocks are cut conically and are set without mortar allowing the weight of the stone to pressure lock the stone in place. They still look exactly the same as they were when the aqueduct was first built by the Romans. A look up to the left, and the Segovia Castle is visible at the skyline. Dating to the 11^th or 12^th century and said to be the inspiration of the Cinderella’s Castle at Disney World, it really looks impressive.

We met up with our local guide Rufo, who grew up in Madrid, but came to stay with his grandmother for summers in Segavio, before the widespread use of electricity. Segavio has some of the charm of an ancient city like yesterday’s Toledo, but not in the same museum quality. As with most Middle Ages cities, there is also a beautiful ancient cathedral. But this is an active town with a population of 55,000 with a combination of souvenir shops for the tourists and actual shops for the locals. Rufo did a great job showing us around his boyhood town, and we did get a little time for some souvenir shopping. But we have 165 miles to cover today, so it was time to get back on the bus.

The next major stop is in Salamanca (not to be called Salamander, it evidently upsets the locals.) Along the way, we made a couple of stops for picture taking. The first was at the town of Avila, obvious hometown of St Teresa of Avila (patron saint of headaches) Avila is one of the last remaining completely walled cities in Spain. It’s wall and turrets are completely intact and look just like they did back in the 11^th century. We really only had time for a rest stop and picture taking opportunity, before we were back in the bus and back on our way. Along the way, we stopped a couple of more times to take pictures of towns as we drove past.

We arrived in Salamanca around 4:30 and checked into our hotel. The hotel is very nice, but we were warned ahead of time about a few peculiarities. First, there are a lot of automated lights in the room that come on and off as you move around, or stop moving around. It is a little creepy, especially when using the bathroom. Also the air conditioner works, but only has 2 settings, on or off. Usually Too Cold, or Too Hot. We picked Too Cold and it seemed fine. The shower is also supposed to be difficult as you can pick hand-held, overhead, or side jets that squirt and places that should not be squirted at. Jody had trouble but I hope to solve the problem in the morning.

We met up with our local guide Silvie at 5:30 and made our way into the old part of the city. Salamanca is also an ancient city, but even the older portions are much more modern. This is because Salamanca is a much larger city at 155,000 and a large portion of the population are students at the University of Salamanca that has also been around since the 11^th century. There is a huge central square, with both modern and souvenir shops radiating outward. Silvie walked us through some of the oldest portions of the town showing some of the original university buildings still in use today. In the center of town, the cathedral bell tower is visible in the skyline. One of Salamanca’s claims to fame is that it has 2 cathedrals. While technically true, central belltower is shared by both the “Old Cathedral” and the “New Cathedral”. Most official church business is conducted in the New Cathedral, but people prefer to get married in the Old Cathedral which though smaller, is much more beautiful inside.

Silvie’s tour concluded about 7:00PM, and tonight we are on our own for dinner. Usually, Insight Vacations has an optional tour for dinners when it is not provided. But tonight we are on our own. The problem is that people in spain don’t usually eat dinner until 10:00pm and most restaurants don’t even open until 8:30. Also most of the menus are posted outside the restaurants but are only in Spanish, and some of our fellow travelers had already had some funny experiences with what they thought they ordered compared what they got. Both Sylvie and Dominic gave us some general suggestions of where to go, and a few decided to just head to the bar and drink wine until the restaurants opened at 8:30 – NOT an option for us. Some of the smaller restaurants offer Tapas and other snack food in the afternoon, but no real fod until 8:30.

In the end, we found just what we were looking for on one of the side streets. It had Iberian food, available at 7:30, and the menu was sort of in English. The waitress was nice, and spoke a little English, at least enough to give us some indication of things on the menu. We ultimately decided on the Iberian Sampler for 2 for 30 Euro and kept our fingers crossed. When it was delivered, we were impressed. It included Iberian ham, pork medallions, port ribs, sausage, beef, and what looked like thick sliced bacon. It also included fries, grilled peppers and black-beans and rice. We tried it all and most of it was very good! We were full, but managed to sve just a little room for some Cranberry Cheesecake and Ice Cream. I don’t think we could have eaten another bite!

Both of us were just too full to think about any more souvenir shopping. Besides, by now it was almost 9:00 and the square was really beginning to fill with people. Spaniards are really night people! But we decided we’d had enough and took our tired asses back to the hotel. Tomorrow is a late start where we can sleep in a little as we don’t leave until 9:00 but tomorrow we are bound for Portugal!

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