Astorga to Tortoles de Esgueva

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After a quiet stroll and breakfast at our hotel we headed off for another day of adventure ending at a monesterio turned hotel.

I'm afraid my journal of our trip and pictures are going to get redundant. I don't know if I just don't remember our previous trips to Europe or Spain has a lot more ruins of ancients times. It seems like evey hilltop has evidence of villages, castles, palaces, etc. We spent the day stopping off at various towns and villages as Lynn reported on the travels of King Fernando, Queen Isabel and Juana (Juana La Loca): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juana_of_Castile). History has not been kind to KF and QI's third child, whom inherited the crown, as "Joan the Mad" may be an unfair and inaccurate label...hence our fact finding journey thru Spain.

We stopped off inTordesillas to visit serval sites on Lynn's list of historical sites to find that they were having a 500th year celebration of Juana's visit to there town. Luckily the exhibit was open and Lynn aolong with the rest of us got to get some interensting information. I say lucky to have the exhibit open because as we travel from village to village we are trying not to hit the important spots during noon-2:00pm when most places are closed.

As we drive along we are reminded how other countries have moved ahead on several fronts with regard to renewable energy issues. We have seen acre after acre of solar panels, wind turbines along hilltops and the train system speeding across the country. We need to get our act together.

As we made our way toward our destination, it began to look more and more remote. Lynn started preparing us for an unknown place to stay for the evening, and wanted to make sure we would feel free to make alternate plans if we did not like the facility. That option did not prove to have much merit on a couple of fronts, first of which this tiny little hamlet did not look like it had any places to stay at all. We wandered around until we saw a little signpost and followed what we thought was a direction arrow...we ended up on top of the hill in a barren landscape that seemed to go on forever...we better turn around. Got into Tortoles de Esgueva and stopped to ask diections which is always an adventure in itself, but the little old lady's hand signals seemed to give some indication. As we made our way thru the village we did come across more signage which gave us some confidence. We found the coverted monestary, and it looked quite presentable, so Lynn was greatly relieved...little did we know what lay in store for us.

The place was absolutely amazing. As an architect I have a pretty good idea as to time and cost for major renovations. This place was huge and everything has been done with exquisite detail with very high quality materials. I have no idea how much they have spent in the two year renovation and how they will attract enough business to make it financially viable, as we seem to have the entire place to ourselves?

We retreated to the courtyard to enjoy a glass (bottles) of wine and reflect on the day. We basked in the sounds of the water feature, birds and plantings. We think that the people who are peeking out the adjacent windows must have been the cooks and waitresses from the kitchen wanting us to come inside; we finally obliged as the temperature began to drop.

Jose (owner, along with his wife) tried to solicit our desires for dinner, with little success, so he retreated to get some of the help back stage to put it into various forms of English. We tried to make it clear that we trust him to make the selections for us. I think we had determined, (from our best memory as we were really enjoying the wine), that there were eight courses, a main entree of fish and then dessert. To be quite honest, the memories of the other were impaired by the wine, I was belching rotten fish from the noon meal, so I was selective on the appetizers and dessert, hoping to feel better by morning. Only this morning I had been bragging about never getting sick overseas and have attributed it to drinking plenty of beer.

A real treat of the evening was a visit from Rosa, a friend of one of Jose's sons...she spent several years in the US, so she speaks great English and shares our political orientation. Lynn got great insight into the history taught in Spain about Juana and we all got a sense of the culture and politics in Spain today...and their view of the situation in the US.

After dinner we toured the facility at night...it's truly magical...doesn't get much better than this. (except for my stomach disorder)

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