I made an unplanned stop at El Hoyo de Pinares, the hometown of a friend. It's 90 minutes from Madrid, up in the mountains - the name literally means 'Hole surrounded by pine trees', and it is in a hole, there's no hidden meaning there!! It's a small town with the population of 2000 people and it's so cosy! Unfortunately because it's so small, everyone knows everything and there isn't much to do - there are many pubs here, though, so take a wild guess as to what people get up to when they're bored! It's great to experience a family atmosphere here. The five days I spent there was filled with the testing schedule of: Wake up, breakfast, snacks, beer & tapas (beers for €1 with free tapas!!), lunch, siesta, wake up, go for a
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