Blogs from Castile & León, Spain, Europe - page 6

Today I could spend the whole post describing our accommodation, if you could call it that, and the charming facilities. If I walk out tomorrow with no bites , or cuts and abrasions from the shower, I’ll consider myself lucky. Lucky might have been if it had been a full house , and I had to find a tree to sleep under. This was once a barn, servicing the hotel attached to it. They have replaced the donkeys, chickens, and pigs with humans. The bunks are about 400mm apart, have rubberised mattresses and pillows, with no paper sheets or pillowcase in sight. I’ll sleep on top of my sleeping bag and use a shirt as a pillowcase. Moving on to the shower room, there are two showers and one toilet for about 30 people. Each shower ... read more

Tuesday August 21,2018 Today was our last day at the villa for Sally,Jay and I as we were flying from Bilbao at 10:50pm. John was driving down south towards Caceres and Córdoba. The four of us cleaned and organized the villa for awhile. After I was done, I made a “plastic creature” made from recycled plastic bottles. Afterwards-we all had a great and delicious lunch! Then we all relaxed and talked for a bit. About 3pm, Sally, Jay and I left the villa after John had driven away ten minutes earlier. I looked back one last time at our family villa! Sally drove for 2 hours before we stopped for a little break and coffee/water. Then we headed towards the airport and Bilbao. The three of finally dropped off the car and waited to check in ... read more

Sunday August 19,2018 Today John and I headed south east toward Madrid to visit a medieval castle in Medina Del Campo and then onward to the heritage city of Segovia, Spain. The Castillo De Mota is an amazing example of Mujader style, erected around 1500. On the grounds was a medieval festival of different folks making swords, medical tools, wearing gowns and owls, hawks and ravens ready to fly into battle back in the day. Then we drove through pretty villages as the Sierra Gardarama gets closer and more dramatic. Segovia is an extraordinary, exciting and mysterious city filled with historic and fascinating culture & architecture alike. John and I focused in the 2000 Roman stone aqueduct and the medieval romantic castle remodeled in the 19th century. I really enjoyed walking throughout the city! It was ... read more

Friday August 17,2018 Today John and I visited the beautiful and historical town of Tordesillas which is in the Douro River Valley between León and Madrid. I enjoyed the churches, museums and the medieval mansion. Amazing, unique and baroque & exquisite Moorish architecture throughout this village. I had lovely white asparagus with salmon sauce and John had soup. Both of us ate mushroom ravioli in this sweet restaurant. The meal was delicious! After walking around the town for most of the day, we finally arrived at their pretty plaza mayor where John and I had a nice simple Spanish supper. We both had ice cream or gelato for dessert . I also stopped in a few gift shops which were wonderful. We drove out of Tordesillas around 8:30 and arrived back at the villa around 10:30 ... read more

Wednesday August 15,2018 This morning John and I got up a bit later and had breakfast with Sally and Jay. John and I decided that we would go to the world heritage city of Salamanca. We both walked about 8 miles from one end of the city to the other end. I enjoyed finding and looking at Celto Iberian stone animals, Roman arch bridge, religious buildings that had Romanesque,Gothic and Baroque architecture. We both loved looking at the oldest university in Spain. John and I ate our first meals together in one of the most beautiful plazas in the world! John ate paella while I ate grilled shrimp.Yummy! We left Salamanca rather late and drove through the town of Zamora. At 10:15 at night-we had a late dinner and finally got back to the villa @ ... read more