Are we in Toledo…Ohio?

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Day 22

April 27, 2014

Are we in Toledo…Ohio?

We left our cool dormitory at San Rafael. It was 2 degrees centigrade. I mean COLD! We drove over the Sierra Guadarrama Mountains. Whenever were in Europe and going through some mountain range there are always motorcyclists. Today was no exception 100’s of motorcyclists; they were all over Kirsten zooming around her like flies.

After crossing the mountains we were ready for a nice lunch on side of road. We drove and drove and drove. No place was scenic enough. Finally Kirsten hunger won and we stopped. It wasn’t the most scenic but we had lunch. Yum!

After lunch we continued and came upon the little village of San Martin. It has a very cool cathedral, I mean like built into the mountain type. So we stopped and toured it’s Gothic and slight Romanesque with a touch of Baroque and a slight hint of Moorish design. Yep, It’s an old building made out of BIG Stones.

From there we drove onto Toledo, not Toledo Ohio but Toledo Spain. Ok, I thought SEGOVIA was busy. Toledo was on steroids; people everywhere. We go to the centro (the center of town). Kirsten pulls up to a four star hotel and says see if they have a room. I ask what is our price point we want to pay. She says you make that decision. Ok now this reminds me of my Darden days. Yeah Steve you make that decision. Its called being setup for failure. Well it turns out all the rooms have been rented. I checked 3 hotels all booked. I think I could make a fortune selling “NO VACANCY” signs in Spain.

I return to the car and explain that Toledo is just like Segovia and let’s head out of town. We head north on Hwy 4001 and find the small village of Azucaica, now I mean small. Kirsten drives through and sees this worn out sign “La Vega Hostel” I mean this sign was faded and broken down. Like the Bates Hotel; broken-down. Even Hedy was getting worried; Kirsten kept driving toward the way the sign is pointing and turns the corner and there it is. It doesn’t look as bad as their sign does.

Kirsten stops in front of the door and says check it out, I give her my “I’m Scared Look” but it didn’t work. I walkup to the door and it was locked. I turn back and said it’s closed. Kirsten points and says out the window, ring the doorbell. Uh, Ok I rang the doorbell and after a minute this little Spanish lady appears from around the corner. She looks at me I look at here and she starts talking 90 miles an hour.

The adventure begins. Me trying to communicate with this lady and get two rooms. I’ll give you the readers digest version.

I point to the Hotel sign, she says SI. I said available? She says SI. I say WEFE, she says SI. Ok, I’ve run out of excuse not to stay here. She hands me the keys. The rooms are fabulous. For $40 Euros and they have WEFE.

I just want to say how weird Europe is about WIFI. You would think it would be a simple name and simple password. Oh no… they give out different id’s & passwords per user, and the passwords are usually 27 characters long! I mean real weird.

We unload the car, take a short nap. Man I needed that nap. After an hour or so we went back to Toledo to have dinner and see their cathedral. You know it’s Gothic with a hint of Romanesque along with a touch of Baroque and a slight hints of Moorish design. Yes, It an old building made out of BIG Stones just like the others.

We get back and find a café in the centro for Opa and get him beer. We see the cathedral and some other Moorish building Hedy keeps talking about. You guessed it big building made out of big rocks.

Finally we make it back to the café where we left Opa and order a few beers and some tapas. We watch lots of folks dance in the center and Kirsten and I even have a few steps.

After a dinner of Paella which wasn’t that good, we return to our hotel. Opa keeps asking when are we going home. Were going home on Tuesday Opa, day after tomorrow.

We get back to the hotel and I check the flights, they still look great.

Good night.

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Comments

[Lisa and Josef]

Looks like loads of fun! Safe travels everyone!