Day 10 - Sun. May 30 - Salamanca-Cáceres-Seville

Last night while walking near the 'Plaza Mayor' in Salamanca there were young people break dancing. The crowd was so large that we decided not to stay and try to watch.

A little cool when we left the hotel this morning at 9 am. The drive to Caceres was uneventful, just a short pit stop at a “service center”. We arrived about noon and our guide, Victor, took us to the main square and warned us not to try to go back to the bus by another route or we would probably get lost. We picked up a very good map of the city, which would probably prevent getting lost.

Passing into the old city our first stop was the ‘Carvajal Tower and House’. Unfortunately the detailed model of the town was enclosed in plexiglass and we could not get a good photo.


Carvajal Tower with Eva to give an idea of the size.

Next we went to Plaza de San Jorge to visit ‘San Francisco Javier’s Church’. Admission was only 1 Euro and although not the largest by any means, the white walls gave a refreshing brightness and it was well worth it. Admission also included admission to the tower from which there was a good view of the town. We took several pictures of the small chapels around the sides of the church.

San Francisco Javier’s Church

On our way to the Cáceres Museum in ‘Las Veletas Palace’ there was a concert by a military band in the Plaza de San Mateo, but we didn’t linger. There were excelent displaies from the Palaeolithic age to early middle ages and we visited the cisterns built during the Muslim occupation. Unfortunately the contemporary exhibits were not open.

Heading back to the bus we stopped at the Plaza Mayor and sat in the shade to each our meat and cheese sandwich on a baguette. Allong the way we could see traces of snow on the top of some of the hills.

Back on the road to Sevelle we stopped again at a service center and had a drink, Eva a Fresca and I a beer, (about the same price). It was then on to our hotel. The room isn’t quite as nice as last night and no refrigerator, but it will do for the 2 nights we are here.

Just got back from dinner,(10:30 pm). Great 4 course meal. While in the restaurant there was a large parade passed by on the street with a couple of bands, a statue of the Virgin Mary, and a lot of the populace. We weren’t able to find out why, not even from the waitors.

Day 3 - Sun. May 23 Madrid to Aranjuez-Cuenca-Valencia

Stop 1: The castle Aranjuez was originally built to provide additional defenses and easy access to the river for goods and travel. Queen Isabel adopted it as a summer palace because the location was cooler than in Madrid, although now, 5 centuries later, Aranjuez is now on the out skirst of Madrid. Travel by boat would be much more comfortable that travel by carrage over the bumpy “roads”.

The Castle at Aranjuez

One of the tour members was 15 minutes late returning to the bus to travel on.

Stop 2: Cuenca “the Hanging Village”. The original village was built up the sides and on the top of a high hill that has been truly eroded over time into steep cliff sides.Some of the buildings are definitely clinging. Personally I wouldn’t want to live there because of the danger of collapse. In the meantime the villagers are making a lot of money out of the tourist industry – at least someone is.

One of the 'Hanging Houses'

A second couple was late to the bus. Apparently they got sidetracked into a church on the way down after we were called together at the top. They were quite embarassed because they had been one of the louder complainers about the first couple. They were greeted with the suggestion that they owed everyone a round of drinks. Hopefully everyone has learned from this.

Our last stop today was at Valencia where we will be staying 2 nights. Too bad our bags hadn’t arrived for us.

Finally, a post!

Hello everyone! This is our first post on our 2010 trip to Spain. Sorry for not having something up sooner but you'll soon see why.

Long time friends Doug and Marilyn were leaving for Venice 10 minutes after us so we all drove to Toronto together. We stopped in Markham and picked up Cathy at work then drove to the airport. Cathy then took the car to her place and will pick us up on 12 June when we return.

The flight from Toronto to Brussels Friday/Saturday went smoothly, leaving on time at 6:10 pm, but we both had trouble sleeping despite a week of trying to grow accustomed to sleeping earlier by going to bed at 9 pm. There was also a very young child near us that cried for what seemed like the whole trip. We got to Brussels with about an hour till the next flight and breezed through immigration. After a long walk to the gate for the flight to Madrid there was a sign saying the gate had been changed. It seemed like that new departure gate was the other side of the airport, but we got there about 10 minutes before boarding.

In Madrid we waited for our luggage to show up on the carasol, - and waited, - and waited and finally an employee said "there aren't any more". Oops! Several others were in the same boat and we all went to file reports. (We got to file first.) She checked the computer and told us it would arrive at 4 pm and would be sent to our hotel, great. But the next morning it still wasn't there. To make a long story shorter, we finally asked them to sent it to Barcelona as we were afraid it wouldn't arrive in Valencia on time. Fortunately we had a change of clothes in our carry on knap sacks.

We arrived in Barcelona Monday, but our 2 suitcases didn't. The hotel staff called and made arrangements for it to be sent the next day When we got back to the hotel Tuesday afternoon, one case had arrived. Now we had more clothes to change into but we still had to track down the other suitcase. The girl on the front desk promised to call Wed. morning when they opened. When we arrived back at the hotel Wed. (today), she smiled and said she was just about to phone when in came our other suitcase.

The reason we haven't posted till now is that they use a different style of plug in Spain and our adaptor was in the last suitcase to arrive. We couldn't use the computer until it got here today.

Now on the the trip itself.

Our stop in Madrid was quite brief. We met the other members of the tour on Saturday evening, got some very important information from our tour director, (like where and when to meet the bus the next morning), and had dinner together. We have enjoyed meeting many new people, from all over the world: France, England, Scotland, United State, Canada, Philippeans, Australia and New Zealand. -- a very cosmopolitan mix! There is also a wide range in ages.

It's now 10 pm. We want to get this posted, and we need to be up by 6:30 tomorrow moning in order to get an early start on the road to Pamplona. Tomorrow night we get to enjoy a tapas dinner, and would hate to miss it because of a late arrival. We'll give you details and post some picture in another day or two.

Off to Spain

For a number of reasons we didn't go to Honduras this year as we have been doing for the past several years. So we decided that it was time to see something of Europe, starting with Spain.

We are scheduled to fly from Pearson Airport at 6:10 pm on 21 May. We first fly to Brussels and then on to Madrid. First is a 15 day "Grand Tour of Spain" during which we will visit 19 cities and cover about 3500 km. Returning to Madrid on 4 June, we rent a car on the 5th and head for "La Casita de Cabraja" near the town of Jábaga, about 160 km SE of Madrid. This is called a 'casa ruales' (rural house), and we have a reservation for 6 days. On 11 June we return to Madrid and stay the night at the "Hotel Don Luis" near the airport. Our flight home leaves at 6:45 am, again through Brussels. The trip home will take 11 3/4 hours and we arrive in Toronto at 12:30 am EST.

With the volcano eruptions in Iceland we are a little nervous but believe that if we don't get to Madrid for the start of the tour on the 22nd, we won't be the only ones and the tour company, Cosmos, will probably have arrangements for catching up to them. If not we have the schedule and we speak enough Spanish that we feel comfortable taking a bus to wherever to catch up with the group.

You can check out the tour and where we will be going at < http://www.ruba.com/tour/Cosmos-Grand_Tour_Of_Spain#!tab=0&step=3 >.

You can check out tripos in past years by clicking on the relevant "Archive" to the right of this post.