Nov 20, 2012 - Losing ourselves in the land that time forgot

In the last week we have visited the fairy tale towns of Segovia, Avila and Salamanca, visited the wonderful cathedral of Burgos containing the tomb of the fabled El Cid (and his wife) and hiked around the villages of the Sierra de Francia. We love this area west of Madrid and plan someday to spend a lot more time here. The fully intact Roman aqueduct at Segovia is the most remarkable structure either of us has seen for a long time. Built with free-standing rock and 15 KMS in length it was still supplying the town with water until 100 years...

Oct 3, 2012 - A great day in Segovia

Hi Everybody Yesterday I took a bus 90 kilometers north of Madrid To this most beautiful city of Segovia. Small city, more of a town, with the walled old city, a nice cathedral, Impressive Castle, that they claim that Walt Disney did his fairy tale castle on this one..........(A bit exaggerated.) Cobble stone narrow streets, with lovely old buildings, and an Impressive Aqueduct build by the Romans, in AD 50 to bring water from 18 KM away. It is 894mt long 28mt high and has 163 arches. The town is on a hill with a valley all round it and...

Aug 11, 2012 - Back to Segovia (updates soon)

Today was another hot day in Madrid - it is predicted to be above 40, so I decided to try be like a local and get out of town for the day. Of course, by now, most of the locals have left Madrid and gone to the coast for Summer vacation, so the town itself is comparitively empty anyway. I decided I wanted to go back and see some of Segovia, as it was quick to get to (30 minutes by high speed train) and cooler than Madrid. So, I jumped on a train, and headed out to explore. The train itself doesn´t reach the heights of Barcelona, only doing...

Jul 28, 2012 - Avila and Segovia

I woke up nice and early this morning to make my way to the Plaza Espana and the Julia travel agency, where I have a birthday present awaiting for me. Ali has arranged for me to go to Avila and Segovia, probably after hearing me talking about how I'd love to see them both 100 times in Melbourne after my very brief visit to Spain last year. The first port of call was the small town of Avila, and a bit of a history lesson from the tour guide Arturos. He said today we would be a small reminder of how the Muslims used to have control of the...

May 2, 2012 - Madrid to Ciudad Rodrigo

After breakfast in the hotel, checked out and caught a taxi to the place we were picking up our leased car, only about 10 minutes away. It is a public holiday here today so we had needed to make an appointment for the pickup. The agent turned up about 2 minutes after us, so after some paperwork and a quick intro to the car, we packed our bags, set the GPS and headed off. The car we have is a citroen c3, one of the interesting features is the "zenith windscreen" which curves above your head like a sun roof. See here We headed west from...

Mar 13, 2012 - Échangeur Turcot

Bon matin! Hier j’ai mis un terme à la fiesta du weekend et let’s go pour un trip d’une journée à Ségovia, situé à 80 km au nord de Madrid, donc à 30 minutes en train (200Km/hr). Pour ceux qui me suivent, ici sur ce journal, vont se rappeler que j’ai écrit déjà que de voyages en voyages il y a toujours un rituel qui s’installe lors de visites dans un endroit nouveau : la cathédrale, le château, une tour à monter en comptant les marches et si tu t’es déplacé jusque là c’est probablement parce que cet endroit est protégé par le patrimoine...

Feb 26, 2012 - Segovia

Side-trip to Segovia! A wonderful smaller city a couple hours from Madrid famous for its enormous Roman aqueduct (made without the use of cement or any other material to hold its pieces together...pretty impressive). Lots of pictures in front of this amazing structure! The other main "attraction" here was its Alcázar (fortress/palace), which was actually used as the inspiration for Snow White's castle! We took a tour here with a guide who had grown up there. He was very popular as he greeted nearly 10 different people within an hour and a...

Dec 8, 2011 - Trip to Spain

It was September of 2009 when my close friend from college and I decided to do a study abroad in Salamanca, Spain. We would leave for Spain at the end of December to spend New Years in Madrid. And so on a very cold December day we left New York to begin our journey in Spain. We arrived at the Barajas airport in Madrid. How different, how clean and green it was. It was raining but warm. We took a taxi to our hostel La manezana, very close to Plaza Puerta Del Sol which is the main plaza. Puerta del Sol is a get together spot, to me it was...

Nov 6, 2011 - Beautiful, Stunning, Amazing Salamanca

Have you been to Salamanca?? If you have you will no doubt agree entirely with me. This is the most beautiful town full of sandstone buildings, everywhere you turn is a postcard and another breathtaking view. If not, we must show you everyone of our photos of this town. We have only posted a small selection but have many more to take you though our experience. Unfortunately 2 of the major attractions, the Plaza Mayor and the University facade were hidden by some restoration works however we were still able to get a fabulous view of most of...

Sep 25, 2011 - Salamanca, Spain

Salamanca It was an early morning when we headed north-west of Madrid by bus to the historical university town of Salamanca. We took the metro to the train station and took a nice, clean, comfortable train to Salamanca (a 2.5 hour train ride) which was quite enjoyable. The weather is still beautiful. It was between 25-30C. We checked into our hotel and took an orientation tour of the city. We inspected some of the unique architecture, including the distinctly decorated Casa de las Conchas (House of the Shells). We went to the central plaza...

Jun 26, 2011 - Lerma

Wow, Paul said I was in for a surprise today and he was right, he booked us into a PALACE, the Palace Ducal, in Lerma. In 1601 it was built as a symbol of the Duke's political power with 4 angular towers opposite a great plaza. We have a room with balcony overlooking the plaza and it is all very grand! Well done Paul!! Enjoyed the short drive from Valladolid today through farming country side and fields of sun flowers and poppies. Again 38+ today so enjoyed lunch in a local Spanish pub in plaza then relaxed in our Palace before taking a...

Jun 25, 2011 - Valladolid

Slept in and enjoyed a relaxing day in city of Valladolid. A very hot 38+ today so did a bit of shopping (purchased a kettle!) and walked through the beautiful botanical gardens enjoying the cool shade of the huge trees and the wonderful water fountains. We then walked along the river past the 'beach' area where we think all of Valladolid was sunning themselves and back to our hotel for a rest before dinner. At dinner we were center of attention with the lovely receptionist, Patrica (only staff who knew English) translated the whole menu...