We were up early as we had one of the longest drives we have ever taken in Europe in front of us. We need to be in Granada by May 12 as Kit and Stephen have a tour of the Alhambra scheduled for May 13. It is nearly 800 kilometers from Lisbon to Granada and we need to cover it in two days. Looking at our options Cordoba was the best mid-point but it was not mid-way but 500 kilometers from Lisbon.
Wild flowers at our first pit stop in Portugal.
If you are going to do a too long drive in Europe the best day is Sunday as the semi’s are more or less banned from driving. This means we are the slowest thing on the road in most cases so you can set the cruise control and settle in the right lane and let the other cars zoom past. The drive took over 6 hours and with the additional hour we gained we didn’t park up at Cordoba until after 4 pm.
Cordoba is having a flower festival and the streets and many of the private courtyards are decorated with flowers.
We settled in quickly as we are in the municipal aire in Cordoba which is a new experience for Kit and Stephen. No power, no water, no toilets, just the facilities you carry in your van. We decided that food was in order so we headed into Cordoba to find some. On Sundays a lot of the bars and cafes that serve informal food close down in the evening. We settled on a pizza place across from the famous Cathedral/Mosque which is why we are here and will visit tomorrow.
The gate to the Roman Bridge in Cordoba.
After we finished our meal we strolled down to the Roman bridge over the Guadalquivir River. It is another impressive piece of engineering though Stephen and I suspect it has been rebuilt a few times since the Romans.
The long Roman bridge over the Guadalquivir River in Cordoba.
After the bridge Stephen and I were feeling the effects of our drive, so we headed back to the aire for a well deserved rest.
We headed over to a different part of Lisbon today to check out an area that Ton was very interested in seeing. Belem is located near the mouth of the Tagus River. It is quite distinct from the old town of Lisbon because of its proximity to the Atlantic.
The ferry terminal in Belem with the 25th of April Bridge in the background as well as the Portuguese version of the Cristo Redentor.
We came here to see the sites but also to visit a famous bakery that has the original and best versions of Natal’s which are Tons favorite deserts. The line to get into the bakery was long but we gained entry quickly. Our order went awry and instead of getting Natal’s we got three chocolate cakes. While I was very happy with this chocolate indulgence Ton was disappointed. Luckily our to go order was 6 still warm Natal’s so Ton was ultimately happy.
Stephen Kit and me trying to figure out what had arrived at our table.
On the way to the bakery we had walked by the Mosteiro dos Geronimo. It is an old Monastery that is very impressively large. We would have required tickets in advance to get in so we had to satisfy ourselves with pictures from the nice gardens surrounding the Monastery.
The Monastery and Church of Geronimo.
While I was overindulging in chocolate cake, Ton discovered that there was supposed to be a small Thai pavilion in the park nearby. So after we ate we set off to find it. It was dedicated in 2012 to commemorate 500 years of Portuguese-Thai relations.
The pretty little Thai pavilion in Belem.
Our next stop in Belem was at the Belem Tower. It is an old fort that was placed to help guard the mouth of the Tagus River. It is an UNESCO world heritage site and is quite pretty.
The Belem tower in the Tagus River.
We next went to a hip area of Belem full of restaurants and cool stores. We explored for a while and found a really interesting bookstore in a space that had previously been a printing plant for a newspaper.
This library in an old printing plant was really cool.
We went up to a rooftop bar and had a beer before heading out for some more exploring in the district. It was full of really nice street art.
Street art in LX factory district.
This area is located directly under the 25th of April bridge and is a good example of a repurposed industrial district. We really enjoyed walking thru and looking at the restaurants and small shops.
A beautiful piece of modern art utilizing the traditional blue tiles of Portugal.
When we finished the district we decided to call the day a bit early and head back to the campground to relax. Ton prepared a delicious meal and I snuck in a short nap. We were both glad we had made it to Lisbon.
We had skipped Lisbon last time we were in Portugal because it got mixed reviews and the logistics for campers was difficult. We had regretted it since, and with Kit and Stephen along we got a chance to rectify that oversight.
This bridge across the Targa River bears a remarkable resemblance to the Golden Gate Bridge. It turns out it was built by the same designer as the Golden Gate Bridge. I lost a bet on which was longer, the Golden Gate is.
I put the Cathedral in for our initial destination and google said it would take over 90 minutes by transit to cover the 15 kilometers. We decided to save time by taking a Bolt ride share to the ferry terminal. We saved time, but would have saved more if I had correctly entered the name of the ferry terminal into the app. When we arrived at a place that clearly was not the ferry terminal and acted confused the Bolt driver looked at what I had put in the app for a destination and saw my mistake. So after a few extra Euros and about 20 extra minutes we arrived at the ferry.
This large square and imposing gate was our entrance to Lisbon.
Our first destination was an Asian Grocery store as Kit really needed fish sauce to keep producing the excellent Thai food we have grown accustomed to eating on this trip. With this mission accomplished we headed up an imposing hill towards the Cathedral and Castle.
While walking to the Asian Market we came across this crazy elevator made of cast iron. It was made by a disciple of Eifel, but we could not figure out the purpose, except for tourism.
It was a beautiful day to visit, the temperatures were perfect and the skies were mostly blue. It was crowded as there were three large cruise ships in town as well as all of the other tourists like us.
This photo was taken from a viewpoint just above the Cathedral. Ton loves street art so this photo of the roofs of Lisbon with some nice street art made her really happy.
Right before we came to the Cathedral there was a nice Church dedicated to one of the patron saints of Lisbon. The interior was very nice, and we went down to the crypts of the church to see the birthplace of Saint Antonio.
A decoration from the Egrejia de San Antonio de Lisbon.
The cathedral was nice, but not as impressive as many of the others we have visited. We continued our climb up the hill with the intent of visiting the castle that dominates the city.
One of the many beautiful and steep streets in Lisbon.
We were about 5 minutes from finishing our quest to reach the castle when a nice restaurant stopped us for the next hour. We had a table on the patio overlooking the street, and we were lucky as there were no smokers on the patio to ruin the experience for us. There was a lot of foot and vehicle traffic on the street including some fairly large busses that barely fit. The drivers really earn their pay.
There were lots of these fake antique cars on the road outside of our restaurant.
Just before we left Stephen informed us we were only 200 meters from the castle, but we would have to climb 200 feet during those 200 meters. It was going to be a good climb.
One of the “hacks” for Lisbon is to buy an all day pass and use Trolley line 28 to go up and down the steep hills around the palace. Unfortunately, this hack is now known by most of the tourists so every time one of the trolleys went by it was absolutely stuffed, and often there were twenty or thirty people waiting at the trolley stops to get on.
We finished the climb after a few minutes and arrived at the gate to the castle/palace. We noticed there was a large crowd milling around the entrance, but few people were entering. There were also security guards checking everyone at the gate. It turns out the ticket office was on strike, so no one could buy tickets. The only ones getting in were the people who had bought tickets on line earlier.
Some of the narrow streets around the castle.
So a little disappointed we poked around the neighborhood for a while, before deciding to make our way back to the ferry. The walk back down the hill was easier on the lungs, but not necessarily on the legs.
There is not as much blue tile art in Lisbon as Porto but it is still prominent.
The ferry was just boarding when we arrived at the terminal. We enjoyed the quick trip across the Targa. The Bolt back to the campground was a lot faster than the misadventure in the morning, though surprisingly not much cheaper. Kit prepared us another nice Thai meal of two of my favorite dishes Dom Yum and Larb. Having climbed a bunch of hills everyone turned in early for the evening.
Today was a long day driving. We moved from Porto to a beach town just south of Lisbon. Lisbon is a difficult place for campers, there are only two campgrounds, one has some of the worst ratings I have seen on Park4night, and the other is located about 20 kilometers from the city. We are at the one far out from the city.
Sunset looking towards Lisbon.
The drive down was about 4 hours on a good Autopista. Before departing Vila Cha we filled up with gas and made a stop at Lidl for groceries. We weren’t on the road until nearly noon, so we arrived at the campground a little late. Our German neighbors came over and gave us a quick briefing on Lisbon and turned over their transit passes that will save us 50 cents when we get to the ferry. We were sitting chatting when the wife came over telling us something in German that had her very excited. I went over and looked at her phone, and learned that the new pope was American. She thought it was funny that we were American in an European campground and the new pope was also American.
Later we walked down to the waterfront which was very interesting. It looks like in the 1990’s someone spent a lot of money trying to develop this area as a beach resort. There were roads to nowhere. Street lights lining the roads to nowhere that have not worked in years, and two large abandoned campgrounds. Someone built a nice boardwalk that is still being used by bicyclists, the boardwalk was lined with buildings intended to be restaurants and tourist shops that are mostly empty, though a couple of restaurants are hanging in. It reminded me of some of the old communist infrastructure we saw in Eastern Europe.
Having taken a day of rest to try to shake a virus that had invaded the team, we were ready to return to Porto for the day. No one was in a great hurry to get going so we spent some time chatting with our Danish neighbors and watching the husband work on the brake on his caravan. After a while with a good sense of humor he told us he was going to charge us a Euro entertainment fee if we kept watching so we decided to head into town.
The Dom Luis I Bridge across the Duoro. The upper deck is for trains and pedestrians. The lower bridge below the arch is for cars and pedestrians. The bridge was built by a disciple of Eiffel.
Today our tour was to the non-Porto side of the river. The south bank of the river is called Gaia and it is most famous as the home of the Port Wine Industry of Portugal.
The view of Porto from across the river in Gaia. Most of the river traffic these days is tourist related, short day cruises, hourly cruises and a few week long river cruises. I don’t think I saw a “working” boat all day.
The water front is lined with Port producers and the old warehouses that store the wine. The Port industry was founded in Porto in the early 1700’s by British investors, and a great number of the famous producers have distinctly British sounding names such as Sandemans, Cockburn’s, and Taylors. The British dominated the industry for decades, but eventually Portuguese families began to get involved also.
The tasting room for Sandeman winery, one of the biggest producers in Portugal.
Initially we just strolled along the river enjoying the views and the shopping. One of the other industries that Portugal is famous for is canned Sardines. The Portuguese take this very seriously and canned Sardines are considered a delicacy. Ton and Kit spent quite a bit of time shopping one of the stores while Stephen and I waited outside.
Portugese canned sardines come in cans that are like pieces of art.
It was a busy day on the Gaia side of the river with lots of tourists about. But we went along with the flow and continued down the waterfront. There is a small Mercado on the river that has now been turned into a food hall. We had our lunch there.
Looking across the river at Porto, Ton was heard to comment “You can’t take a bad picture here.”
Coming out of the food hall we decided to revisit a Port winery we had visited on our last trip. We had really enjoyed the Ramos Pinto winery. The Port is tremendous, and Ton loves the turn of the 20th century advertising that decorates the interior. It would be racy today.
Late 1890’s early 1900 advertisement for Ramos Pinto Port. We both love this art as advertisement movement popularized by Toulouse-Latrec.
We were lucky to have the tasting area almost to ourselves. We received an in-depth presentation of the wine from a nice young lady, and then were welcomed to explore the tasting area. and look at the art.
Enjoying Ramos Pinto Port.
After our tasting we hooked back up with Kit and Stephen and began working our way back to the bridge. By this time a lot of street vendors had set up and Ton and Kit enjoyed window shopping the wares.
Ton disappeared for a while to get a picture of this giant bunny made of recycled materials.
After 3 hours exploring Gaia we crossed the lower deck of the bridge and reentered Porto. The view from the Riverfront in Porto is not as spectacular as from Gaia as the bluffs down to the river in Gaia are not as steep as Porto. That is probably why the Gaia side was the working side of the river and the Porto side was the living side of the river.
I am always amazed how these homes are built into the side of the very steep bluff on the Porto side of the river. These buildings were built without the modern construction crane in the photo.
By the time we had covered the riverfront in Porto we decided it was time to head back to the campground. The last 45 minutes of our walk was all uphill to the metro stop for our ride home. But with frequent stops to look in shop windows we made it easily.
Ton really likes this picture. She thinks it looks more like a painting than a photograph.
We arrived back to the campground just in time for a quick dinner. The days have been really good on this trip, but as soon as the sun drops the temperatures do also. We were having a nice chat when we all realized it was getting quite windy and cold so we turned in for the night.
Today was a day of rest. We did not leave the campground. Everyone used today to recharge their batteries and fight viruses. Sometimes a day of rest is what is needed after a lot of traveling.
This is a greatest hit from the Cathedral in Salamanca. On the same facade that had the astronaut carved was this critter eating ice cream and mooning the town.
I knew it was going to be a good day for exploring when we arrived at Porto, it took us about 30 minutes to cover the first 200 meters. Ton and Kit were taking pictures every few steps while Stephen and I walked along talking.
This was our first sight coming out of the metro station.
Porto is famous for blue tiled buildings and as soon as we left the train station there was a nice church with blue tiled art. Then we walked about 50 meters and there was a street of town homes that were full of interesting facades.
The street of townhomes.
As we walked down the street and Ton and Kit burned thru data taking pictures, we came upon a large food market that drew us in. The market was full of mostly tourists and many were on food tours of Porto. While there were a lot of tourists it was also a functioning market for the residents of the neighborhood. Once again Ton and Kit were in heaven.
Slicing ham, a common site in Spain and here in Porto.
So after about an hour we were heading into the town itself, but we had to make one more detour to visit the cathedral with its views of the river and the town of Gaia on the other side.
Looking across the Duoro River. Many of the buildings in the picture are port wine producers.
We finally arrived at our original destination which was a very beautiful street. We enjoy Porto because the streets are full of interesting architecture. But Porto makes you earn the views. It is built on a steep hill and you are either walking up hill or down hill, there is no flat in Porto.
One of the many beautiful street scenes in Porto.
One of the most beautiful streets is currently under construction as they are adding another line to their metro which will run under the old town. But there was more than enough other unobstructed views to entertain us.
The Church of the Clergy.
It was graduation week for the University of Porto. In Portugal they have a charming tradition that the graduates the week before graduation raise money for the ceremony. They dress in their gowns and go out and put on performances for donations. Some are quite clever. 6 of the students put on a private show for me, the deal they struck was that they would get all of the change in my pocket for the show. I asked them what happens if I have no change, they said I win. They then did a little dance number and song for the €4.50 in change I did have in my pocket.
One of the groups of students doing a dance with canes.
At this point we were hungry so we were watching for a restaurant as we walked. We finally saw a little bistro that was doing booming business. We were lucky to get the last empty seat in the place. I ordered a Francesinha which is a decadent sandwich popular in Porto. It is actually a 20th century creation and is based on the French Croque-Monsieur. I have had both the Croque-Monsieur and the Francesinha and I am on team Portugal.
My Francesinha consisting of bread, ham, pork, cheese, and an egg swimming in a sauce of beer and tomato. It is decadent.
At this point we were all feeling the effects of the climbing and decided to head back to the campground. It took us another 45 minutes to reach the metro station as there were still plenty of photos to take and shops to explore.
Blue tile art from the train station in Porto.
Porto once again did itself proud, the weather was perfect, and while it was crowded with tourists and college students, it still maintained its charm and character. When we returned to the campground we all relaxed in preparation for a return trip tomorrow.
This book store is supposed to have inspired JK Rowlings Hogwarts. It is now the center of the Harry Potter universe and requires a ticket purchased in advance to get in.
We had delayed our long drive to Porto for a day, but today we had to cover almost 400 kilometers. It was raining steadily when we left the campground in Salamanca. In fact it rained for most of the trip today.
Crossing the border into Portugal. With rain on the window.
The roads were very quiet in Spain as the area between Salamanca and the Portuguese border is very rural. Because it was Sunday there were very few semi-trucks on the road as semi’s need special permits to drive on Sunday so there are almost no trucks on the road. This makes it a great day to cover long distances.
Looking down on a village just after crossing into Portugal. There was a lot of Scotch broom in bloom. You can also see the storm clouds in the background.
Once we crossed into Portugal the traffic picked up as eastern Portugal seems to have more population than western Spain. Also eastern Portugal is much more mountainous than I remember from our last trip.
Another mountain village from the toll way in eastern Portugal.
Once we dropped down to the Porto metropolitan area the rain stopped and the sun came out. When we arrived at the campground before they would let us enter we had to confirm we had a reservation. The shoulder season when you don’t have to make reservations is getting narrower and narrower. Fortunately we had made reservations and were allowed to enter.
A piece of art on the boardwalk made completely from discarded plastic found on the beach.
After we settled in we decided to relax by playing a form of rummy. None of us knew how to play four handed rummy, so we made up our own rules and proceeded to play 10 hands. We really enjoyed our brand of rummy and decided to call it Portuguese Rummy.
A tidal pool on the beach at Vila Cha.
We went down to the beach for a quick walk. The sun was still shining and everyone enjoyed exploring the beach and some of the tidal pools in the area.
The Atlantic Ocean, it is quite a contrast from the Mediterranean.
After the beach we went back for a nice dinner that Kit prepared. We didn’t get around to dinner until almost 8pm, someone joked we had finally adjusted to a Spanish meal schedule just in time to leave Spain. While the day mostly consisted of driving, we still had a very enjoyable afternoon.
It has been raining hard on and off for the last couple of days. Over night it rained really hard again and the ground and roads in the campground were muddy. Today we had planned on a long drive to Porto, but in the morning Ton mentioned that her and Kit were hoping to visit Salamanca on the way to Porto. As we told Kit and Stephen before they came out part of the beauty of traveling in RV’s was to have flexibility in your schedule. So instead of a long drive to Porto we had a 90 minute drive to Salamanca. It was a win-win for everyone.
Street art as we entered Salamanca.
We headed into town at 12:45 after finding out there was only one bus per hour because it was a Saturday schedule. We arrived in the center of the city, and headed over to the Plaza Mayor. It was originally built to provide housing and to act as a bull fighting ring on occasion. It is a large square with four major entries on each side of the square. Now it is full of restaurants and cafes and looked like a good place to hang out.
One side of the Plaza Mayor.
Before we got to the Plaza Mayor we had diverted to the market. It is another market built of cast iron from the 1870’s. The windows are stained glass and add a nice touch to the building.
The interior of the market with the stained glass windows.
Ton window shopped, but Kit picked up some cilantro and other vegetables for dinner. Ton has been fascinated by the many types of shrimp available in Spain. Today she was happy to see a shrimp with a very large claw like one we had eaten back in Roses.
Ton was fascinated with these shrimp with a single claw.
Just as we were leaving the Plaza Mayor the wind started to pick up and the rain began. I told Ton that we should find a cafe or bar to pop into until the rain let up. She said that the forecast was rain all afternoon. But we did go into a bar and order a round of beers. Luckily after we were done with our beers the rain had stopped and we had blue skies for the rest of the day.
The conch house at the University of Salamanca.
The University of Salamanca is the third oldest university in continuous operation in the world, and is the preeminent University in the Spanish speaking world. It occupies a large part of the center of Salamanca. Cervantes the writer of Don Quixote was a student here and many quotes from the novel are on the walls of the University.
One of the entrance doors to the old Cathedral.
Salamanca has two cathedrals that are for some reason located next to each other. They are called the old and new cathedral, though they are both quite old. We spent some time near one of the entrances looking at the stone work. Ton called me over and asked me to look at the figures by the door. A couple of them stood out, but the one that looked out of place was an astronaut carved by one of the doors during a recent reconstruction. I guess it shows that these are living buildings.
An astronaut carved in stone near the entrance of the Cathedral.
Salamanca is a joy to visit as everything is very close together. My job is navigator and every time I was given a new point to go to it turned out to be only 4 or 5 minutes walk away from where we were. This would come back to haunt me later in the day.
Part of the interior of the old Cathedral.
Our last stop was the Roman bridge across the Tormes River. The bridge itself is of mixed construction with about 2/3rds of the arches of the bridge of Roman origin and the other 1/3 of medieval origin. The bridge has been rebuilt multiple times in history but is still an impressive site.
Part of the Roman bridge with the old and new Cathedrals in the background.
After we crossed the bridge we decided it was time to head back to the campground. The problem is that for some reason the transit system for Salamanca is not loaded into google maps. In most cases all I do is press where we want to go into the maps and push the transit Icon. I didn’t have that today, so I was not sure where the nearest bus stop was or what time the next bus was coming.
The walkway of the Roman bridge.
I new we were looking for Bus 20, but I didn’t know where the nearest stop for Bus 20 was. I had a hunch and after walking for about 15 minutes we came to a bus stop, but it was not the right one. Some more staring at google maps convinced me that we needed to go to another road about 15 minutes from where we were. So off we went, but this time there was not even a bus stop. We were right by a bridge I knew we had crossed into the old city so I headed across it to a bus stop at the base of the old town. I was sure it was a stop for 20, there were about 15 different bus lines listed as stopping there but none were 20. So now truly flummoxed I told everyone we should find a taxi. So we started down the road, and just as we were about 150 meters from the bus stop we had just investigated here comes bus 20 headed for it. The bus stopped at a red light and Stephen begged him to let us on. I decided to run for the bus stop and see if I could beat him there. I don’t run like I used to and the bus beat me to the stop by quite a bit so I was sure we were going to miss it. Luckily for me a nice lady saw me lumbering towards the stop, and actually put one leg in the door of the bus so the driver could not leave until I arrived. I got on and to by time for the rest of the crew to catch up I gave him a €20 bill so he had to make a lot of change.
The old Cathedral.
I felt bad because we had walked more looking for the bus stop than we had visiting the old town of Salamanca. But everyone else took it with good humor. Just as we got back to the campground the wind picked up again, the temperature dropped by several degrees, and it began raining hard. So our luck held out for the day.
It rained cats and dogs last night with occasional thunder. The finale came at 7am when lightning struck close to the campground. I took that as a sign that an early start was not in the cards and rolled over to sleep in. When Stephen and I got out to check on the state of things Stephen found two rubber mats placed in front of his front tires. The campground was worried about us getting stuck getting out and had placed the mats there to allow us to get traction. We felt bad about driving over the brand new mats and it turned out we probably didn’t need them.
Tordisillas. The bridge was built around 1300 and still carries a major highway including semi-trucks.
Our stop for the day was Tordisillas which was only about 2 hours down the road towards Porto. Ideally we would have found a stopping point a little further down the road but there didn’t seem to be any. I had fond memories of Tordisillas from our very first trip to Spain in 2018 so I was looking forward to an easy day of driving.
The church in Tordisillas.
Before leaving town we had planned to visit a Mercador Grocery nearby to stock up on food. But when we arrived we found the dreaded height barrier over the parking entrance restricting access to vehicles under 2.5 meters. Luckily there was an Aldi up the street without barriers so they got our money instead.
Tordisillas is famous for the story of Joanna the Mad. She was the queen of Castille who was wrongly declared insane and exiled to Tordisillas.
The drive over to Tordisillas was quiet. We were routed on a local road for about half the trip and it was relaxing and much more intimate. While traveling this way is much slower, the reward in seeing sites is much higher.
Our Asada plate for two. A meat lovers dream, and the potatoes were also fantastic.
The other reason I picked Tordisillas was that Ton and I had one of our most memorable meals at the campground here. We would often reminisce about the grilled meats we had at the campground in Tordisillas. We also find that going back to a place that generates fond memories can be a risk as the second try does not live up to the memory. In this case the second try was just as good as the first with the added pleasure of sharing it with friends. After our very hearty lunch we decided a siesta was in order so we were back to the RV’s for a nap. We are starting to adjust to Spanish hours, so about 6:45 we walked into town to join the evening promenade in Tortillas.
Kit had asked us to visit Segovia and we are glad she did. When she asked I didn’t even know where it was located in Spain, but it turns out it is just a little northwest of Madrid. It should have taken less than 2 hours to go from Toledo to Segovia, but we also forgot that today is labor day in Europe. So we ran into very heavy traffic as a large part of the population of Madrid was heading out of town. It was also raining heavily so I was a little worried about how our day would turn out.
It was labor day in Spain, so Segovia was extra full of visitors.
Our taxi dropped us off at the base of one of the main attractions in Segovia the Roman aqueduct. It is an amazing structure. Built around 100 AD it covers 17 kilometers from springs near the mountains to the town. The aqueduct as it passes thru the town has over 168 arches. It is one of the best preserved Roman aqueducts in the world and is a beautiful feat of engineering.
The arches are an incredible feat of engineering and construction.
Stephen and I spent a lot of time looking at the cut of the stones and how the arches were built. The precision of the work is astounding to me given the limits of the tools available then. The Romans were really incredible builders.
The Cathedral near the highest point of Segovia.
We next walked to the 12th century Cathedral near the center of town. I have been pleased to find that there seems to be more variation in the design of Spanish Cathedrals than you find in other parts of Europe. They seem more creative, and designed to fit more into the terrain and cityscape rather than imposing themselves on the land and city.
Spring flowers blooming near the Alcazar. The Alcazar is supposed to be inspiration for the castle at Disney World.
The third major building in Segovia is the Alcazar. The Alcazar was built on a cliff on one end of the town that overlooks the river below the town. There has been a fort on this site since the Romans, but the building that became the Alcazar was started by the Moslem rulers of Segovia in the 900’s.
The entrance to the Alcazar.
When Segovia was reconquered by the Christian kings of Spain it became a fortress and castle for the kings. The royalty of this part of Spain occupied the castle until the late 1700’s.
A painting in the castle depicting Queen Isabella.
The walls and ceiling retain a lot of the geometric patterns that are featured in Islamic art. In some rooms you can see where Christian art has been integrated into the Islamic art.
This room and ceiling is almost all Christian art.
The views from the castle are fantastic. You can see for miles in three directions from the platforms on the castle. You can also see many of the quarry’s that were used to produce all of the stone necessary to build the town and the castle.
The views from the castle are breath taking.
In the late 1700’s the castle was converted into the Spanish army artillery school. The museum includes a lot of artillery pieces from the era of the artillery school and I had a good time looking at them.
Looking back at the town and the city walls from the Alcazar.
Segovia and Toledo while very different from each other are both beautiful cities. Apparently, there is a lot of discussion about which city is the most beautiful. Stephen and I talked about this and we decided that they were both more or less equal, so why worry and just enjoy seeing both.
A rampart over the bluff the castle sits on. I liked the two contrasting style of gardens on either side of the rampart.
The rain had stopped just as we arrived in Segovia, and the afternoon was perfect. We walked back across the town one more time doing a little shopping and looking for a place to eat. Our timing was wrong as we forgot that dinner time in Spain is quite late. The restaurants we wanted to visit were all closed to 7 or 8 pm. We eventually decided to eat at the campground and Kit and Ton cooked up a great meal.
We told Kit and Stephen that we thought they should visit Toledo as Ton and I think it is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. It is located about 80 kilometers south of Madrid so we guessed the trip would take about 90 minutes factoring in Madrid traffic.
One of the many interesting historical buildings in Toledo.
We arrived at the campground outside of Toledo about 11:30 and headed right into town. Toledo was built on a bluff overlooking the Rio Tajo River. It is a beautiful location for a city.
Looking down from the city walls on the Rio Tajo.
The city is known as the city of three religions. At one time it had large, Christian, Jewish, and Moslem populations living together. There are well preserved synagogues, and a mosque, as well as the Catholic Cathedral.
The Cathedral dominates the town.
Ton and I enjoy the town because it really maintains its medieval feel. There are lots of small pathways and staircases between homes and businesses that are only suitable for foot traffic. This is a city that really makes you feel like you have gone back in time.
One of the city gates. You can see the Islamic influence in the architecture.
We spent several hours wandering the town and enjoying the sites. The only problem with Toledo is that you are either walking up hill or down hill, there is almost no flat to the town. Stephen at one point told me the people in this town must be really fit.
El Greco loved this city and spent a large part of his life here.
Our path led us to the base of the town, so we were facing a long up hill climb to get back to our next stop in the city. Luckily I spotted a series of escalators built into the hill to take you back to the top. We all appreciated the towns investment in this people mover which saved us climbing about 300 feet up hill.
The Cathedral.
After about 4 hours of walking the town we crossed over the old footbridge to the road to the campground. We were only about 30 minutes from the campground but it was going to be all uphill. Ton, Stephen and Kit told me they would gladly pay for a taxi. After about 15 minutes we flagged down a taxi and were quickly deposited in the campground.
Another city gate.
Everyone was pretty tired after the last couple of days so we all relaxed for a couple of hours. Just as Ton and I had decided we would snack for dinner, Kit once again surprised us with another wonderful meal.
We had a team meeting in the morning. There were two questions, should we extend our stay a day to make up for yesterday, and what should we do today. The answer to the first question was No, and the vote was 4-0 to visit the Prado.
Queen Isabella.
We started out at the Royal Palace again, and while Kit and Stephen had toured the grounds we had not, so before heading down the hill to the Prado we did a quick tour of the grounds of the palace and the adjoining Cathedral.
Part of the Palace Grounds.
The Palace is immense with over 3000 rooms. It shares a large square on one side with a Cathedral. We feel bad that Kit and Stephen missed their tour as it was on their bucket list for the trip.
Part of the Cathedral complex next to the Royal Palace.
It was a bit of a long walk to the Prado, and the third time Ton and I had made it. The Prado is one of the great museums of the world, and an incredible collection of art. It is also huge. The original building was built in 1819 to display the royal collection of art.
The church overlooking the entrance to the Prado.
We spent 5 hours touring the galleries and probably did not see half of the displays. They have an incredible collection of paintings by Reubens and other Dutch and Flemish masters due to the Netherlands being ruled by the Spanish during one of the great periods of Dutch and Flemish art.
A frame from Bosch’s tetrarch called “The Garden of Earthy Delights.”
As you would expect there is a huge collection of Spanish paintings including Goya and El Greco (technically born in Greece hence the name). We walked ourselves into the ground because around every corner there was another fantastic gallery with new art to take in.
Another Bosch “The Seven Deadly Sins”.
Ton took a couple of pictures early on, but we were then informed there were no photographs allowed. Afterwards we all decided that there is far too much to see in one day. Museums like this are best absorbed in 2 or 3 hour increments before both your feet and your brain get tired. All of us were tired after about 3 hours, but no one wanted to be the first to admit it. As soon as Ton asked if it was time to leave all three of us said yes immediately.
Walking to the Metro we came across this very nice modern statue in a traffic circle.
Fortunately, the Metro was running and the trip home was uneventful. The evening was spent doing some chores and sharing a nice dinner prepared by Kit.
Madrid does have some modern office towers. This one was pretty interesting.
Well . . . an interesting day. We had a plan for the day in Madrid. Ton and I were going to explore the city on foot, while Kit and Stephen were going to take a tour of the Palace. But sometimes the best plans don’t happen.
The Plaza Mayor in Madrid.
We walked to the Metro station and rode into the center of the city, the trip was smooth. We emerged at the Opera and around the corner was the palace with a giant statue. We agreed to meet at 4pm at the giant statue.
Not the giant statue, but a giant statue.
Since we had some time until Kit and Stephens tour we decided to go together to the market. On the way to the market we found the meeting point for Kit and Stephens tour.
One of the symbols of Madrid.
We spent about 30 minutes in the market. It was a nice market but a bit expensive for our tastes. In truth it is no longer a market, but a restaurant hall. The food looked good but it was clearly intended primarily for consumption by tourists, so Ton and I decided to eat later.
Stephen and Kit stayed with us while we walked to the Plaza Mayor, and another plaza where the Madrid government building was located. Both squares were nice and there were plenty of tourists like us enjoying the beautiful unseasonably warm day.
The Plaza Mayor.
At this point Kit and Stephen headed off to find some lunch before their tour, and Ton and I continued on our walk of the city. Ton wanted to go to the writers quarter. In the writers quarter we found a block on a square with a row of old restaurants offering different kinds of regional Spanish foods. The only down side was the square was undergoing a major rebuild, but we were intrigued with the food. We walked the row of restaurants two times and settled on one that offered a nice 3 course Menu of the Day.
The writers block with a quote from Cervantes in the road.
We were seated and had picked our courses when the waitress told us they didn’t serve the Menu of the Day until 1pm at the time it was 12:25. Ton and I talked it over and we told the waitress that we would return at 1pm. On our way out we used the restroom, and as we were about to walk out of the restaurant the power went out with a pop that startled everyone.
Once everyone got over the shock there was some giggling and we told the staff we would be back at 1pm. When we stepped onto the street we could see the power was out everywhere on the block and I told Ton someone must have cut a power line in the construction area.
We walked around the neighborhood for a while and watched as the wait staff and cooks from restaurants, clerks from stores, and the construction workers all stood around and tried to figure out was going on. I noticed that our access to wifi had stopped so one of our key tools for getting around was not working. By 1pm the power was still out in the writers quarter so we decided to expand our search for food.
The park near the Prado Museum.
I noticed that we were only a quarter mile or so from the Prado Museum which is one of the biggest attractions in Spain so I suggested we go there to look for food. I also figured that it would be far enough away from the construction to be out of the black out zone.
As we walked I noticed that all of the traffic lights were out. When we got to the Prado we saw that they were closing the museum so the black out was more widespread than we thought. At this point we figured that it was more than a local problem. We saw a cafe serving drinks and sandwiches, but when we sat down the waiter told us the food they had left was chips and we would have to pay with cash. So we had a very light lunch. The whole time we were not able to access our phones and I was a little frustrated, but suddenly I received a text from Stephen saying their tour was cancelled. But I was unable to reply.
We decided after our “lunch” to head towards the palace figuring that Kit and Stephen would be there. As we walked we noticed that more and more police were appearing on the streets. Some in plain clothes with just their high visibility jackets. Several of the main intersections were having traffic directed by a mix of different police forces in Spain. We also saw people standing on the streets holding old fashioned portable radios to get news. It was a good day for analog.
The beginning of the walk home.
As we walked towards meet up point we received two more texts from Kit and Stephen but were not able to respond. But just as we saw the big statue we saw Kit and Stephen sitting at a cafe next to it so we were back together. This cafe had some cold Tapas available so we had a quick meal while we figured next steps.
The problem was we could not access the internet to see the news. We heard conversations that the power was out in Spain, Portugal, and parts of France, but no one was sure why.
While we were eating I began to play with the phone, I could still get the map of Madrid on it, and was even able to scroll in and out to get closer views. After a while I was able to locate the campground, and by scrolling in and out discovered that one of the main avenues leaving downtown went straight to the campground. Since the Metro was closed walking might be our option.
I told everyone that I thought we could walk back to the campground as a last resort. I also thought once we got down the avenue we might be able to figure out what bus line to get on to get to the campground. That became the plan.
We passed the bull ring on Calle Alicante.
So we set off looking for Calle Alicante which fortunately for me started at a big monument. It turns out we were about 8 miles from the campground on foot. As we walked we saw the metro stops we had passed in the morning taped off to prevent entry.
Mostly I was impressed with the attitude of the people. On the entire walk I didn’t see anyone behaving badly. The police were calm and professional, those that weren’t busy directing traffic were helping people with directions or information. Twice on the trip when I was checking my bearings people asked me if I needed any help.
Closed Metro Station.
Our idea of taking a bus was quickly forgotten when we saw the first bus stops on the road. There were hundreds of people waiting for busses, and the busses that went by were packed like sardine cans. We kept walking down the Calle Alicante for 2 hours until I noticed that the last couple of busses were only crowded, not packed, and the crowds at the bus stop were much smaller.
We headed over to the next bus stop and a nice young lady told us we wanted bus 77 and even told me which stop to get off at. She was very helpful. We squeezed on to the bus and covered the next mile and a half in 10 minutes. The young lady even went out of her way to make sure we got off at the right station.
We arrived at the campground around 7pm after a big adventure. When I checked my fitbit I saw that we had covered over 10.4 miles today, some of it as tourists and most of it as foot mobile commuters. Everyone was tired but we enjoyed sitting around until dark, and just before sunset the street lights around the campground came on.
We found a well reviewed campground in Madrid, so about 10am we were off for the big city. We love driving the freeways in Europe on Sundays because there are almost no commercial trucks on the road. It is very relaxing being the slowest vehicle, just set the cruise control and head on down the road.
We arrived at the campground a little after 1pm and the place was hoping. They had a little market going and a live band performing in the afternoon. We were setup and ready to go just as the band opened up their set. Ton saw some nice commercial washers and dryers so our afternoon was settled. Just as we finished our laundry the band finished up.
Later Stephen and I decided to do a reconnaissance to the metro station we will use tomorrow. I went into the metro to buy a multi trip ticket, and Stephen went into a store to buy some water for their RV. I got to the machine only to find it surrounded by about 25 middle-aged German tourists trying to figure out how to get a ticket. I watched for a few minutes and then decided it was not worth the wait while the Germans figured out the machine.
As Stephen and I were walking back towards the campground we saw another entrance to the metro so I told him I was going to run in and see if I could get the card. This time the machine was unoccupied, and within a minute I had my fare card and loaded ten trips on the metro on to it. When I came out of the metro I saw Stephen sitting at a cafe with two beers and a plate of potato chips. We decided this was our reward for the reconnaissance.
Later Kit again prepared an excellent dinner. While we were chatting a nice Laotian lady came by and had a chat with Ton and Kit. She lives in Germany now and is fluent in 5 languages.
We had just visited Zaragoza two weeks ago but we had been focused on the area around the Cathedral due to the Palm Sunday celebration that was going on. Today we wanted to explore a different part of Zaragoza’s history.
The exterior of the Aljaferia Palace.
The Aljaferia Palace was started around 1045 AD by the Moorish rulers of Zaragoza and completed around 1080. It is one of the best examples remaining of Spanish-Moslem architecture. After the reconquest of Zaragoza in 1118 the palace was taken over by the Christian kings of Aragon.
Beautiful ceiling panels preserved in the palace.
While the palace has been substantially altered over the last 900 years there was no concerted effort to remove the Islamic style carvings and art in the palace. What was lost was nearly always due to repurposing and redesign of areas of the palace.
Another beautiful ceiling in the palace.
As a result a lot of the details of the building remain from the original Islamic artists and workers who built the building. Also as the building has evolved some of the original construction is hidden behind later construction and being rediscovered today.
Examples of Arabic calligraphy discovered in the Aljaferia.
Many of the doorways remain from the original construction and have the traditional Arabic arches. They are quite elaborate with remarkably skilled stone carving built into them.
One of the Arched doorways with a Goya portrait in the background.
We were lucky because the Goya museum is being renovated so two floors of the palace had collections from the Goya museum on temporary display. Goya is one of the most famous Spanish artists and a native of Zaragoza.
A drawing by Goya.
The displays included everything from pen and ink drawings, political cartoons, and of course loads of religious paintings and portraits of rich people and royalty. There were also some paintings from other famous Zaragoza artists.
A religious painting from the Goya museum. We think it is a Goya but are not 100% certain.
After finishing with the Aljaferia palace we headed to the old town. Our first priority was lunch, but on the way to the old town we came across the bull ring. They are always interesting buildings though we cannot imagine attending a bull fight.
The exterior of the bull ring. Bull rings, more than any other modern sports building always remind me of Roman coliseums.
We found an street lined with Tapas shops and found our way into one. It took us a while to figure out the system (to be honest I was never 100% certain what was going on), but in the end we had an interesting meal of 7 different tapas, and a very interesting regional potato dish, plus 4 drinks for about $7 each.
The entrance to our Tapas restaurant.
After lunch we returned to the immense main square which is one of the largest in Europe. They were setting up for the Goya festival which begins tonight. So the square was kind of blocked off into sections which took away the effect its large size gives it.
One of the displays of the Goya festival which begins tonight.
We popped into the Cathedral which is much larger than it looks from the square. Ton really likes this Cathedral and wanted to revisit some of the parts of it from our last visit.
Mary.
Our last stop in town was the Ebro river which was wider than I expected and flowing fast with spring runoff from the mountains. By this time we had been moving around Zaragoza for seven hours, so the vote was 4-0 to make our way to the bus stop and head back to camp.
A bridge over the Ebro River.
After everyone got a little rest in, we all re-gathered for a glass of wine, and another delicious meal by Kit. The weather has been good this trip, but we had quite a change in temperature in 24 hours. Yesterday when we were sitting around at 8pm it was 80 degrees and we were watching thunderclouds build. Today it 62 degrees and the wind was howling. Around sunset everyone was cold and we turned in for the evening.
Indie Jones and François the campers with two cold old men.
We are back in Zaragoza. We are making our way to Madrid and Zaragoza is on the way and made a good impression on Ton and me, so we have booked two nights here so we can show Stephen and Kit what we saw. The drive over here was going easily until I noticed an electronic sign board saying the Autopista was closed ahead and all traffic would have to exit on the N-2 which is a two lane road. The accident was between two exits so we had to travel about 25 kilometers on the two lane road. It ended up taking about 45 minutes for the detour which all in all isn’t too bad.
The poppies seem to really enjoy the soil next to the highway.
We arrived at the Costco in Zaragoza for a restock and more importantly refuel of very cheap fuel. Both Stephen and I were very happy after we were done. We then went inside Costco where Stephen and I tried a hotdog for €1.50 and a large box of fries for €1.65. Stephen pronounced the hotdog as excellent but he was not impressed with the fries, nor was I. About an hour later we walked out of Costco with an awful lot fo food to put away.
The rest of the day was spent chatting under Stephens awning until an evening thunderstorm drove us into the motorhomes.
We made a short jump down the coast to Tarragona. We wanted to test convoy driving and so I wanted to keep it short today, but we had the complication of driving across the second biggest city in Spain with a population of about 3 million. Much to our relief the drive went pretty well and we arrived at our campground in Tarragona around noon.
Tarragona has beautiful beaches but is not famous as a tourism draw.
After we had lunches at the campground it was time to head into Tarragona. Our quick research showed that it is known as one of the largest sea ports in Europe with a nice cathedral and some Roman ruins. We were not sure what to expect when we arrived as it is not known as a tourist destination.
The Roman Amphitheater is well preserved and has a wonderful location right on the waterfront.
We stepped off the bus right in front of the Roman Amphitheater. While not perfectly preserved like some we have visited it was well presented and occupied the most spectacular site of any we have seen. You can look down on it from many directions and get a good view of how things worked. You can walk thru it, but we decided against paying the admission fee. It was built in the 2d century but abandoned during Moorish rule. After the Moors were driven from the area it was used occasionally for different uses including as a prison. Work to preserve it only began in the 1950’s.
It is quite large as you can see by looking at the school class in the right center of the picture.
After spending time around the amphitheater we decided to head up the hill to the Cathedral. We really enjoyed the walk thru the streets. After our experience yesterday with the huge crowds in Barcelona the relatively quiet streets of Tarragona were a treat.
The streets of Tarragona were just as beautiful as Barcelona without the crowds.
It was only about 450 meters to the Cathedral, but it took us about 45 minutes to cover the distance as every few feet there were interesting buildings to photograph, or an interesting shop to poke around in. One square we saw had been built on top of the old Roman Circus and you could still see how the contours of the circus had shaped the layout of the square. We were charmed by the town.
Cool street art depicting some moment from Catalan or Tarragonan history.
The other thing that was fun about Tarragona is you would suddenly come upon an old Roman or Medieval wall that had been cleverly integrated into a more modern building. On one stretch of a Medieval wall you could see repurposed Roman stones that still had clear marks chiseled on them from the Roman times. Steve explained to me that the marks indicated which stone mason carved the rocks, almost like brands on live stock. So when it was time to be paid it was clear whose stones had been produced by who. It was a simple but effective way of accounting.
An old arch looking out on the back of the Cathedral.
We finally reached the Cathedral and it was also a pleasant surprise. While Cathedrals are always impressive in size and form after a while they begin to look repetitive. The Cathedral in Tarragona had a unique entrance which we have not seen anywhere else. The entrance way had the typical shell structure around the doors but the walls on either side of the door had sculptures carved into them. As you enter the Cathedral you pass thru this line of statues.
The statues lining the entry to the church with a women (we assume it is Mary)on a column in the center of the door.
We really enjoyed the entrance way and spent some time studying the statues and examining the copper door. It was another unexpected surprise in Tarragona.
Close up of the figures on the front of the Cathedral.
We spent another 45 minutes just enjoying a stroll thru the streets of the town. There were interesting things to see around every corner and we all enjoyed just walking at a comfortable pace and taking in the sites as they were presented to us. To me this is a high compliment to the city of Tarragona. After we were done we walked to the bus stop and our bus was waiting for us there. 25 minutes later the bus deposited us in front of the campground and we returned to our motorhomes for a nice dinner ending with a walk on the beach for sunset.
Today was Sant Jordi day which is the Valentines day for the Catalans. We decided to head back into Barcelona for one more day before setting off for other parts of Spain so once again we were up bright and early to catch the bus to the city.
On Sant Jordi day the men give the women roses, and the women give the men books.
We started the day by heading to the old Cathedral in the Gothic district. What we didn’t realize was that Sant Jordi day was a very big deal in Catalonia. Many of the major streets down town were closed and there were more people about than were down town on Saturday.
People taking a rest from their excursion into the city for Sant Jordi day
The square in front of the Cathedral was busy, and unlike Saturday the majority of the crowd was speaking Catalan rather than a foreign language. Ton and I walked around the Cathedral while Steve and Kit went in for a tour of the interior of the cathedral.
The crowd around the Cathedral was much heavier than on Saturday. Valentines day in Catalonia is a really big holiday.
Ton and I spent our time poking into the buildings that used to be residences for the clergy and rich people. We also spent some time in the building that is now the city archives for Barcelona. The courtyards of these buildings while of a similar design were each different enough to be interesting.
The governors building on the square. Note the flags at half mast to commemorate Pope Francis.
After spending some time around the cathedral and some meandering thru the narrow streets of the Gothic Quarter it was time for lunch. Our first choice was closed on Wednesday but Ton had spotted a place nearby and it turned out to be a great find. We got the last four seats available and had a wonderful meal with 4 Tapas, 3 beers, and 2 big plates of Paella. The food was wonderful and it came to around €23 per person.
After lunch we braved the crowds on Las Ramblas to get to the market.
The Market was our next stop. Las Ramblas was teeming with people, and the roads that run parallel to it were closed to handle the overflow. It was a good thing.
The main aisle in the Mercat de la Boqueria.
We spent about 30 minutes in the market and both Kit and Ton made some purchases despite the crowds. It was getting a little overwhelming for me so I was happy when we were done shopping.
No egg shortage in Spain.
Our final stop for the day was at one of Gaudis’ buildings. In honor of St. Jordi they had added Roses to the facade. It was very beautiful, but drew the biggest crowd we had run into for the day. The sidewalk in front Casa Batllo was the densest group of pedestrians I have seen since Tokyo. It was impossible to move without bumping into someone. Despite that Ton and Kit really enjoyed taking pictures while I hung out at the edge of the crowd.
The roses really added to the beauty of the Casa Batllo.
At this point we were all pretty tired from the walking and the crowds so we found a coffee shop to hang out in until it was time to head to the bus for our trip back to the camp. We learned that Sant Jordi day is a really big deal in Catalonia, and a day when the local people can take over their own city.
Today we stayed around the campground while Kit and Steve got there motorhome set up. They are lucky to have gotten a brand new motorhome as their rental so it is sparkling clean. They spent some time getting their bags unpacked and set up. We then joined them on their first shopping trip to a large Spanish grocery. 2 1/2 hours later we emerged they had two carts full of food and supplies for their trip. We had a couple bottles of wine and a six pack of beer. By the time we were finished and they had packed away their food and supplies it was time for dinner. Kit treated us to a nice Thai meal while Steve and I taste tested a couple of Spanish beers. Tomorrow we are off to Barcelona again.
