Fur coats, hot pants and cloisters

It was hard getting up this morning. It could be that the room was lovely wherease it was below zero outside. Nonetheless get up we did and after a Spanish breakfast of coffee and churros we headed out. Marjan was well rugged up with multiple layers, but even so found that hands in gloves still felt better inside a pocket. I found I should have put the beanie on straight away, as my head was cold.

Salamanca is in the heart of the high meseta, at about 850m above sea level, so when it is cold, it is cold. The sun helped, but did not penetrate into the streets. 

We went and visited the Roman bridge. After Merida, and in the cold, it was a bit of a yawn. We went to the Universidad and saw the wonderful facade. We found the frog so I will pass my next exam, which is likely to be finding Marjan a warmer location. Unfortunately the building was closed for tourists today. Not every Thursday, just today. Spain is like that. Oh well, a second round of churros, with chocolate this time was needed to ward off the cold till the Art Deco Museum opened. As it turned out it was free this morning, merely as compensation for the Uiniversidad, and merely for our benefit.

Lovely place, the ceiling alone was gorgeous. No piccies allowed so you will have to imagine it. It is an Art Deco house built on top of the old town walls. The facade to the river and the ceiling are stained glass and lovely. The collection of Art Deco, art nouveau is quite interesting in parts. We both quite enjoyed it.

We were close to San Esteban, the Dominicans convent, so we dropped by there. This is where Columbus started marketing his proposed trip to the Indies. The Dominicans had the scientific knowledge to understand what he was on about, and helped him with the money and politics people. The cloister was wonderful. I think we are becoming cloister people. Churches are OK, monuments can be interesting, but cloisters are always appreciated. The church is also immense, considering it is a couple of hundred metres from the cathedral, and is essentially just for the Dominican monks. One interesting side note is there were a whole range of mirrors placed around the place to save you having to look up. Weird, but useful.

By then we were getting peckish, and in need of some warmth as San Esteban was not heated. We found a reasonable place overlooking the Plaza Mayor and had their Menu Del Dia. My lentils and Marjan's paella were big enough to feed us, but we struggled through a second course and even dessert.

Whilst eating we watched Salamanca stroll by on their way through the Plaza Mayor. It was pleasant. The same old gent walked through at a very sedate pace, with his daughter or carer wheeling his chair, three times at least. We saw numerous styles of doggy overcoats,we saw cyclists, skaters, walkers, prams, grandparents, children, in fact it seemed all of Salamanca walked by whilst we kept warm and ate. Of particular note is that Salamanca has the highest proportion of fur coats per head of population of anywhere I have been. Also of note is that women who are too young for fur coats tend to wear hot pants and stockings with a parka. It is the Salamanca way.

We had a bit of a break after lunch and only ventured out later in the afternoon, when the temperature had hit six. We did a bit of a shop and then visited the Dueñas cloister. They are the female equivalent of  the Domincans and have a littler place across the way. They have a very nice cloister, which is not rectangular. They are also trying to get canonised a Sister Teresa, who was an African slave before she joined their Order.

Eventually, in Salamanca, you come back to Plaza Mayor. We reached it when the light was beautiful. 

We had a snack and a beer and went out to check out how the light was going. 

The temperature was dropping from the meteoric top of seven, so we decided to head home, via another tapas bar, well I had to....they had a whole new variety of morcilla, and prepare for our drive to Galicia tomorrow. I have been told, by a Gallego admittedly, that Spanish food is the best in the world, but that Galician food is the best in Spain. We'll let you know.

Oddities

L,'''',,,,''"" I thought I would collect some of the odd things I have noted in Spain, in no particular order.

Not a lot of traffic lights, they use roundabouts instead. Whe there are traffic lights they have the lights at waist level as well so you can see it easily.

In Catalunya they have hook turns like Melbourne, not for the trams, just so you don't hold up traffic. 

STOP is universal.

I have no idea what some of the road signs mean, scary as a driver.

Cars must last a lot less here with the cobbles.

Spanish women do well on cobbles with high heels....it looks real tough...

Spanglish is growing. Apparently Spaniards are becoming esnobs and doing English words in preference. It is like a jobby. The best is notion world, cool gifts.

Pharmacies all see to have a flourescent light in the shape of a green cross outside. It is almost universal, so you can easily identify a chemists.

Petrol stations tend to have a bar attached. so you can get anything you can get in a Spanish bar. Fill up and have a shot of vodka. 

People smoke, a lot, even cigars on the street.

The main roads are amazingly good. The minor roads are amazingly small and approach vertical when seen through the panicked eyes of a non local.

Salamanca has more fur coats peer head than anywhere else I have ever been.

Stork nests are awesome. Especially so perched on the top of a freeway sign.

Listening to Acdc in Toledo whilst lunching traditional spanish meal in a traditional meson.

Driving out of Salamanca in the fog to the tune ghostbusters.

Toilet paper where you can't reach it

Beds that are hard and pillows

No veggies with main course.....need to order a veggie entree

Galician state radio sound like Ireland. They are celts after all and play bagpipes.

Hunting

It is snowing and Marjan is not impressed

Not snowing where we are but all round us it appears winter is hitting. We watched the news to see snow plows clearing the roads in the Pirineos, and predictions of falls on many of the ranges, and in Spain that means lots of places. As we drove off this morning towards Salamanca we headed towards the Sierra de Gredos and it was showing snow. The motorway heads around the higher points and goes through a pass near Bejar. 

We stopped for a picnic lunch in a funny little spa town called Baños de Monte Mayor. It was full of seniors with gym bags going into or out of one of the many hot spring buildings in the town. We also met a local chap who works glass, he was very communicative, even showed us his workshop and wanted to know how bad the sharks really were in Melbourne for when he visits. Lovely autumn colours in the little valley.

The town of Bejar itself had a real Swiss look with some chalet style housing and snowy mountains behind. Much more snow showing on the northern side of the ranges. Marjan gave me a filthy look, she is not fond of snow and cold. She asked what the weather was going to be in Salamanca and when I said -3 to 8, she said I'd live to regret coming here.

Anyway, we got to Salamanca in the middle of the day peak. We are getting better in the traffic, but it was still stressful. The hotel had a car park saved right outside, so we quickly settled in and went for a wander. 

We of course headed towards La Plaza Mayor. Different from, but similar to, athe Madrid version. The colours of Salamanca are golden tones. Not sure what stone they use but it has a little of the Sydney sandstone toning. Even newer buildings tend to use it in the older part of town. 

Like some of the other Unesco cities you do not know where to look, each corner brings something new. Whilst la Casa de Las Conchas is famous for the external shell decorations, we liked the inside courtyard.

The cathedral is magnificent, like many of the other cathedrals, but we enjoyed the old cathedral more. The old one abuts the new one, and you can get up to roof level for a look at both. Marjan did not come up but spent her time stepping over tombstones in the old cathedral. The second shot is the staircase up, you can see my feet.

The place was very calm and collected. Not much of a rush, in fact not much going on in the old town. It livened up a little when uni classes started again at five. The university town feel is noticeable. The young folk from other countries to study means you hear a multitude of languages as you walk around.

The history buffs are asking for more historical details, so here goes. Salamanca was settled by a Celtic tribe called the vacceos, there is a plaza named in their honour. They got kicked out by the Cartheginians, who got kicked out by the Romans, who got kicked out by the Alans. Yes the Alans, as the Franks stayed in France and the Bruces headed south. (Note from editor, this bit is bullshit). The Alans were replaced by the Visigoths who were replaced by the Moors and finally some Christians during the Reconquista. Even Franco set up headquarters here at one point in the Civil War. Since 1218 it has mostly been overrun by students. Interestingly until today we had only noticed the national library in Madrid: today I noticed two municipal libraries. Is it because it is a university town? Even in a bar we stopped at , the barman was helping just kids with maths and working on the lowest common denominator.

We really only had an afternoon, but it was fun. We will have a bit more of a look tomorrow. Right now we are waiting for restaurants to open. We have one we reckon opens at 8, we could not wait for the recommended option which does not open it's doors till 9.

Back from an enormous meal. I don't think we will move again for a fortnight. Marjan looks like she will be beached for a while as well. Buenas noches, feal seguidor !

Vultures !

 Another fine morning after another fine sleep meant it was off to Monfrague. This park is world renowned for its vultures and other raptors. We have seen some before, at both Orbaneja Del Castillo and Covarrubias, but from all I had heard Monfrague was special. 

We drove through typical Extrameño countryside again. Lots of alcornoques with either cattle or sheep among them. Really rocky ground. For those who saw Lord of the Rings, it was warg country with oaks. We also saw a bunch of jamon on the hoof feeding on the acorns. I was immediately hungry. As we were getting closer to Monfrague we went into a sudden dip as we entered the valleys that make up the national park. It is a rather strange national park. Two of its rivers are dammed and the water of the Tajo is used to cool the nuclear power plant a few kilometers up-stream. 

We got to the Salto Del Gitano, a rock formation divided by the Tajo, just as the park rangers pulled up with a small guided tour, and more importantly, just as the vultures decided to get into the air. Within minutes the sky was full of them. I lost count at about 50. They were absolutely awesome. Excuse the sharpness of the bird photos, I could not bring my primary bird camera gear as it is too heavy, and the Olympus and I can't seem to coordinate focus.

We had come to walk as well, so we left the car by the river and headed up hill.

It was interesting to see that the alcornoques had been stripped here at some point for their cork.

Also interesting to see how the moss and lichen grew where the sun only hit during part of the day.

We got to the top after a fourty five minute climb. There was a castle, which apparently dates back to Arabic times and a hermitage. But really we were up here for the vultures.

The higher vantage point meant we had some really close encounters and fantastic views. The lady below was about fifteen yards away and a little below. I could not get focus but Marjan and I were blown away by her majesty as she glided past and gave us a good look. I am including the shot with no cropping to show how close they got.

It finally occurred to us that we had come up her without any food, so we wandered back down and found a nice spot to eat lunch. By then Marjan's bruises had stiffened so we had a slack afternoon just finding different vantage points to enjoy. This one was particularly peaceful. The only sounds were the chirping little birds and one cormorant on the water that seemed to want to splash it all out of the river.

On our way back we stopped again at Salto Del Gitano.

And of course there were.....

There were actually two varieties. I hope I have the Black Vulture among the pictures. I have only had time to have a look at a handful of the hundreds of photos I took, and I only saw these Griffin Vultures. 

We got home and decided on another home cooked meal. However we did the Spanish thing and went to a bar before hand. Two whites wines, a small plate of potato salad for €2.40 with a view of the bride and groom getting their shots done in the dying light of the Plaza Mayor was a nice way to wind the day down.

Off to yet another UNESCO World Heritage City in Salamanca. It's University has been functioning since 1218. Should be fun, and cultured. I may wear a shirt.

The many ages of women

We had agreed on a bit of a recovery day, so we slept in till about eight. We had not realised how the noise of Madrid had affected our sleeping. Trujillo is quiet, very quiet, or at least where we are it is. So we slept wonderfully. 

Whilst Marjan was showering, I went to check on the car. Trujillo looked magnificent floating on a sea of fog with blue skies and sunshine above. I did not have the camera, shock, so you will have to imagine it. We wandered into a bar for breakfast. Coffees and churros/porras and an orange juice. Almost every bar we go into has a juicer, so fresh orange juice is basically on tap. Also the bar belongs to Miguel's family, so we mentioned we did not have a clothes horse. By the time we had our coffee and walked back we had a clothes horse, powder and pegs.

We set off in the car for Merida, about and hour away. We drove through typical Extremeño countryside. Lovely forests of alcornoque (cork oaks), dry stone walls and the odd bit of livestock, interspersed with olive groves. Passing through a small range we dropped slowly into the Guadiana valley where it is obviously much more fertile as we were in serious agriculture business territory.

We parked along the river and crossed the Roman bridge into the main part of town. That was a 1k walk on its own. It is a great bridge. Roman women, Visigoth women, Moorish women, medieval women, and now modern spanish women have been crossing the Guadiana here for millennia....since about 15 BC.

We wandered through the town without aim for a while. Nice central square, not Plaza Mayor, lovely narrow streets. But eventually we made our way to the main Roman attraction. The amphitheatre and theatre. Like a few of the other Roman monuments, there has been of reconstruction using actually excavated remains. None the less it is very impressive. The amphitheatre does not match the Coliseum, but served a similar purpose. 

The theater was even more impressive, and we enjoyed just sitting in the stands and thinking of people doing the same thing for over two thousand years. Roman women following their husband to Hispania and dreaming of returning home, hopefully in glory like Trajan, the first Spanish born emperor who has an arch around somewhere near here.

We then had our now expected three course lunch. Local stuff, Marjan enjoyed her solomillo, I had something I cannot remember the name of but was a lamb stew. Yum. It was a bit cool but if we had sat outside we could have looked through the windows at the basement Roman dig. Further down the street we ran into the Temple of Diana. Roman women worshipped here, later Jewish women had a synagogue and later still a medieval woman got her husband to build a palace among it. That is the solid part of the building in the picture below, now Marjan is enjoying it.

Finally we dropped into the Alcazaba. It has seen all the ages of women. Part of the Roman gate to begin with, extended into a fort by the Visigoths, expanded by the Moors when they rebelled against the caliphate of Cordoba, used again by the Reconquista Christians and in particular Isabel I when fighting off some of her challengers. They each used bits of what was already there and added and expanded. But modern woman seems uncomfortable sitting on a bit of Roman pillar.

A pleasant drive back, now that James is using main roads we are flying. Trujillo-Merida was via a Hume highway style road. We stopped off at the supermarket for supplies. We had a home cooked meal, including morcilla, ja....ja....ja...., before a paseo to Plaza Mayor. Sorry Marjan, I chose to make Pizarro sharp and in focus.

Finally, we check the car is still in its parking spot, as seen from our apartment doorway. All good.

Assuming all goes well we go for a hike in the national park tomorrow. Good night.

Windmills and conquistadors

So out of Madrid on a rainy Sunday morning. James had been asleep for a few days so either he missed some turns or I did getting out of Madrid. But finally we were on the motorway and checking out some Castilla La Mancha country side. Big skys, olive groves, vineyards and red earth. Also the odd castle or church on the top of a hill. A couple looked amazing, but that's Spain.

We made Consuegra in good time, as James had stuck to motorways, and we found a cafeteria near the bus station that was open and served hot chocolate and churros. We then noticed, too late, that the locals were getting their churros from a hole in the wall churro shop. Ours weren't bad so we made do. 

Up the hill, ignoring James's instruction to go the wrong way up one way streets. There were the windmills. Like Quixote we were deluded. Our delusion was about the temperature. It was freezing. We were in La Mancha but it was not hot and bright, it was cold and dim. Still, the windmills looked awesome. We did get out of the car and walk among them, we also got up into the castle, which was built for the knights of St John, a crusading order that got kicked out of Jerusalem and decided to fight Muslims in Spain instead. They built the castle on a rocky ridge in La Mancha, on the front with the moors. We also manage to get inside one of the windmills. The big poles, opposite the blades, are to move the whole top of the structure to face the wind. Quite fascinating.

Did I mention it was cold? Marjan had four layers on and was freezing, I had packed most of my cold weather gear in the suitcase, so resorted to a scarf to help keep the cold out. The rain did not help and a few photos, like that last one of Marjan, have rain drop smears on them. Brains frozen from the cold we decided we better get moving, or die from exposure. James decided than rather than heading west he would take us back the way we came and then take the main Portugal road. We were too cold to argue. 

More beautiful countryside and a couple of stops along the way, one for lunch, one so I stayed awake, before we saw Trujillo in the distance. Trujillo is the birthplace of Pizarro. Look him up, he was an 'interesting' man. Peruvians may have a different perspective than Extrameños. Anyway just another Spanish town with a castle on the top of a hill.  We did the obligatory drive up a single lane, cobble stoned goat track to get to our lodgings, found a ridiculous car park, and phoned Miguel to let us in. He was, as usual, really friendly and helpful.

It was de decidedly warmer, not warm, just not freezing. We walked to the Plaza Mayor. No, not all towns have one, they can get special permission from the king to not have one. We thought, 'wow!'. This was different from anything else we had seen. Not that the other places were bad, or unauthentic. It is just that Trujillo had the feel of a place that is what it is because that is the way it has always been. Less touristy, more down home gritty Spanish. We loved it. 

Then the lady at the information office, whose local accent involves the absence of all esses, and who regardless of my Australian accent, thought I had a Spanish face, told us to go to the old part of town. What ? This isn't the old part of town? So off we went and wandered around the castle. It started as a Muslim stronghold around the 9th century. But some time in the11th the Christians had a famous Victory, aided by Our Lady of Victory. Now they have a chapel, and if you pay €0.50 Our Lady of Victory will turn on her pedestal and face you for luck. We were unprepared for that sort of luck so passed on that and just kept walking around a lovely old town.

A rest back out the digs and a return to the Plaza Mayor for dinner, reminded us that this was not tourist central. They don't do dinner before 8:30. Oh, OK if you insist we'll cook something, but only at about 8:20. We are loving the wines. Even the ones in the Menu of the Day offerings have been good. We keep trying local wines, both red and white, and universally they have been good.

After about 5 hours of driving in the rain, we are quite tired, so we may have a slack day tomorrow, and leave the national park till Tuesday.

Bye blog followers.

PS . Apparently Anna is fine in her digs. She says the landlady does not speak English, so Anna may just be considered a mad stray taken in out of the Madrid streets. Anna can't tell one way or the other,  she just knows she has a bed tonight.

Cubism and cheese

So the women wanted to shop. I had two choices, suffer in silence, as if, or do something better. So off to the Reina Sofia for another dose of art. The Reina Sofia used to be a hospital and my aunt was treated there many years ago. Apart from that it houses Picasso's Guernica so it was worth a visit.

I wandered off on foot, and ended up going by Anton Martin, where they have a statue to some lawyers who were killed in 1977 as part of the trouble leading to the most recent version of Spanish democracy. The reason I mention it is that in 1977 I was in Spain, Tomas and I were right there where they were killed a couple of hours before hand. The Madrid time has been a bit like that, lots of memories and links for me.

It was a cold Madrid morning and not too many people shared my idea, so the entry was simpler than El Prado. I wanted to catch Guernica before the crowds so headed up to the second floor. It is as awesome as I remember and though the curating is not as spectacular as last time it is still very well done with all the supporting sketches showing how this was an intellectual process.

Having got the big one done without crowds, I then followed the correct path around the second floor. Apart from the key room, photos are allowed, so I took one or two. Essentially the second floor shows the development of modernist movements in European art leading to surrealism and cubism. I really liked some of the precursor stuff. This Adam and Eve was quite striking.

When I made it back to Civil War stuff I was blown away by two paintings. Evacuacion by Bardasano and Madrid 1937 by Ferrer. These two together brought back Dad's stories of being forced out of their houses when Franco started his push for Madrid from La Casa Campo across the Manzanares. That just happened to be where they lived and they lugged mattresses and other goodies up the hill to the sound of gun and artillery fire. Dad would have been eight. I actually had to go out and sit down outside for a while. 

The second floor was amazing really and I covered it reasonably well.

 I did a bit of general wandering around the balconies and stairwells trying to create my own art. 

Then I went up to the fourth to the more recent stuff. Mostly it left me cold, but thee were some good photo exhibitions. A British photographer was featured and his photos of the 80's miners strike were awesome.

After three and a half hours I had not nearly finished, but again art fatigue set in. I headed off to our lunch date.

Katherine had bought Marjan a lunch at a Cheese Bar. She and Morgan had loved it, being cheese fanatics, and recommended it to us. We had been looking forward to it. The menu was mind blowing. One for food, one for cheese and one for wine. Each had many pages. Apparently they have over 150 cheeses on the menu. We felt overwhelmed and just ordered the cheese platter of the day for starters and a normal dish, though all dishes include cheese, to follow.

Wow. It was beautiful cheese, beautifully presented and the waiter brought us appropriate wines to go with it. Marjan thinks she may have had the best vegetarian meal ever. I had some nice lamb medallions and Anna had some vegetables......with cheese.

To follow; cheese cakes, one type each for Marjan and I and a cheesy mousse thing for Anna. A terrific meal in lovely atmosphere. Thank you Katherine. It was a real treat.

We came back to the flat to help Anna book some bits of travel and I am now heading out for some calamares and a beer. Marjan cannot face any more food, whereas I seem to have worked up an appetite. Must be the crisp, almost winter air.

Back on the road tomorrow. It will be good bye to Madrid. I think it would have been much more enjoyable if we had not had to face the filth of the streets. The strike is being settled as we speak but the damage done to the city's reputation with tourists will last a long time.