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Castles in Spain road trip

September - October 2018
A 22-day adventure by Tim Lynette Read more
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  • TravelerCastles in Spain road trip
    Day 1

    Getting ready

    September 10, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    No problems with the journey , we even managed to arrived in Madrid airport with all our bags. We stopped in el Escorial for lunch and looked at the monastery/palace there. It's a huge, huge, building that is now a museum and art gallery and depositary for lots of the precious things sent from the colonies in America. Closed on Mondays though, so probably a good thing as we couldn't go in! Overnight in Segovia which is a lovely walled town, and our hotel is right in front of the castle.

    Tomorrow we spend in Segovia, then from Segovia to Avila, a day in Avila, from Avila to Salamanca, two days in Salamanca, then on to Valladolid,Valladolid to Burgos, two days in Burgos, Burgos to laguardia in Rioja, two days in Rioja (so what we will do there then?!), laguardia to guernica and Bilbao, a day in Bilbao, then home.    Read more

  • TravelerCastles in Spain road trip
    Day 2

    Segovia

    September 11, 2018 in Spain ⋅ 🌬 19 °C

    We had a long lie in this morning and then spent the day exploring Segovia, which is a really nice compact city with lots of great buildings to see. It's greatest fame is the Roman aqueduct which was over 16 kilometres long and went from river headwaters in the mountains and into the city via a fabulous aqueduct which is still there. It stands over 28 metres high and has 167 arches, then it goes underground under the city from one end to the other in a channel 1.2 kilometres long , and ends up at the castle. Many of the buildings along its route dug wells to access the water in it, and indeed there is one in the basement car park of our hotel.

    After that we went to the cathedral which is huge and very ornate as Spanish churches are, but I guess it was worth going to as we spent a hour and a half in there. The stained glass windows are really beautiful and mostly date from the early 1500's. They are just in the process of cleaning and restoring them, and in one case replacing one with a marvellous modern one. And then to the castle which dates in parts to the 12 century, but is mostly from the 1400's like the cathedral. It is quite small but looks as it should been the model the castle in Disneyland!    Read more

  • TravelerCastles in Spain road trip
    Day 3

    Moving on to Avila

    September 12, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    We left Segovia this morning and took a detour to see a 15C castle an hour away in Coca. It was built in 1478 by an archbishop using Arab craftsmen and so much of it is Mudejar style with geometric painting and tiles. It is also unusual in that it was built of brick rather than stone. It was pretty derelict until a few decades ago but has now been partly restored to use as a forestry college. Coca was also a Roman site and had mediaeval walls.
    After lunch we arrived in Avila where the main attraction is the complete circuit of walls built between 1090 and 1099.They are truly spectacular and we plan to walk along then tomorrow. We are staying in a little hotel in a 15C building just inside the walls and can just see the top from our window.    Read more

  • TravelerCastles in Spain road trip
    Day 4

    Food

    September 13, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    We have been eating far too much in our first few days, wanting to try the local specialties. Last night's dinner was spectacular. We ate at a restaurant on a terrace just outside the walls lit up by the setting sun.
    We intended to only order a smaller amount - 2 starters and sharing a main course but it didn't work out as we intended. Our starters were a delicious gazpacho soup and some jamon croqetas with some Argentine empanaditas. They brought us 9 croquetas and the 4 empanaditas were the size of small pasties. Both were delicious and they brought us a free appetizer of red pepper hummus too. The main course was the local specialty of chuleton -a T bone steak of veal/young beef. When they brought it, it was so huge that I checked it was a portion for one person. It was fabulous, so tasty and tender and melt in the mouth and they had already cut it off the bone and sliced it for us!. We could not finish it though we had a good try.
    Tonight we may just skip dinner.    Read more

  • TravelerCastles in Spain road trip
    Day 4

    Avila

    September 13, 2018 in Spain ⋅ 🌙 22 °C

    Avila is worth the visit for its spectacular walls. Built in 1098 straight after the reconquest from the Muslims, to protect the city the walls totally enclose the whole city and are truly unique. We spent most of the morning walking around the top of them, with great views, Including straight into our hotel room! Walking back through the length of the city afterwards we realised that we were walking along one of the branches of the Camino de Santiago, something that I was never going doing to do, and now have done at least a small part of. We then went to see the basilica of san Vicente, which is a really nice, quite plain 12C church in Romanesque style, and then lunch in the sun. After a siesta we went to the cathedral, which must be the ugliest cathedral we've ever seen! The outside is very heavy and crude, mostly in dark grey stone, and with no redeeming features, it more resembles a fortress than a church. Inside it is grotesquely decorated, even for Spain, and is in two styles; a earlier Romanesque stone which is white and red limestone, called bloodstone, that looks like someone has splattered dried blood all over it, and a later gothic style using the dark grey, rather brutal looking stone. Overall not somewhere we would rush back to. Avila in general we did not warm to as much as Segovia, though the food has been good.Read more

  • TravelerCastles in Spain road trip
    Day 5

    Avila to salamanca

    September 14, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    We had a gentle morning in Avila and then set off for Salamanca. It's just a hour and a half away and the roads, as they have all been, were very good and empty of traffic. We have rented an apartment here for three nights, it is modern and really good, and just 15 minutes walk over an old roman bridge into the centre of Salamanca. The city is bigger and busier than Segovia or Avila and has a huge student population (Natalie was here on a school trip). Going out to eat in the centre was crowded and busy, and the food sadly was the poorest we've had so far.Read more

  • TravelerCastles in Spain road trip
    Day 6

    Salamanca

    September 15, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    We have 2 full days in Salamanca so we decided to split our sightseeing into gentle bouts. This morning we crossed the Roman bridge into the centre of Salamanca and visited various buildings of the University, Plaza Major and the central market. We decided to buy food in the market to cook for dinner, partly to avoid the tourist crowds but mainly to try some of the tempting local produce. It has been a hot 31C today with no breeze so we came back to our apartment and had lunch on the roof terrace in the shade.Read more

  • TravelerCastles in Spain road trip
    Day 6

    Saturday afternoon

    September 15, 2018 in Spain ⋅ 🌙 22 °C

    After lunch we took a break from sightseeing to track the Barnet football and GB Davis cup tennis. Not a good idea. When both matches were at 1 - 1 after tense play we went back into Salamanca to visit both the old 12C and new 16C cathedrals. The new is massive but unimpressive with gaudy side chapels and little of interest. However there two little things that are fun - when the front was being restored recently the stonemason carved a spaceman and an imp holding a icecream into one on the pillars! The old however is a much more elegant space with some beautiful wall frescoes. We came home and cooked a delicious dinner and it was warm enough to eat on the roof terrace. We eventually won the tennis match but sadly Barnet lost, ending their run of wins.Read more

  • TravelerCastles in Spain road trip
    Day 7

    Salamanca Sunday

    September 16, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    Visit this morning to the museum of art nouveau and Art Deco which is housed in a fabulous art nouveau palace overlooking the river. It was built by a wealthy industrialist as his home which he filled with a splendid collection of objects. These days it's a museum, but still full of wonderful things, and very much my style, including a big collection of Lalique glass. The river frontage is completely covered in huge bright stained glass windows. Sadly they don't allow photography inside, but I did manage to sneak a pic of the windows.

    Then on to a Dominican monastery with a carved frontage showing the stoning of st. Steven (although it looks just a like a rather physical game of football). Inside there is a massive golden altar piece 30 metres high, and a lovely delicate cloister.

    Restful afternoon, with GB winning the tennis, Hamilton the Grand Prix, and Xerez the football.    Read more

  • TravelerCastles in Spain road trip
    Day 8

    Salamanca to Valladolid

    September 17, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 25 °C

    On the way to Valladolid we made a couple of detours, the first to see another castle which we did not expect to be open - but it was. Castillo la Mota was originally built in the 12C by the Moors but remodelled in the 15C by Isabela. It has spectacular walls and tower and looks just like a castle should. The second detour was to a town called Tordesillas which was supposed to have a pretty old Plaza Mayor but it was disappointing and dilapidated. This is the place where the Spanish and Portuguese signed a treaty deciding the world between them, with the boundary being the middle of the Atlantic, but the Portuguese managed to push the "middle" of the Atlantic far enough over that they could take Brazil as theirs!

    An unexpected bonus was another castle when we turned off the motorway to have our picnic lunch. Simancas castle was built in the 15C and became the state archive in the 16C and still is today.
    So far on this trip the countryside has been brown, mainly used for growing wheat, all now harvested. There have been many fields of sunflowers, not like Tim's 10ft ones but close packed 3 ft tall, all drying in the sun - obviously more of a sunflower oil area than olives. Today for the first time we saw cows - only a few grazing in a field, there is not much grass here. Also today for the first time we saw vines and passed the town of Rueda which grows excellent white wines.
    Once we arrived in Valladolid we did a bit of sightseeing. It is a pleasant town to wander around but does not have great 'sights'. They never bothered to finish the cathedral and it butts up against the old one in a jumble of stones. We wanted to eat early but had difficulty finding anywhere open before 8.30 but eventually found somewhere just round the corner from the hotel which was surprisingly good.    Read more

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