We drove along the highway at first getting some miles behind us while passing through the Sierra de Guadarrama mountain range. The scenery was great and my pictures do not do it justice.
One of our goals was to visit a small city called Segovia. Segovia was rich in culture and heritage. The pictures below of the church, the aqueduct, the town square, and the cathedral are all from Segovia. It was a very busy town with lots of hustle and bustle right up until the siesta. At 14:00 it was like an army was invading. Everything shut down, the streets which had been completely full of tourists and locals were now empty except for the odd American tourist who didn't seem to know what to do with themselves.
We took advantage of the time to visit the cathedral and poke around the aqueduct. The aqueduct was particularly interesting when you try to imagine how the Romans built the thing with their hand tools and scaffolding. Up close you could see the markings in the stone where tools had been used to lift and pry the huge blocks into place. Another interesting things about this part of Spain are the swallows. These birds were always flying in large groups in the town squares and particularly around the aqueduct. I think it must have made for a perfect nesting site. The birds just kept buzzing around in huge clouds, particularly in the evening just before sunset.
We ate lunch in the square and had the local delicacies. I started with paella (that I need to learn how to make) and finished it off with a suckling pig. I have to admit I felt sorry for the little guy but he was absolutely delicious.
As we left Segovia we drove through the Spanish countryside and passed all sorts of sleepy little towns with huge fields of sunflowers and eventually vineyards. Each town seemed to have a castle, like this one in Turegano.
By 16:30 we finally arrived at the small town of Penaranda de Duero. This is where our hotel was. The arrangements had been made by some of our French colleagues so we didn't know what to expect. I figured it must be special since we were well outside of and on the wrong side of town from the plant we needed to visit. Penaranda is like the small cousin of Aranda de Duero, where the Michelin Aranda facility is located. I was surprised it had a hotel at all but was soon to be educated on the better places to stay in Spain.
Well, here is what the Posada Ducal looked like. If you can manage in Spanish the website is pretty good too-just look at the galarias de fotos, or photo gallery. Between the twelve of us we pretty much filled the place. And yes, the rooms are exactly as shown in the photos, in fact the one I had is there too. Oscar the owner, chef, and concierge was there later to welcome us. He seemed to be the only one who spoke any French but the whole staff were great.
One of the best features of my room was that it was on the corner and had a window that opened up on the town square and another that opened onto the church courtyard. My only complaint is that the windows opened at all. You see as soon as we got settled in I decided a nap would be in order. Unfortunately the local youth's summer day camp showed up. Imaging two hundred or more chanting and singing kids running around a the town square. Let's just say there was no nap. One of the leaders even had a megaphone! I must admit it looked like fun. Everyone laughing, signing, and playing games. I would guess small town Spain would be a pretty cool place to grow up, at least for a little while. The windows did make my room cooler in the evening, and after 41C during the daytime it was welcome since we didn't have air-conditioning.
Here a picture of about a quarter of the kids.
Next post: more on the food. Here's a teaser: Ten years ago I went to France not liking wine very much and returned with a respect for good wine. This year I went to Spain not very fond of lamb...
No comments:
Post a Comment