Hi All,
We are still enjoying mild spring blue sky weather of which we have only had since arriving in Spain. Spent the morning wandering around the extensive and beautiful parque de el retiro. The grand monumento alfonso XII, palacio de velazquez ad palacio de cristal made for a great walk and there was always something else of interest hidden amongst the trees along the way be it a squirrel bounding along the ground in full stride or a group of old men playing bocce or a saxophone player by the lake.
We walked back into town and discovered a supermarket down one of the back streets as well as a film set with actors standing around waiting. The director missed the opportunity of inviting us to join in the shoot. Must have been preoccupied. We went to a local ticket office and bought some tickets for the bullfighting on Sunday and stumbled onto a protest at Sol which turned out to be tour operators heckling a free tour operator. This looked interesting so we tagged along with the guided group for a while but the tour was going to last for 3 hrs and the protests were getting too disruptive as they also tagged along with the group so we headed off back towards the hotel with intent.
There was a minor problem at the supermarket as we tried to use some coupons which were marked with the price off NOT the price of items. Scrounging already in Europe although the prices in general are not too bad in the supermarkets. Once back at the hotel we loaded up one of the day pack with cooking gear and headed back to parque de el retiro for a cooked dinner. Lots more people around and we eventually found an island where we could cook using the MSR stove without drawing attention to ourselves and enjoyed a nice salad with cooked chicken, mushroom and cream sauce.
Had to arrange for accommodation for Saturday. The old man running the hostel did not speak a word of English and I only a basic grasp of Spanish but we managed to communicate but I got the current hotel to ring him to make sure. Accommodation prices rise from mid week peaking on the weekend then drop back down at the start of the week. The current accommodation for the long weekend was booked out so we have to move out for Saturday night then back in again on Sunday. The hostel room is ‘cheap’ at 50 Euros or about AUD100!
Got up early for a day trip out to Segovia and caught the metro out to the usual bus station only to find out that the bus left from a station near our hotel so back onto the metro and without too much time lost we were on our way. Arrived at Segovia and when the bus stopped early and after getting confirmation from the bus driver we got off at the wrong stop. Didn’t matter too much as we only had to walk about 1km to get to the bus station and find the information place. They have been our saviours lately as we enter the towns blind and ask them for a map and where the major attractions are located.
So the big claims to fame for this town is the 1km or so continuous and well preserved length of roman aquaduct which is up to 28m high and made of granite, the large gothic limestone cathedral and the 12 century fairytale alcazar or castle. The engineering on the aqueduct was impressive and there are holes in the blocks that appear to have been used as grips for lifting.
Got to admit that we miss the hustle and bustle of the Muslim souqs when compared with the markets we have seen in Spain. It all seems so civilised and lacks the intensity and excitement.
Now that we have entered a 1st world country we are finding ,as expected, that money is haemorrhaging out of our pockets .In the matter of one country’s border we have gone from having moderately strong purchasing power to poor purchasing power. Wipe away those tears that I imagine are welling in your eyes because it is still great to be travelling and we are getting the cultural experiences that we have been denied simply by being born in Australia.
Bye,
Vanessa and David
