Ok so brief up date before dinner:
Flew into Madrid, amazing city, beautiful plazas, delicious tapas, the town never sleeps. Picasso's Guernica was amazing and all the accompanying sketches were facinating.
Moved on to Segovia after two days in Madrid. Stunning gothic church. Dad and I hit the Alcazar early in the morning and had it to yourselves. One of the best castles I have ever been to. I have a major soft spot for medievil history, castles and knights. Mum unfortunitly came down with a cold here and is still battling it and is being a great trooper.
Crazy day of driving (also driving here is horrible no street signs! cant navigate even with a map) thinking we were going to end up in Santiago de la Compostella. Got there and decided we all loathed the city so much (after spending close to two hours trying to find parking and the city center, it was nuts) that we drove on south to Pontevedra. Additional crazyiness we the first three hostels we looked for were closed (never using Rough Guides again, Lonely Planet all the way!). FInally ate and found a hotel at 11pm. Pontevedra ended up being a beautiful place, fantastic old town and wonderfully helpful people, also amazing pastries. Spent a few hours lounging on the beach and eatting seafood.
On into Portugal today, drove through Porto, thought of you Mel if you are reading this. Got to Marvoa and were instantly awed. It is a little town and huge castle picturesly located at the top of a rocky exposure high above the surrounding land. 360 view, white wash houses, 12th century fortification. UNESCO World Heritage site, wisely chosen.
David Hennings hope this keeps you happy for a couple days, more soon...sorry about miss spelled words, you all know that is my weak spot...
