Monday 26th September - Sunday 2nd October 2016.
For the last few stressful weeks I have been managing to keep a cold at bay using a combination of ignoring techniques and large quantities of vitamin C, but it has obviously decided to teach me a lesson, I am starting week 2 with a full blown Man Cold. We have dug out the Day and Night Nurse tablets from the bottom of the medicine drawer, they normally do the trick.
Monday - Seeing the site restaurant was full of locals yesterday we decided to give it a lunchtime try-out, we were not disappointed. Frank had a huge “local de carne en el hueso” or local steak on the bone with chips and salad while the rest of us had “Merluza con Gambas a la plancha” or Hake with Grilled Prawns, which was also served with salad and chips. It was very good but we don’t know how much it cost as Frank insisted on paying - Thank You Frank. Lunch was followed by a very pleasant stroll along the river bank.
Tuesday - We went back into Salamanca Old City today (after carefully researching where to park) to visit the CASA LIS ART NOUVEAU AND ART DECO MUSEUM, a fascinating couple of hours during which the taking of photos was strictly forbidden, a rule, unlike elsewhere in Spain, rigorously enforced. Still we could take photos in the cathedral which we visited later in the day. There are two cathedrals in Salamanca the old dates from the end of the 12th century while the new was started in the 16th century and completed in the 18th, unusually the old was not destroyed by the building of the new but incorporated into it.
Wednesday - Moving Day. In spite being, now along with Sue & Rosemary, full of a cold (in my case full blown man flu) we decided to move on today to a site just north west of Madrid, CARAVANING RESORT EL ESCORIAL. We last visited the site in winter 2014/15, it is huge with 699 pitches. Fortunately it is also very well run. On arrival they take you and show you a pitch suitable for your caravan size but as we discovered if, as Frank did, you say you don’t like the pitch offered they say you can go anywhere you fancy, which we did - onto two huge fully served pitches.
Thursday - We are off to an attraction that many Spanish avoid, it is SANTA CRUZ DEL VALLE DE LOS CAIDOS - The Holy Cross of the Valley of the Fallen. GENERAL FRANCO had it built as a memorial to those who died in the civil war. The immense cross, purported to be the largest in the world, dominates the surrounding countryside, it is 150m (490 ft) high and rises above a basilica carved 250m (820ft) into the rock by political prisoners a number of whom died during the project which took over twenty years to complete. To one side of the basilica’s high alter is the plain white tombstone of Franco and on the other side that of José Antonio Primo de Riviera, the founder of the Falange Española Party. Some 40,000 coffins of soldiers from both sides in the civil war (1936-1939) lie here out of sight of public view.
This is a sombre place that many Spanish feel a chilling symbol to the dictatorship. It was chilling that the tombs of both Franco and de Ribiera had fresh wreaths of flowers laid by the basilica authorities as well as fresh flowers brought and laid by visitors. Groups offering the fascist salute are sometimes to be seen and controversy rages over whether to move Franco (who was said to have wanted to be buried in Madrid) so the site may truly become a place of reconciliation.
Friday - There is a quick way and a slow way to Segovia, the quick way is via the motorway the slow way over the mountains via the ESCUELA SIERRA DE MADRID one of the premier ski resorts for the Madrid “glitteratie”. It is a great drive, provided of course your caravan is not behind you. We reached a height of just under 2000m (6500 ft) with superb views and on reaching SEGOVIA discovered an absolutely stunning town. The Segovian's have built a huge car park under the main approach road, knowing this Frank had driven as his car is without top box and fits.
The viaduct was built some 2000 years ago (by the Romans) with stones dressed and placed together without, mortar which provided water to the town and palace until the mid 19th century. Today we saw the cathedral from the outside only, it is a tall imposing building that if the inside is as impressive as outside, will be well worth a visit.
The jewel in the Segovia’s crown is the alcazar (castle) and is said to be the inspiration for Walt Disney’s Cinderella Castle. A serious fire on 6th March 1862 destroyed many of the rooms and ornate ceilings but good records enabled exact replicas of many parts of the castle to be made so that it is now impossible for a lay person to know it is not the genuine article.
The old town of Segovia and its aqueduct is a UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE.
Sunday - Sue, Rosemary and Frank went to Madrid today, I was far too ill and spent the day in a fog of sickness alone and abandoned, but they had a nice time. (We visited the PRADO MUSEUM which is an art gallery whose areas are identifed by the artists country of origen. I sadly felt the lighting was too subdued and seemed largely to contain paintings of religious content. Not my cup of tea. We then walked to the Madrid PALACIO REAL where a slow moving queue greeted us and we decided that a wait in full sun was too much to ask of us, so Rosemary and I popped into the adjacent ALMUDENA CATHEDRAL. A fairly modern (18th century) construction but with beautiful windows and ceilings. We had taken the train from El Escorial, a journey of 1hour and 7minutes at a cost of €8.10 (£7.29). It linked to the underground and we were therefore able to arrive and depart at different station. There is parking at El Escorial but Stephen in manly defiance of his health dropped us off and picked us up. - Sue)
