May 8 - 9, 2010 -- Madrid

Madrid is a great city and its museums reflect the fact that it was the wealthiest and most powerful European country from the fifteen through the eighteenth centuries. Certainly the Prado Museum reflects this status. They purchased art from Italy and the Low Countries and they attracted artists from these places as well. They identified with classical Rome and classical motifs are evident throughout the royal buildings. We got great exposure to Velesquez, Goya, Rubens, Titian and others at the Prado (spent 7 hours there).

This morning we visited El Rastro, which has to be the world's biggest flea market. It extends for about a kilometre up one street but spills out on parallel and side streets; thousands of stalls and hundreds of thousands of locals and tourists. We left all of our valuables except the camera at the hotel and wandered about the market for an hour or so, which was definitely enough -- one of those once in a lifetime experiences.

From there we toured the Royal Palace and it was over-the-top sumptuous! Although the royal family does not live there, the palace is still used for state occasions such as the signing of the European Union agreements. The conscious attempt to connect the Spanish monarchy to classical origins is obvious in virtually every room. The display of medieval and early modern weaponry in the royal armoury was amazing.

We had dinner for the last two nights at the Mercado de San Miguel, a large Movenpick-type restaurant that is absolutely packed from about eight o'clock to midnight. The tapas are excellent. Crowds are four or five deep at the counters. We were jammed in and became quite friendly with our neighbours on both nights.

The first three couples were from Brazil; their English was pretty good and we parted good friends. The reason that there are only men in the photograph is that the women were off getting tapas for the men. Duane obviously could use a good South American wife!

Tonight we met a couple from Panama and Argen- tina and again hit it off well. Adrian spoke German and Spanish and Monica spoke Spanish and some English so our conversation was trilingual. Of course Duane exchanged cards and invited all of them to visit us in Canada.

This is our last night "on-the-town" in Spain and it is sad to be leaving. We have truly loved our Spanish Sojourn.

May 6 - 7, 2010 -- Madrid

On Thursday we reluctantly left our monastery at Segovia. That wonderful hotel was exceptional in every way, including price, 83 euros ($110 Canadian) per night, which included parking (often this is 20 euros extra) and a superb buffet breakfast (not usually included).

We drove from Segovia to Madrid where we returned the rental car to the airport and took the Metro to our downtown hotel. Although we had two transfers, we managed without a hitch as the underground is well signed and easy to navigate.

After checking into our hotel we decided that a walking tour of nearby Plaza Mayor, Peurta de Sol and Gran Via area was a necessary first step.

Madrid is a large, vibrant city and a mecca for tourists, mostly from Spain. We window shopped on a pedestrianized street, people watched at the Puerta de Sol, strolled to the Plaza Santa Ana for tapas and returned to the hotel. Again and again we noticed young women out with their mothers, shopping or just walking and enjoying themselves.

Today, Friday, we had a light breakfast in the hotel and Duane went shopping for a fuse (which he found just up the street in a little shop that specializes in fuses, batteries and bulbs) for our Kindle. Duane is absolutely loving having the Kindle with us as he reads the Toronto Globe and Mail and the New York Times every day. It's especially wonderful to stretch out with that at night when one is absolutely too tired to take another step. (NB: Carol would use the Kindle as well if Duane would let her get her hands on it.)

We then walked to the Museo de Reina Sophia, which has quite an extensive Picasso collection including the amazing Guernica and numerous individual working studies which informed that painting. There were also many Salvador Dali paintings, one of which is included here.

We spent about four hours admiring the wealth of artistic treasures, had lunch in the museum restaurant and then returned to another floor of the museum where we saw the more modern works of art.

After leaving the museum we took a bus ride to the north end of town, through modern Madrid, with its office towers and government buildings. Madrid is extensive and it has a wonderful mix of old and new.

May 5, 2010 -- Segovia

Cousin Robert Thomson told us that we must see the aque- duct in Segovia, so here we are and it is jaw dropping!

Two thousand years ago the Romans dammed the Rio Frio, which flows from the Guadarrama Mountains, to make a reservoir. They then constructed a 14.5 kilometre aqueduct, spanning a wide chasm in order to take water to a promontory on which they had built a fortified castle. In the elevated aqueduct the water runs in a canal, but later it is conducted underground through the old quarter of the city until it reaches its destination at the current Alcazar.

This is an engineering marvel that functioned until about 120 years ago and is still sound. The elevated portion is 958 metres in length, 28.1 metres in height at its highest point, and features 166 arches. It is made of large blocks of granite aligned without mortar. It is obviously stable and is very elegant. This Roman artifact is simply amazing!

Along Cervantes Street we visited the Arts and Crafts School and exhibit hall which held a lovely exhibit of Segovian glass work, sculptures, fabric and other art, all along the theme of the aqueduct.

We enjoyed our late-morning coffee outside the Segovia Cathedral, the last Gothic Church built in Spain. It is a landmark built right on the Plaza Mayor. The style of this church is, as travel writer Rick Steves says, “flamboyant.”

Segovia also sports a bull ring that is very dilapidated, however, new paving stones all around this old ring would indicate that restoration must be planned, likely to support the city’s application to hold a world cultural exposition here in 2016.

We thought it only right that we visit the cloisters of the convent / monastery, San Antonio el Real, where we are staying. After entering we were handed an English fact-sheet and left alone in the cloisters which serve as a museum. This monastery was built in the 15th century as a hunting pavilion but was later used by the Franciscans. The complex has been used by the Clarissan nuns since 1488 and displays numerous treasures such as Flemish tapestries and art work and Mudejar ceilings and altars. The ceilings are decorated throughout, some painted with detailed decoration, beams and all, and some with rich, detailed wood carving.

How delighted we are that we made the trip to Segovia. Not enough can be said about the magnificence of the aqueduct -- it must be seen. It was declared a National Monument in 1884 and a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985. It is the architectural highlight of our Spanish Sojourn.

May 4, 2010 -- Salamanca

Today we drove a circular route from Avila to Salamanca, then to Valladolid, and finally to Segovia.

The trip to Salamanca was through a rolling grain-producing area, initially with a fair amount of fallow fields in evidence but nearer to Salamanca we encountered a good deal of irrigation. This is not a heavily populated area, with many miles between villages and few farms in sight. We have heard that Spain is burdened with the latifundia system of land ownership –- large acreages in the hands of very few landed gentry and many landless people and this may explain the extensive holdings. The fields are tilled with modern farm machinery and no farm workers were in evidence until we reached the irrigated areas which featured smaller plots of land.

Salaman- ca was wonder- ful. It is a small and isolated univer- sity town with a massive square, Plaza Mayor, on which many streets converge and one enters the square through portals. The Plaza Mayor is truly the centre of town and evidently the scene of many celebrations and events. Today workers were setting up for a major book show, but formerly it was the scene of bullfights and other spectator sports and it is still the scene of the evening paseo where boys check out the girls and vice versa. The cathedral and the university are right next door.

The university is the oldest one in Spain and was set up as a secular institution, a reputation it fiercely protects. Apparently during the Inquisition one professor was hauled away for making remarks not entirely favourable to the Roman Catholic Church and he was subsequently tortured and imprisoned for five years before finally being allowed to return to his position. His first lecture apparently began with the words: “ As we were saying….”

Workers were labouring on the facades of two or three major buildings, buttressing the facades so that the brand new buildings could retain the exterior of the old buildings. Apparently this is quite common in Spain.

Salamanca makes almost no accommodation for English-speakers but the people who we encountered on the street or in cafes were very enthusiastic about giving directions, explaining things in Spanish, or very nicely correcting our pronunciation.

The trip to Vallado- lid was through more beautiful country- side, mostly in cereal production, although we saw some small and isolated vineyards. We hadn’t heard of Valladolid before and chose to go that route merely to avoid backtracking. It turned out to be the most modern and planned city we have seen -- everything was new and squeaky clean. We can’t think of what is driving the extensive development -- we must do some Wikipedia research on that question.

From Valladolid to Segovia we drove through extensive pine forests and then increasingly rich agricultural land. We are certainly getting the impression that Spain is a predominantly agricultural country and one that has benefitted immensely from the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Community which is highly protective of, and offers huge subsidies to, agriculture.

More on Segovia tomorrow; tonight we are staying in a lovely convent, San Antonio el Real, which has been partially converted into a hotel.

May 3, 2010 -- Avila

Avila has the oldest, most complete, and best preserved city wall in Spain, within which rests the old city with cathedrals, monasteries, castles, etc. It is really quite impressive. Outside of the walls is a small but vibrant city with a fair amount of new construction and infrastructure.

It was very cold in Avila (in fact we experienced a blistering hail) and the hike around the walls was not available (because it was Monday), but we did some exploring of the city.

The cathedral is very old and interesting from that perspective alone. Avila was one of the first Spanish cities to fall in the reconquista and the cathedral's architecture is early Gothic. The Gothic columns do not begin at the floor and sweep up to the ceiling -- they begin atop Roman columns instead and the Gothic arches are not consistent at the ceiling but are interspersed with round Roman arches. This is an interesting transitional church in terms of architecture. Unfortunately, we could not take photos inside the cathedral.

Just outside the city walls, in a lovely plaza, Carol relaxed in the arms of Santa Teresa, who was born in Avila. We then enjoyed some wonderful tapas in a cafe in the plaza and returned to the Parador. The weather did not improve so we welcomed the opportunity to snuggle down for the evening, do some blogging and photo labelling and go to bed.

We read an article in the Parodor magazine which is quite instructive regarding the Spanish daily timetable, which has, and continues to, intrigue us. It is by Santiago Petschen, PhD in Political Science, Chair of International Relations and Jean Monnet Professor of the European Union -- quite a qualified fellow. He is explaining Spanish attitudes to the European Union, which range from refusal to acceptance of elements of Europeanism. He writes:

There is one everyday and highly transparent issue on which Spaniards refuse to accommodate Europe: timetables. We Spaniards have not changed our timetables and therefore continue to be a lonely exception within Europe, despite being aware of their inefficiency. There is now a school of thought that suggests that we should copy the Portuguese timetable, a more European one than our own, but our customs are so deep-rooted that it is hard to imagine that ever happening. Paradigmatically, timetables have a great influence on a variety of other aspects of life, such as eating, sleeping, working, and entertainment.

May 2, 2010 -- Duane's Birthday

Today, after leaving Toledo, we travelled through Castilla-La Mancha, destination Avila. The trip took a couple of hours on a secondary road, travelling through small towns. The La Mancha countryside, made famous by Cervantes, is bucolic, flat and rolling, punctuated by occasional towns dominated by their respective castles. The winter in Spain has been unusually wet so the fields are mostly green although farmers obviously leave some of their fields fallow.

As we proceeded north we travelled though the Guada- harra Moun- tains, the flanks of which are parkland comprised of pine trees and the higher elevations rocky grazing land. On the northern side we descended a short way into Avila, a lovely town with an almost intact city wall.

We spent about an hour trying to find our hotel during which we saw a good deal of Avila, both the old town and the newer regions outside of the wall. We found the Paradore Avila following the instructions of a totally non-English speaking gentleman -- it certainly helps to know the words for left and right.

The Avila Parador is a hotel in a restored castle within the walls of this fortified city. Paradors are a chain of state-sponsored hotels built in restored monasteries, convents, castles and other charming old buildings and we decided to splurge as this is Duane's birthday.

Caitlin, Scott, Jody and Ryan phoned to wish Duane a Happy Birthday, which was a real treat as we have not spoken to them since we left four weeks ago.

Duane's special birthday dinner was in the hotel restaurant and as we had done some culinary research we decided to go with the regional specialties -- white bean soup with quail and chorizo, fried bread crumbs with grapes and chorizo, salad and roast suckling pig.

The first courses were unexceptional and eating the suckling pig was an experience. Carol's portion featured the neck portion with a pig's ear intact. Duane's was a front quarter complete with little toe nails on the foot. Carol just could not bring herself to eat either the ear or the meat behind the organ, and hinted that Duane might switch portions, to which he responded: "In a pig's ear will I switch." However, he soon relented and exchanged some of his flank meat, including crackle. It was extremely rich and very tasty, but he had much more than his share as Carol couldn't get the images of the little ear and feet from her mind.

When we went to bed Carol indicated complete confidence that she would never again order suckling pig; Duane suffered with indigestion.

This hotel is a castle and is lovely, but not extravagant. Still, it was a good choice and we shall undoubtedly enjoy our two nights here.

NB: After reading travel writer Rick Steve´s comment about roast suckling pigs Carol felt even worse about to-night´s meal. Steves says: ¨21 days of mother´s milk, into the oven, and on to your plate.¨

May 1 - 2, 2010 -- Holy Toledo!

We picked up a rental car at the Madrid airport and travelled through Castilla-La Mancha to Toledo, the capital city, ecclesiastically and politically, for hundreds of years. Toledo was also considered the most holy of cities by the indigenous Sepharic Jews, who were expelled during the reformation but brought memories of their home to America, hence the term "Holy Toledo."

Toledo is a very attractive city but because of that, it is quite over-run by tourists. Still, we had great fun walking the city and observing its people.

At the San Juan des los Reyes Monas- tery wedding guests were gathering at the main entrance and we took photos of the musicians and performers waiting at the front entrance for the wedding party to arrive. We toured the monastery which featured a typical lovely courtyard surrounded by Gothic arched walkways.

Toledo was enjoying a festival and the university students were performing at the large Plaza Zocodover, satirizing the crucifixion by singing and playing loud music, bouncing a ball around and featuring a "fat lady" bearing the cross.

We had a reservation for dinner and while we tried to change it to an earlier time, the restaurant didn't open until 8:00 p.m. so we had tapas in the lower level bar before walking home down steep, cobblestone streets to the city gates, and then another 15 minute walk to the hotel.

On May 2nd we again explored Toledo, but not before having our first and only Spanish breakfast of churros, deep fried pastry, -- a favourite of the locals who dunk them in their coffee.

We were determined to see some works of El Greco (The Greek), Toledo's most famous adopted artist. We first saw his work displayed extensively in the Santa Cruz Museum just off the Plaza Zocodover. His portraits stand in real contrast to others exhibited there, for his deep vibrant colours, angular faces with particularly long noses, and his subjects' lack of the conventional look of piety (at least they are not all looking upwards with adoring eyes). Paradoxically, most of his work was commissioned by the Catholic Church.

After leaving the museum we enjoyed beer and paella in a little square, and Carol then had a snuggle with another local hero, Cervantes.

One of the highlights of the day was a ride on a local bus which took us through the historic and outlying areas of Toledo where we had spectacular views of the walled city.

In one plaza we were delighted by a little girl who was dressed in her Sunday best, a flamenco outfit. When her parents asked her to pose for us she looked indignant, with arms akimbo, but later smiled.

Finally, we visited a synagogue, a physical reminder of the large, vibrant Jewish community that lived in Toledo before the counter-reformation and inquisition, during which a third of the Jewish population was killed, another third expelled, and a third "voluntarily" converted to Catholicism. The name of the Synagoga de Santa Maria indicates how this particular building survived, by renaming it after the Virgin Mary with its parishioners becoming more Catholic than the Pope. It is a beautiful little building, hosting a showing of the work of an Israeli artist, himself a convert to Catholicism in Spain, with a theme of building a bridge between Spain and Israel. Now there is an historic relationship that needs some mending.

We left the historic city via the series of escalators which we hadn't used before. Hmmm, should have known about these before we hiked up the steep, and long, cobblestone streets.