The Spanish Countryside & Salamanca

Friday, June 1 -- Salamanca and Madrid -- by bus

In case you were wondering, Santiago de Compostela is in the far northwest of Spain, not far from the Atlantic Ocean and directly north of Portugal.  Our travels today take us all the way back to Madrid by bus, with a planned stop in Salamanca.  To be back to Madrid in time, we needed to leave Santiago de Compostela by 8:00, that would allow Ricardo to park the bus along the side of the road to load us and our luggage.  So, an 6:45 wake-up call gave us time to pack and get a lovely breakfast of zumo naranja, cafe con leche, and a napolitan (pain au chocolate).  We were surprised, however, by a short rain shower but it kept things cool as we loaded the bus.

The rain continued on and off for a while as we were leaving Santiago de Compostela,  Ricardo told is that Galicia was crying because we were leaving :-).  We drove southeast through Galicia, enjoying the lush rolling hills and valleys and repeatedly noting the windmills along the high ridges.  We made our first stop about 10:15, near A Guidia, for about 15 minutes.  At this point we were quite close to Portugal and we decided that we could see in the distance.

About 10:45 we left the province of Galicia and entered into Castille-Leon.  Very quickly, the terrain became more flat and looked more dry.  Even the hilltops with windmills became less common.  After a while, we saw some widely-spaced and pruned trees with the soil below that had been cultivated.  I was puzzled by that this could be, but Ricardo told us that there were the special oak trees, encinas, that are grown for their acorns.  These special acorns are fed to the black pigs that are grown for the prized jamon iberico. I'll have to keep watching to see if I see any of these special "piggies."

Well, I had a little nap instead of looking for "piggies" but I did meet one later at lunch.  We arrived in Salamanca about 1:15 and found it to be about 90 degrees.  But our first stop was the famous Gothic cathedral which was built next to, instead of on top of, the original Romanesque cathedral and it was very cool inside the cathedral.  The Gothic cathedral is free to visit but we chose to also pay the admission to the Romanesque church and adjoining cloister.  We probably spent a good hour there and then walked to the Plaza Mayor for a lovely lunch of beer, bread, salad, manchego cheese and mixed iberico charcuterie--jamon, salchichon, chorizo, and lomo.  We finished with a lovely gelato from the nearby stand.

Ricardo picked us up at 3:45 for the 3-hour trip to Madrid.  The countryside is largely the same mixed agricultural use.  We have driven through the provinces of Avila and Segovia.  We continue, also, to see the windmills on the ridgetops.  In today's light breeze, there is a graceful elegance as the move in unison.l  They really a beautiful sight and one I wish we could see more of in Michgan.

We arrived in Madrid about 6:30 and got settled into the hotel.  We decided to meet at 8:30 to go out for dinner to celebrate our last night together.  So, Cynthia and Roy and I made reservations at a little place right around the corner and then and went off to El Corte Ingles to  do a little grocery shopping and pick up a few things to take home.  The streets were packed and it was hot, but not scorching, as the sun was behind the buildings so there was some shade.  

We got back to the hotel and met most of the rest of the group and went for a wonderful dinner of tapas and sangria.  They were toasts to Roy and Cynthia for their great organization and leadership and a special toast to Ricardo, our wonderful bus driver and new friend.  We finished dinner early by Spanish standards, just about 10:00, but some of us are leaving for the airport at 8:00 tomorrow morning and need to repack our suitcases.  Others are staying a bit longer and are off to Toledo, or Barcelona or staying in Madrid.

All in all, this trip lived up splendidly to the promise that Roy made to us in our first group meeting last December, "It will be an adventure" and it certainly was.

Hasta luego.