“The celebrated plateresque façades of Valladolid strike me as being, when one has recovered from the riotous shock of them, actually edible.” – Jan Morris – ‘Spain’
Valladolid is a very crimson city, the reddest that I have ever seen, a sprawling industrial metropolis, the capital of Castilla y León, the tenth largest city in Spain but with its medieval heart ripped out and trodden under foot in the post civil war industrial boom and it does not feature on many tourist itineraries.
Posted in Cathedrals, Europe, Food, History, Natural Environment, Spain, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Castilla y Leon, Life, Medina del Campo, palencia, Tordesillas, Travel, Valladolid
Oviedo is only a small city, only just scraping into the top twenty largest cities in Spain and it isn’t even the largest in Asturias so it didn’t take that long to walk around the historical centre and after a brief stay we continued our drive south.
Posted in Cantabria, Cathedrals, El Cid, Europe, Food, History, Literature, Natural Environment, Postcards, Spain, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Asturias, Cantabrian Mountains, Castilla y Leon, Culture, Life, Lyon, Mountains, Oviedo
“Catedral?” I enquired and the poor man (victim) that I had selected just stared back at me with an expressionless face as though I was a visitor from the planet Mars.
So I tried again but this time, remembering that upside down question mark thing at the beginning of the sentence I tried to sound a bit more Spanish, “¿Catedral?” but his face went so blank that I though rigor mortis had set in. I have to say that Catedral sounds a bit like Cathedral to me so I don’t know why this was so difficult but his solution was to call someone else over who was an obviously educated man who spoke excellent English and with optimism I tried again “¿Catedral?”
Posted in Cathedrals, Europe, History, Literature, Postcards, Spain, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Canal de Castilla, Canal du Midi, Castilla y Leon, Culture, Life, Paencia, Plaza Mayor, Spanish language
Oviedo is only a small city, only just scraping into the top twenty largest cities in Spain and it isn’t even the largest in Asturias so it didn’t take that long to walk around the historical centre and soon there was only one thing left to do – visit the Cathedral.
The building was severely damaged during the Spanish Civil War when the conflict more or less started here and there was fierce Nationalist oppression inflicted by General Franco but it has been restored now and has been returned to its former medieval grandeur.
Posted in Cantabria, Cathedrals, Europe, History, Literature, Natural Environment, Portugal, Spain, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Asturias, Castilla y Leon, Cudicillo, Culture, Life, Oviedo, Photography
When it comes to taking pictures I like doors, statues, balconies and washing lines, Kim on the other hand likes people pictures so I thought I might share a few of them with you.
This one was taken in the Spanish mountain village of Pedro Bernardo in Castilla y Leon…
My washing line project is drawing to a close, I have reached the end of the line and this is my penultimate picture.
A washing line on a balcony in Barcena Mayor in Cantabria in Northern Spain….
It is a Challenge, Feel Free to join in…
And so I come to the end of my A to Z of balconies and finish in the delightful city of Zamora in Northern Spain.
Zamora is only a small city for a provincial capital, close to the border with Portugal and situated on the river Duero (Duoro in Portugal) and most famous for having the greatest number of Romanesque churches of any city in Europe.
Posted in Cathedrals, Europe, Food, History, Literature, Postcards, Spain, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Castilla y Leon, Culture, Hotel Conventa Spa, León, Life, statues, Zamo
When it comes to taking pictures I like doors, statues, balconies and washing lines, Kim on the other hand likes people pictures so I thought I might share a few of them with you.
This one was taken in the Spanish village of Carmona in Cantabria…
Carmona is a delightfully quaint village with tiny cobbled streets with wild flower verges and where sunlight spilled into the dark corners of the workshops where traditional wood carvers were busy making customary products of cattle yokes, sandals, clogs, canes, and cutlery which, I am told, are distinctive to rural Cantabria.
I say that in a slightly cynical way because I got the impression that there isn’t really a great deal of tradition here and that whilst a man was busy whittling wood in an open barn for the benefit of the tourists there was probably a factory somewhere full of modern drills and lathes where the products for sale were being produced for sale to the coach loads of visitors who visit daily.
Click on an image to scroll through the Gallery…
Motoring west once more on the Autovia del Cantabria the rain stopped and the sun came out again and after a few kilometres we left the motorway for the village of Liendo to find our accommodation. As usual this wasn’t that easy and we made a couple of circuits of the sleepy streets and tried to understand directions given to us in impenetrable Spanish before we chanced upon it hiding behind a high stone wall and with only a very discreet sign to identify it.
We were staying at the small Posada La Torre de la Quintana, which was a converted stone mansion with an impressive façade and surrounded by carefully manicured gardens. And we were delighted with our choice of accommodation, which was rustic and authentic and we were lucky to have the best suite in the hotel complete with a glass fronted balcony.
Posted in Europe, History, Literature, Postcards, Spain, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Balconies of Spain, Cantabria, Castilla y Leon, Laredo, Liendo, Life, Photography, Travel
On 11th March 2009 it was the final day of a driving vacation to central Spain. We had visited the cities of Cuenca, Toledo and Avila and finished in Segovia. On the final day we were taking a drive across the mountains back to Madrid,
We stopped first at the Royal palace of San Ildifonso o la Granga…
The Royal Palace is set in extensive gardens in the French style of Versailles that was built for Philip V in the early eighteenth century and remains today an official residence of the King of Spain. The Spanish Royal family used to like to leave Madrid in the baking hot summer months and take up residence in the mountains where the climate is cooler and more agreeable and looking around the place it was easy to see why.
Posted in Europe, History, Literature, Natural Environment, Spain, Travel, World Heritage
Tagged Castilla y Leon, Life, Madrid, Photography, Rascafia, San Ildefonso, Spain Royal Family, Travel
Have Bag, Will Travel 