Trujillo - Day 2

Late yesterday evening I walked out of the front door of our house to get some fresh air. Just outside were the beautifully floodlit churches of the old town. I experimented with various settings on the camera to achieve the best results. I will let you judge for yourselves between these two examples.

 This morning after a late start due to mistaking the time, you would have though that after three weeks we would have adjusted to European time by now, I wandered into town to buy breakfast. In the Plaza Mayor there was an explosion of Spanish flags where none were visible yesterday.

As it is not a festival I assume that this is some sort of reaction to the referendum that is being held in Catalonia tomorrow. Presumably it is to show solidarity with the Spanish Republic, and of course as one of the poorest areas of Spain this area has most to lose by the withdrawal of the richest region.

So after our slow start we walked the short distance to the castle, this time for a proper explore. After climbing the walls it is possible to see the huge extent of the castle.

It was much extended over the years by successive Spanish rulers. It was always on the borders of major European conflicts, the battle between Moors and Christians, the various wars of the Spanish Succession and the Peninsular War. It is not surprising that much was invested in a strongpoint in this location. From the walls it is possible to see the strategic significance as it has all round views for miles over the plains of Extremadura. It is also possible to appreciate the beauty of the buildings of Trujillo.

 After doing a small supermarket shop I made a purchase with a difference. In the information book that comes with the house I noticed that it was possible to purchase homemade baked goods from the nuns in the convent opposite. Well this was a challenge; inside a dark doorway was a bell that I rang. A disembodied voice made me aware of a sort of circular dumb waiter. I think I must have made myself clear because shortly a packet of biscuits appeared. I placed ten Euros in the tray and back appeared my change. This I suppose is the earliest version of online shopping disembodied shopping!!!

Tomorrow we move on to our final stop on the holiday, a restaurant in the Picos de Europa recommended by Barbara and Iain. It is a long drive so we will be up early, assuming we get the time right. More on our experience tomorrow.

Trujillo

We are staying in a lovely little apartment in the heart of the upper historic quarter of Trujillo. Despite being part of a very old building the apartment is ultra-modern.

The bedroom is on a type of balcony with the kitchen underneath. At the rear is a small garden, large enough to contain a table and a couple of loungers with a view over the plain. It is beautifully equipped and even has a wood-burning stove, although we are finding the air-conditioning more useful during our stay.

At this point in our holiday it also has an invaluable commodity, a washing machine. It is at the apex of the hilltop fortress town. This is both an advantage in terms of the views, and challenging for vehicular access. Anything bigger and less manoeuvrable than our mini would certainly pose problems. As it is it requires Marion to keep a careful look out on one side while I keep an eye on the other. This gate approached via a 300-degree turn is an example. It would make a great Top Gear challenge.

 After a leisurely start we went in search of ham, the regions speciality, particularly the Iberico ham that is produced from pigs fed acorns. It is available in the tourist shops around the Plaza Mayor, but we wanted the real thing. Consulting the web and the useful guide in the apartment we found a shop on the outskirts of town. It had a great selection at reasonable prices, however describing what we wanted was quite a pantomime, as the butcher spoke no English at all. We made it by a combination of mime and Marion’s limited Spanish. You can see the butcher carving our ham, which he then vacuum packed.

(Barbara and Iain by now realise what their starter will be when they come round for Scrabble next week).

From there we explored the Plaza Mayor

and found a great place for lunch. We both had the typical tomato soup of the region, while I followed with a great dish a black pudding, potatoes and poached egg. The description does not do it justice.

The town was at the centre of the wars that dominate the history of this region. Thus an imposing castle dominates it. Prior to the 13^th Century it was in the hands of the Moors. It then became very wealthy as a trading town. In particular Francisco Pizarro travelled from here to conquer Peru for the Spanish. The riches that he and his brothers brought back are reflected in the sumptuous palaces and churches that were built in the 15^th century. The Internet connection that I have here is quite limited so I will post these on later days.

Back to Spain

It was time to leave Portugal and our very comfortable stay in Galegos. Ken and Carol were excellent hosts, not only running a great bed and breakfast but also as mines of information about the surrounding area. Our fellow guests from South East London and Leatherhead provided stimulating company. Finally a mention for my new best friend, Graham

who provided much amusement during our stay.

The Spanish border was reached after five minutes of driving and then it was largely straight roads to Trujillo passing round the ancient city of Caceres. On the way we visited an oddity, the border railway station of Valencia de Alcantara.

This was once the last station in Spain before Portugal, however there is now no service; indeed there is only one train a day fro Caceres to Valencia. So what is left is an enormous ghost station in the middle of nowhere. It is remarkable how good the basic infrastructure is, with no evidence of any graffiti or vandalism.

We have a lovely studio flat in Trujillo

situated in the centre of the very historic old town. The flat itself is ultra-modern and had a sheltered garden where we ate a simple dinner tonight. At the same time we watched a beautiful sunset over the plains of Extramurdera.

Trujillo looks very interesting and we will fully explore tomorrow.

Galegos - Day 2

It was our last full day in Portugal, and we made the most of it. This area we are in is quite unspoilt and seemingly unaffected by mass tourism. After talking with our hosts Ken and Carol it is obvious that it is for two reasons, lack of knowledge and perceived remoteness from a gateway airport. Apparently we are the first InnTravel customers to drive from England. While people will seek exotic long haul destinations, it is easy to miss interesting places that are more on our doorstep. Certainly we have been tremendously impressed with what we have seen and experienced in Portugal. Above all we have been the subject of great hospitality and courtesy, all the more impressive considering our limited abilities with the Portuguese language.

Tonight was a case in point; we were recommended a local restaurant, which from the outside resembled a small bar. We were shown through to a small restaurant that had probably seven or eight tables, with ubiquitous television playing football in the corner. The food was great, simple local cooking that Marion and myself shared. We had cooked prawns to start, followed by pork and chestnuts. Everything was packed with flavours, usually provided by a very robust sauce. By the end of the evening we felt that we had had a real treat. In its own way this was as much a culinary experience as the high-end restaurants that we had dined at on Saturday and Sunday. We were both agreed that for dining this was one of the best holidays that we have been on, and we still have Casa Macial to look forward to on Sunday. Next week will be quite an anti-climax when we arrive home.

In the morning after a relaxed breakfast we visited the neighbouring town of Castel de Vide.

Again this was a fortified frontier town dominated by a castle on the highest point. It was easy to walk round the castle and climb the tower from where I could observe the town and the surrounding countryside.

To me the interesting thing about the castle was the way in which the town’s houses merged seamlessly into the walls, and you could really get a sense of how town and castle co-existed and were probably dependent on each other. After a pleasant stroll around the town and lunch, we moved onto some stunning Roman remains.

These were the ruins of the Roman town of Ammaia an out post of the Roman Empire dating from the first century AD. Excavations have revealed a town of some size, probably with two thousand inhabitants with a forum, temple, baths and town gates. What was fantastic was the artefacts that have been found exhibited in the neighbouring building. The sumptuous gold coins can be seen from the photo, however there were complete pots and glassware, largely unblemished.

It was possible to read the inscription and markings on these. Remarkable considering how long ago these had been buried. The site was huge, and it was possible to wander around without restriction, a very Portuguese characteristic. It was not difficult to gain an impression ofvthe town.

So tomorrow we will be moving back to Spain, and it will be a sad farewell to Portugal.

Galegos Pictures

Pictures from Tuesday near Marvao

The hilltop town of Marvao from a distance.

The Whitewashed streets of Marvao

The Castle in Marvao

View from the Castle

Galegos

We are now in a remote part of Portugal, right on the Spanish Border. Our accommodation is in a very comfortable bed and breakfast run by a British couple, Ken and Carol.

It is communal so we have two couples as fellow guests hence the comment about Brexit. After an excellent breakfast, although Marion was forced to eat scrambled egg, we decided to drive to the hillside town of Marvao. This sits about 1500 feet above the surrounding countryside on a rocky promontory, comprising a castle and small village.

We parked at the bottom of the village and walked through the narrow streets of whitewashed houses until we reached the castle at the summit of the town. Once in this position it was obvious why the site had been chosen, it had complete views over the surrounding countryside. Although it had been a Roman settlement it was originally fortified in the 11^th Century and had played a pivotal part in wars in the region up to the early 19^th century. It was a perfect day, there were very few people there and the clear weather meant that the views were amazing. The geography also meant that there was a clear impression as to how the various wars had ebbed to and fro across the region. After a detailed exploration of the castle we had a snack lunch overlooking the countryside.

It was then back to our accommodation to relax, well for me a walk. I took what is euphemistically known as the Smugglers Walk. This refers to the history of the border area where from 1935 to 1960 goods were smuggled from Portugal into Spain, originally due to the shortages as a result of the Spanish Civil War. I was expecting long arduous paths but after about 500 metres of climbing I was at the Spanish frontier. Nowadays there is only a small stone to mark the transition, although of course due to Apple technology my IPhone changed time zone immediately, thus making it the first walk that I have undertaken across time zones. The walk itself was lovely climbing high over the surrounding countryside and criss-crossing between the two countries. For the first time I saw the black pigs for which the region is famous. There were also industrial quantities of bee hives. Of smugglers there was no sign.

This evening at the recommendation of our host we dinned in a small local restaurant. There we both had really delicious local boar, all washed down with some great local wine. So now even after two weeks of holiday we are retiring to bed really tired.

This blog maybe delayed as the wifi connection has failed tonight! Picture will be in a second blog due to upload difficulties.