Yesterday
was my birthday and Marion made sure that we celebrated in style. Presents,
great and thanks to all, and cards were just as though we had been at home.
We
went out in the evening to a lovely little restaurant just round the corner.
Despite arriving at about 9pm we were the first customers by a good 45 minutes.
It takes some time to get used to the different rhythms of life here in Spain.
The meal was interesting; we had the tasting menu of the day. The highlights
were the tomato cream as the first course and the veal cheek for the fifth. As
we are in Zamora chickpeas were obligatory and well cooked. The wine was a surprise;
firstly there was a huge choice of locally produced red wines. The one that we
had was excellent; it was a very full-bodied, perhaps robust wine on the same
lines as a Cahors. Most enjoyable, it certainly made me sleep very well.
The
Parador where we are staying is built around a lovely courtyard. All the
bedrooms lead onto the gallery, which surrounds the courtyard.
It is furnished with
many grandfather clocks, and a knight on a horse in full armour, stuffed of
course. It has a lovely terrace where we sit in late afternoon, reading and
writing blogs!
This
morning was bright though a little cold, however the sun has warmed it up to a
pleasant temperature this afternoon. We have been exploring the town of Zamora.
To put it in context Zamora is the little relation of Salamanca, much in the
same way that Beverley relates to York. It is a lovely place that we are happy
to have stumbled upon. It lies on the River Douro that is wide at this point
but too shallow to be navigable. The highlight is a castle and cathedral that
stand on a promontory at one end of the town, along a street that extends to
the Plaza Major. This is a lovely square where we sat over lunch watching the
world go by, and a wedding that was taking place in the nearby town hall.
This
morning we had a preview of all the sites by taking the tourist train round the
town. This afternoon I took a long walk to see the town from the vantage point
of both riverbanks. The town is full of ancient churches and palaces that
reflect its status as a town on the Camino de Santiago branch that runs from
Southern Spain.
So
now we feel very relaxed and ready to travel to Lisbon tomorrow.
This
morning was bright though a little cold, however the sun has warmed it up to a
pleasant temperature this afternoon. We have been exploring the town of Zamora.
To put it in context Zamora is the little relation of Salamanca, much in the
same way that Beverley relates to York. It is a lovely place that we are happy
to have stumbled upon. It lies on the River Douro that is wide at this point
but too shallow to be navigable. The highlight is a castle and cathedral that
stand on a promontory at one end of the town, along a street that extends to
the Plaza Major. This is a lovely square where we sat over lunch watching the
world go by, and a wedding that was taking place in the nearby town hall. 
This is a lovely account of our day. Needless to say, while Nigel took his walk, I was sitting in the sun doing puzzles.
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