Month: February 2018

In Cuenca this morning we crossed the pedestrian bridge from our Parador to the town. From the town we had a great view of the Parador

And of the Casas Colgadas or Hanging houses.

On our way south out of Cuenca we stopped at a grocery store for water and sunblock. Spanish grocery stores are fun to check out.

About half way between Cuenca and Alarcón we stopped at the Roman ruins of Valeria. The town was founded by the Romans in the first century BC. It was a cold day but we enjoyed a walk all around the ruins.

Duke decided to stop on the way out of town to take a picture of the town sign for his daughter Valerie.

This week we are staying in eight Paradores in eight nights. It is so interesting and fun to stay in these beautiful places. Tonight we are in the Parador de Alarcón. The castle we are staying in was originally built as an Arab fortress in the eighth century. It was destroyed in the twelfth century and rebuilt in the fourteenth century.

For dinner we had steak.

We had cheese ice cream with honey for desert.

We did laundry this morning then stopped for croissants and coffee. Good croissants may be my favorite food!

We checked out of our hotel and walked to Plaza España where we picked up our rental car. Traffic getting out of Madrid was bad but soon we were headed east towards Cuenca. The terrain is very different from what we saw in Andalucia. We are in the region of Castillo-La Mancha. We are seeing very few olive trees and lots of sweeping plains. For s lot of our drive the highway was right next to the high speed rail line.

In Cuenca we are staying in a Parador that is a former monastery on the edge of Huécar Gorge overlooking Cuenca’s Casas Colgadas or Hanging Houses.

This is the bar where we had our welcome drink.

For dinner I started with truffled eggs, potatoes, and grilled peppers.

Duke had salmon for the main course and I had calamari.

For desert I had mouse and Duke had manchego cheese ice cream.

It was cold when we left our Parador this morning. As we came down out of the mountains the sun came out and it warmed up. We wanted to stop at the castle and museum in Cazorla but getting there was quite an adventure. The roads through town were very narrow, to the point that we had to pull the mirrors in to get through!

The castle was fascinating. It was never actually lived in but it had a commanding view of the countryside and was used to protect against invaders. We climbed to the top with a guide. The first picture below is the road Duke drove up to get us to the castle.

This is the view from the top.

Below you can see the castle, Bonnie and Brian and our red car.

This is one of the rooms inside the castle.

We have driven through endless fields of olive trees on this trip. After we left Cazorla we made a point to stop and take some olive tree pictures.

In Córdoba we are staying right across the river from the Meziquita. The Mezquita is a Catholic Cathedral built inside a massive former mosque that was built on the site of a Visigoth church.

The former mosque is very very big, 400 feet by 600 feet. When you first enter and walk around the size of the former mosque immediately astounds you. There are more than 800 columns topped by double arches.

In the mid 1500s the Christians who had recently captured Córdoba built an enormous elaborate Cathedral in the middle of the mosque.

After finishing at the Mezquita we stopped for a snack in one of the courtyards of the Jewish Quarter. For dinner we ate at Bodega Campos. We shared a seafood and rice platter that was really delicious. Then we had a variety of deserts.

Ubeda is known for its pottery. As we were leaving town this morning we stopped at the Pottery Museum Paco Tico.

From there we headed into the mountains where we are staying at the Parador de Cazarla which is surrounded by Parque Natural de las Sierras de Cazorla. When we checked in they told us that we are their first visitors of the year since they have been remodeling.

This is the view from our room.

We went for a hike up to the pass above the Parador.

For dinner I had stuffed peppers, venison, and chocolate torte.