Month: March 2022

After breakfast we went on a brief tour of the Parador of Chinchón. It was all in Spanish, but I managed to understand at least some of it.

After the tour we packed up and headed to Toledo.

In Toledo we are staying at the Parador of Toledo. It is situated high on a hill overlooking Toledo from the opposite side of the Tajo River. As Duke was checking in the manager approached him to introduce herself and welcome us.

We walked about 2.5 miles into Toledo.

In Toledo we went to the Synagogue of Santa Maria La Blanca. It is no longer used as a synagogue but it’s architecture dates from the early 13th century when Toledo had a large Jewish population.

Next we went to the El Greco Museum. He lived in Toledo most of his life. His paintings from the 16th century were vibrant and very different from other works I’ve see from that time.

Finally we went through the Sephardic Museum

We took a taxi back to the Parador, had our welcome drinks and played cards. For dinner we ate in the Parador restaurant. It was quite dark and candlelit with only a few electric lights on when we first sat down. We had to use our phone flashlights to see the menus. About half way through dinner the electricity came on, the dining room lights all came on, and many of the building in Toledo were lit up. We have no idea what the problem was.

Before leaving Manzanares this morning we went into the center of town to a cell phone store to buy new charging plugs.

The drive north to Chinchón took almost two hours. As we arrived at the Parador we discovered they were shooting a movie or TV show right in front of the Parador. The scene being shot involved a bride arriving in a Cadillac, at the church, for her wedding. The costumes were elaborate and colorful. We walked through the bustle to the Parador and checked in, them spent some time watching all the activity.

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The Chinchón Parador is built in a former convent. We had our welcome drinks and played some cards. Later we went out to explore Chinchón.

As we were walking to dinner the movie crew was packing up.

For dinner we went back to the Plaza Mayor and had an excellent meal at a restaurant called Restaurante la Balconada.

The Parador in Nerja sits on a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean. It has a wonderful ocean view. It also has an elevator to take you down to the promenade along the beach. It was windy this morning but the temperature was pleasant so after breakfast we took the elevator down and went for a walk.

Later we checked out of the Parador and drove almost two hours inland, past Granada to Jaén. Jaén has been an important strategic town for centuries. The castle has a commanding location overlooking the town. We toured the castle.

We went into central Jaén for dinner. We lucked out and got a parking place right in front of the restaurant. We had an excellent meal.

Today was a rest day. We moved a bit east along the Costa del Sol to a Meliá Hotel in Torremolinos.

We had snacks and played cards in the roof bar.

Later we went for a walk along the coast

This morning before we left Ronda we went for a walk down the gorge across the old bridge and back up the other side.

Next we left Ronda and drove to Gibraltar.

We took the cable car to the top of the Rock of Gibraltar.

There was a great view from the top. The Barbary Macaques were everywhere at the top. They were brazen and obviously not afraid of people.

We rode the cable car back down. It took us quite a long wait to get through customs and get out of Gibraltar.

Tonight we are on the Costa Del Sol in Benalmádena. There seem to be a lot of snowbirds from Northern Europe here. We decided to have fish and chips for dinner at the Irish pub across the street from our hotel.

After dinner we went for a short walk along the beach below our hotel.