My name is Marion Vermazen. I am a traveler, hiker, reader, Sun alumnus, computer geek, YouTuber, Spanish and French language student, knitter, weaver and genealogist.
This morning before we left Alcalá we went out for a walk so we could see the town without thousands of people. There were still people out and about but things were much quieter. It is a beautiful town!
Plaza de Cervantes
We drove the two and a half hours to Monasterio de Piedra partly on motorway and partly on back roads.
On the backroads
The Monastery we are staying in was fairly recently turned into a hotel and a big nature park.
Outside our room
After we checked in and rested for a while we took a hike in the park. The monastery is on the edge of a gorge that has a river running through it. The grounds have been landscaped and the two and a half mile hike was wonderful.
A view of the monastery from our hike. Waterfall on the hikeFormer trout farm ponds in the canyon below the monastery The walls of the gorge almost look like southern Utah
First thing this morning we saw Brian and Jo Ann off to fly home.
Brian and Jo Ann leaving at 7:30 this morning.
Then Duke and I headed to a laundromat to do our laundry.
Doing laundry
While the washing machines were running we went to the Churreria across the street and had breakfast.
You can see them making the churros here.
We checked out of the hotel about 11:30 and went to the National Rent-a-Car office. There was a long line and we waited an hour but we were on the road out of Madrid at about 12:45.
Waiting in the rental car line
The drive to Alcalá de Henares took less than an hour. This Parador is one we haven’t been to before. We had our welcome drinks, rested a bit, then went out exploring. We were very lucky because the Palm Sunday parade was going on. Each float was carried by about 35 people underneath. We didn’t understand everything that was happening but it appeared that the floats and accompanying bands and marchers were stopping at each of the churches and monasteries and convents in town.
The beginning of the parade
One of the floats
You can see the feet of the people carrying one of the floats
For dinner we went to a nearby Mexican Restaurant. La Chelinda.
Today we wanted to get a relatively early start so we could have breakfast and then arrive at the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum soon after they opened at 10.
Breakfast at Oskar Cafetería
The Thyssen Museum was wonderful. It took us about two and a half hours to walk through their collection and we moved fairly quickly. I took a lot of pictures. These are just a few of them.
This painting, by Henry Lewis, painted in 1847 is of the falls of Saint Anthony on the Upper Mississippi. We looked the falls up and they are in Minneapolis and look nothing like this now.For many years this portrait was identified as George Washington’s cook and was attributed to Gilbert Stuart. Recent studies point to the painter being of the circle of Sir Joshua Reynolds and the subject being a man from Dominica.A Renoir painting called Wheatfield painted in 1879
From the museum we walked back to the hotel with a stop for coffee on the way. Back at the hotel we played a few more rounds of cards and rested for a bit.
On the way to dinner we walked through the Mercado de San Míguel.
Mercado de San Míguel
We ate dinner at a restaurant called Las Cuevas de Luis Candelas. The restaurant is in the cellars under the Plaza Mayor. It’s been there since 1949. We each had roasted suckling pig with rice. It was delicious. We had a great conversation with the people at the table next to us. It was a man from Texas, a woman and her son from Belgium and an older woman from Morelia, Mexico.
DinnerCochinillo
Brian and JoAnn fly home tomorrow morning. So this ends a phase of our trip. We have had so much fun traveling with them. We are already strategizing about our next trip together.
As I sit in our room writing this, the moon is coming up over Madrid and we have great view of it from our window.
Our rental car had to be returned today, in Madrid, by 12:30. So we had a relatively early breakfast in Salamanca and were on the road out of town by 9:00. Duke and I had been on Google street view figuring out how to get directly to the parking garage where we needed to return the rental car. We didn’t want to stray into the central Madrid congestion zone where we would have been charged a toll.
So it was a bit of a shock to be met with this sign when we got to the parking garage entrance.
Luckily we were able to fairly easily find another entrance and return the car. It was raining outside but the hotel wasn’t far away.
Coming out of the parking garage. Our hotel is in the middle in the background.
Our rooms at Barceló Torre de Madrid weren’t ready so we had our welcome drinks and played cards for about an hour.
Welcome drinks and cards
When Brian and JoAnn’s room was ready we moved our bags into their room then went to see the Royal Palace of Madrid. We purchased tickets and shared an audio guide. It’s an enormous, beautiful and opulent palace still used for official events. I very much enjoyed our visit even though it was quite crowded.
Royal Palace of MadridThe state dining roomThe throne room.
For dinner we went to a nearby Basque restaurant, Dudua Palácio
Today we drove about an hour and a half south to Salamanca where we are staying in the last Parador we will stay in with Brian and Jo Ann on this trip.
The front of the Parador is niceBut the view from the lobby is amazing.
After we checked in we walked into the historic center. To get there we walked over Salamancas Roman bridge. The bridge is 577 feet long and originally opened in the first century.
The Puente Romana.Walking across the Roman Bridge
On the other side of the bridge we went to the Art Nouveau and Art Déco Museum – Casa Lis. They didn’t allow any pictures inside the museum, but the collection was absolutely fabulous. I could have taken one hundred pictures. The building has a lot of beautiful stained glass too.
Going into the Art Nouveau and Art Déco museumThe Art Nouveau and Art Déco Museum from the River.
Next we went back to the Parador, had our welcome drinks, played cards and rested.
Sitting on the terrace relaxing
About seven o’clock we walked back across the bridge and went to the Salamanca Motor Museum.
There were so many beautiful cars it was difficult to know which picture to share.
For dinner we ate at Restaurante Cervantes overlooking the plaza Mayor.
On the way to the plaza Mayor we walked past the Cathedral While we were eating it got dark and they turned on the Plaza Mayor lightsBack at the hotel we have a great view from our window.
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