Category: Europe Spring 2022

Breakfast was earlier than usual this morning. Roger and Gayle wanted to leave for the airport with plenty of time to catch their 11:15 flight. We saw them off then went back to our room to pack. We are headed towards France on the last phase of our trip. At 11 o’clock Duke and I took a cab to the bus station. We took a long distance bus to the town of Soria. Soria is about 140 miles northeast of Madrid.

In Soria our plan was to pick up a rental car. We knew we would have to wait until 4pm when everything including the rental car office would reopen after lunch. So we found a bar and had coffee and Spanish tortilla while we waited. We also walked a bit and saw the local bull ring.

We finally got the car just as it started to rain heavily. We drove to the Parador where we are staying and took naps then enjoyed our welcome drinks. Now that we no longer have travel companions there will probably be no more card playing!

We decided to have dinner at the Parador. Duke had Bacalao and I had Merluza. We always avoid Bacalao because that is the name for salted cod. We’ve tried salted cod many times and you just can’t make it good! But recently we found out that you can also get fresh Bacalao. Duke’s was very good.

Merluza is the fish called hake. The Merluza was served with baby eels and shrimp. It was excellent.

For desert we had what the menu billed as orange desert. It was an orange sponge cake with orange ice cream and sauce. It was perfect to share.

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.