Saturday, February 27, 2016

All through the night last night we could hear the wind howling outside our window and see snow falling. This morning we woke up to a winter wonderland. The guy at the gas station told us that snow is unusual for them. Some years they don’t get any.

We got up bundled up and walked down to the main square by the cathedral so we could take some pictures and get some coffee

Then we headed out on our planned route. The visibility kept getting worse and worse and after about an hour of very slow going there started to be snow drifts across the road. We decided it was too dangerous to continue so we turned around and went back to Sigüenza to try another route. This route going south to Madrid was fine except that the direct route to La Granja had chain requirements so we did another alternative route and eventually got to our Parador in La Granja.

After checking in and having a glass of wine we headed out to explore a bit and stretch our legs after sitting in the car all day. Neither of us had ever had roasted chestnuts so Duke bought some. They were wonderful. The bag they were served in had a separate compartment for the shells.

La Granja was chosen by the king of Spain in the 1700s to create a Spanish version of Versailles. The palace and the grounds are beautiful, especially in the snow!

We had dinner in our Parador.

Friday, February 26, 2016

Today we headed south on a cold blustery day. We stopped at the archaeological site of Numancia an Iron Age hill town where the local Celtiberians held out against an enormous Roman siege in 133 BC. The locals eventually committed suicide and burned the town rather than submit to the Romans. Although the town is famous in Roman literature its location was only rediscovered in the 1800s.

Thursday, February 26, 2016

Many of our Parador and other hotel packages have included breakfast. The breakfast buffets have been wonderful – eggs, meat, cheese, bread, fruit, coffee, juices. But when breakfast is not included in our package the price for the breakfast buffet is usually about €12 each. So we usually find coffee outside the hotel.

This morning we found a wonderful pastelería. The owner explained what was in the local favorites. The filling in Duke’s pastry is called angel hair. Apparently the filling is made from some kind of melon or squash. We didn’t quite catch the word. It was all really good.

We also bought four of the little bow tie thingies to snack on later

This is a picture of our Parador in Olite. Our room is the window on the right behind the tree.

In Olite we picked up a map of the state of Navarra. It showed all the wineries, Roman ruins, churches and castles. I don’t know why I’m so fascinated by Roman ruins but since we had a relatively short distance to drive today we decided to take the back roads and find the Roman ruins that were kind of on our route.

The first one near the village of Falces was the Villa de San Esteban.

The second one was quite a bit farther off the main road and judging by the building must have been something special but unfortunately it was closed.

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

This morning we drove into France and went inland a bit so we could explore some of the Pyrenees.

We finally found some sheep that met all our photogenic criteria and were in a place where we could safely park. The first one only looks like a two headed sheep it is actually two sheep!

When we got to the top of the mountain pass we headed up a side road to the lookout but we were finally stopped by snow.

One of our main course choices was salmon.

And one of our desert course choices was pear in wine sauce.

Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Today was a lovely rest day. We went for a long walk, explored the town and walked along the water front to the edge of the breakwater. It rained a bit but it was warm enough that the walk was great!

Around five we had wine and olives in a bar near the hotel.

We have gotten used to not even thinking about dinner until 8:30 or so when most restaurants open. We had dinner not far from our hotel. There were three other occupied tables in the small restaurant and we were the only table not speaking French. The food pictures didn’t come out very well because it was fairly dark but we had a great meal. Here is my fish and scallops skewer.