061 Spain: Madrid

 Spain: Madrid

Madrid and the surrounds have some amazing, if underutilised infrastructure (the roads are very quiet - everyone must be at the Costa's - Brava, Del Sol etc.). A brand new high speed train links Segovia with Madrid and within 30 mins we are there at only the cost of E12.
It was like being in an aeroplane, with assigned seats. Top speed is 320km/h but we only reached 249. There was an 18km tunnel. Now that has to have cost an arm and a leg to build

The security guard got cross with us for having our camera out. He told us no photos but it was too late as we'd already taken this. There were no signs to say you couldn't plus there are photos on the web. We think this must date back to when there was the bomb on a Madrid train as you also had to scan your baggage\handbag etc.
Better safe than sorry.

Absolutely no idea what this is a photo of!!!
but it is impressive :)

Third most important palace in Europe, according to the guide book. Certainly wasn't the third most impressive - the Habsburgs got everywhere.

Got to love that hat.
and so trim a figure, ha ha

We had an amazing time on a tour of the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium. 

The amount of silverware was extraordinary.

Frank planning tactics for the next game

So Frank tells me to go down the stairs and take a photo of him. So I do. As we are leaving he checks for his phone and it is gone. It fell out of his pocket during this photo. Well you would not believe the lengths we had to go to to get back in and establish this was his phone. The security at this place could teach Obama's security guards a thing or two!

 and finally in the press room Frank is asked his opinion of the transfer of Di Maria to MU.

While we only spent the day in Madrid we certainly could see the allure. Plenty of shopping. Wide streets. Lots of character. Not one of the great cities of the world but certainly a place to go. 

060 Spain: Segovia

Spain: Segovia, Pedraza, La Granja de San Ildefunso
We loved Segovia so much we stayed an extra night.

Segovia is famous for its aqueduct but there is so much more here.

If you look down thru the arch to my left you can see our hotel. We couldn't be any closer to the aqueduct. Once again the town is relatively quiet but at about 8pm the locals come out and the place is jumping.

 Just as the sun is setting. Great light. The weather here is idyllic for tourists. Very dry. The mornings are coolish (25C). It gets hot about 4pm (34C) and then the breeze picks up at about 8pm and then it is perfect for eating at the street tapas bars.

 

Another piece of art that caught my eye as being a candidate for our strange art list.

Yet another castle claiming to be the place that inspired sleeping beauty.

We visit the medieval town of Pedraza. The opening hours are supposed to be from 11am. It is 11:30. The place is not open. Other people are hanging around. We walk into the town to the office of tourism and stuck to the closed door is a hand written sign saying closed for the week. I guess they forgot to put the sign on the castle!
(Franks edit: after crossing the drawbridge those are spikes on the castle door to discourage door to door salesmen of the 1250's).

Many of the towers have special fittings to encourage the storks to nest

We couldn't find out if they were constructing or dismantling this but the whole square is converted to a bull ring.

 We came across a town which was having its national festival day. An enormous cook off for a traditional dish of pork and beans - pork is huge in Euope. Thousands of people had gathered in the very large park, with their own tables and chairs to participate. There were even television cameras there.

Does my arse look big in this?
A visit to the old Spanish royal summer palace.

We intended  to research this because it seemed a bit odd.
Hints of Ku-Klux-Klan?

Generally the Spanish are vertically challenged but they've grown a bit since this door was constructed. We've both hit our heads several times while on tour.

We really enjoyed our 3 days in Segovia  and we've come to realise that we prefer the towns to the cities. We feel that we get to know a place and you don't have to walk as much to find the hidden gems or get out of the tourist area. We've met so many friendly people here who want to talk to us even when they don't speak English and we don't speak Spanish. Spain is also incredibly cheap.  We're getting addicted to Tapas. Frank has just had his second haircut on tour and this time it was a good one.

 

059 Spain: Zaragoza

Spain: Zaragoza and El Burgo de Osma
I just love some of the names of places here

On loads of hill tops there are these giant silhouettes of bulls

 A hens night, Zaragoza style. This was such fun to watch. They had a band who played 'ditties'. The girls had to 'follow the leader' and repeat whatever was being done. Loads of giggling.
They had 'water' bottles in their hands but I don't think they contained water.
Then they went to the next square and continued.

Zaragoza is the home of Goya.

We went into the museum but his best works are not here. 

Lovely photo of the basilica.

They were having a tea party,

so I joined them. 

We stumbled across a museum dedicated to stained glass sculptures that were all lit. Best E2 we've ever spent.

The Alhambra. I think we'll see better in Turkey

 Zaragoza had a lovely feel to it. In the mornings it was very quiet but by 9pm the streets were packed. We navigated via the bus. Very little English spoken but everyone wants to help you. In one bar we heard someone talking Spanish in a very Geordie accent. He'd been living in Zaragoza for 10 years. Frank and he talked Football!!!!!

We are really getting into these small beers with a Tapas for E1.50

 

058 France: Florensac part 2

France: Florensac part 2
Pezanas; Carcasonne Castle; Nimes; Pont du Gard; Le Grau-de-Roy; Port Camargue; Avignon; Montpellier

Pezanas, where for 2E you can purchase a sight seeing map. Friends Fay & Tommy have a holiday house here. It is a wonderful village, extremely well presented with loads of art & craft shops.
You can go into many of the buildings. This stair case seemed reminiscent of Shakespeare.

 We are in round 5 of the European crazy golf championships with Ruth currently winning 3-2 (tourmaster here - she beat me by 10 strokes on that Pirate course!! Not happy Jan!!). We've also noted a pirate theme. I think we have over 10 photos of Frank with pirates, he says this is Capn Jack Sparrow.

 There is conjecture over the renovations of Carcasonne Castle, but we really enjoyed the place. It gave you a very good insight into the feel of a walled city.

Very impressed by the amphitheatre in Nimes. We had no idea it existed. The gladiatorial history and the Roman generals directive to feed and entertain the people led to each general after Augustus coming up with new ideas and it was fascinating.

The place is still used for concerts and bullfights. Unfortunately the scaffolding spoils the ancient feel, as a tourist but I bet attending a concert there is quite special. Note that the French bullfights focus on the matador collecting ribbons from between the bulls horns, not swords and death.

 The aqueduct at Pont du Gard. Built before Christ was born. While it has been very 'touristified' it needs to be just to accommodate the number of people - 2M p.a.

 Sur le pont de Avignon. A song we had drilled into us in first year French.

Avignon was so busy all we could do was drive around and around and around - yes three times before we gave up and went elsewhere. The traffic jams were so slow it was easy to take good pictures. Claudette (GPS) took us down bicycle only alleys around the Palais des Papes !

These street-side Paella cookers are all over the place. Not sure if you have a quarter of a chicken whole in your Paella, we certainly don't, but it is the norm here as well as all the seafood.

 

Saintes-Marie-de-la-mer  has a huge bull ring. I loved this statue.

See the people on the church roof? We were a bit gob-smacked. You could climb to the top, clamber about the roof to your hearts content - no safety bars or anything to stop you plunging to your certain death - at least there wouldn't be far to go for the funeral!!

We went to the Camargue for a few days. The big three there are Flamingos,  white horses & bulls.

 

Barbara and Heather - two wonderful ladies who saw our car in Florensac, with the Australian flag on the wing-mirrors, and tracked us down. They invited us for coffee and then to a superb Jazz festival. You pay 1E for your jug and then go get it filled with wine.

Later in the week they invited us into their home and we also went to dinner with them and to see the Florensac festival. They really looked after us and made a big difference to our stay in Florensac.

Montpellier. A lovely town. We only had a morning there so we took the Petit Train.

They have managed to combine the old and the modern very well colourful trams a la Melbourne.

We were amazed when we attended the Florensac Festival and the free concert was a 16 piece Las Vegas style show band. So talented. We lost count of how many changes of clothes they did. At first there were only about 100 people but by 11pm the crowd had grown to about 1000. The festival goes for 4 days and each evening is a different band/entertainment.

We had a lovely lazy morning on the Canal du Midi. There are 7 locks to be navigated, built more than 400 years ago. The force of the water was amazing. Loads of people go to watch.

and that was Florensac.

Took us a while to settle into the chaos of being in the South of France during August. We learned to go to the beach after 5:30pm. We found the places to park the car. We knew we had to be at a destination by 10am if we wanted to park.
Our batteries are recharged and we are back on the road to 'do' Spain and Portugal over the next 6 weeks. We are now into double digits, only 93 days left.