Day 6 - Jarandilla de la Vera

CHANGE OF PLANS!!!!!  Since we've heard that Leon and Burgos are expecting some bad weather (Snow, Cold, possibly bad driving conditions) we've decided to head South tomorrow, Feb 15th. to a different Parador in Jarandilla de la Vera, pictured below. I'll update the blog when we get there...  Right now, The Cathedral bells are ringing 11 times so it's time to get some rest. We have a long drive tomorrow.

So here we are. After a 6+ hour drive from Santiago, and a stop in Salamanca for a nice late lunch, we have arrived in this small town on the side of a mountain in the Sierra de Gredos, in western Spain.  Although our initial intention was to get away from the snows of the north, we ended up driving over several mountain passes that were covered in snow. Right now, as I write this from "our castle du jour", I can look up the mountain and see the snow covered sierra. In any case, it is another nice spot and a nice setting. We don't get to sleep in a 15th Century Castle very often.  The grounds are full of olive and orange trees. The town itself doesn't have much to offer so we are going to use this night off to get some rest since we've been going non-stop since we landed.

These are the pictures I took this morning. The second picture shows the view from our bedroom window this morning. Snow seems to be following us...
I climbed one of the towers of this castle and I had the urge to yell: You don't frighten us, English pig dogs. Go and boil your bottoms, you sons of a silly person. I blow my nose at you, so-called "Arthur King," you and all your silly English K-nig-hts. You Monty Python fans will get this... Of course I said it with a Spanish accent instead of French...

Hotel/Castle courtyard

Main entrance. Orange tree ready for picking...

As we were driving out of Jarandilla, we passed through a small
country  village (Losar de la Vera) where all trees and shrubs were
meticulously pruned.
These are just a few of hundreds of such inspired shrubbery.

We had seen storks' nests in many places. Church steeples,
tall pines, etc. We snapped this picture of storks on top of
an old barn while on the road out of Jarandilla this morning.