Day 3 - Baiona

Coastal city in NW Spain. The Parador de Baiona Hotel is in a former Fortress in a small peninsula surrounded by a medieval wall.

The hotel grounds and setting are very picturesque. All the pictures here are of the hotel property and its surroundings.

Linda doesn't want to leave.....

Lemon tree

There is a walk all along the fortress wall which surrounds
the hotel.

Afternoon coffee...

Salpicon de Merluza - Hake Salad

Sea Bass & Monkfish 

We finished the day with a nice seafood dinner and local Albarino wine...

Day - 2 - Zamora

We started the day in Segovia and traveled to Zamora. On the way, we stopped in Avila, a old city surrounded by a medieval wall.

Then onto Salamanca which has one oldest universities in Europe. It was founded in the 11th Century. Salamanca is a very nice city. Great atmosphere and food. I've added some pictures of some of its churches, the Cathedral and other stuff.

Facade of a Convent..

A church

An appetizer.. "Revuelto de Jamon Iberico"

Inside the Cathedral. Main dome. 

Parador de Zamora. Hotel. Small 15th Century palace.

Hotel interior

Zamora Police Station

Hotel Facade & some strange looking sycamore trees.

Hotel interior

Day 1 - Segovia

Hotel - Parador de la Granja

 Our first stop is San Ildefonso, a small city in the outskirts of Segovia. Our hotel is a Parador Nacional, which is part of a government program started in the 1920s to take old castles, monasteries, palaces and other historic buildings and convert them to very unique hotels. This Parador is called Parador de La Granja. San Ildefonso was a weekend destination for Spanish Royalty. The hotel itself is in a building which was formerly a Ducal Palace. I've replaced the "stock" pictures with those we took in Segovia and San Ildefonso.



Today, we spent our day walking around Segovia. There are many hills and steps everywhere you go which provided some good exercise and also helped us fight the jet lag and stay awake after spending the night on a plane. We visited the Aqueduct, which is impressive, and the Alcazar which was also pretty amazing.

I've added a few pictures below for both sites. The pictures don't really do these sites justice.

The Alcazar's front tower, named after of John II, can be accessed
via some very steep and dizzying steps. Pictured below. 

Armory inside the Alcazar

152 steps to climb to the top of the Alcazar tower

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Below are pictures of the palace of La Granja at San Ildefonso. They wouldn't let us take pictures inside but, let's just say, it was extremely opulent.  "It's good to be the king"

The gardens are very elaborate and must be even more impressive in the Spring and Summer.





Frozen pond. Neptune freezing his fork off.

Route

This is the planned route for the 9 days we'll be in Spain.

Our trip starts in Madrid.  From there we'll head North for about 1 hour towards Segovia. This city is famous for the Roman aqueduct which was built around 2,000 years ago. Segovia also has a pretty impressive cathedral, a picturesque Alcazar (Citadel) and it's also very well known throughout Spain for its suckling pig. 

From there, we'll head NW towards the medieval city of Zamora, famous for its Toro wines. On the way there, we'll stop in Avila, a city built inside a medieval wall, and Salamanca, known for its University which was founded in the 12th Century.

From Zamora, we'll head west towards my home region of Galicia which sits on the NW coast of Spain. The seafood here is amazing... chances are you'll be eating food that was caught earlier that same day. This region is also known for its white wines called Albarino, which have become very popular outside Spain in recent years. Our first night in Galicia will be in the coastal city of Baiona. The next day we'll head towards Santiago de Compostela. This city is famous for its cathedral dating back to the 11th century. This cathedral has been attracting pilgrims, (Way of St James) through the centuries, wishing to visit the tomb of St James, one of the 12 disciples.

While in Santiago, we'll spend a day or two traveling up the coast and visiting several coastal areas of Galicia including Pontedeume, where I spent my childhood years.

After Galicia, we'll head East to Leon, a city first founded by the romans 21 centuries ago.

Then onto Lerma, in the Burgos province famous for its fantastic Ribera del Duero wines.

Our final stop will be back in Madrid where we'll spend a couple days enjoying this great city.

The photos shown as of Feb 7th are stock photos. I just wanted to get the itinerary going.... 

I will be posting my own pictures along the way as well as other interesting notes about the trip.