Day 9

No Dracula’s at 6:30am in Madrid this morning as the club downstairs was closed on Sunday nights even though today is a holiday.

Today we left the big city of Madrid at 9: 15 and headed into the teeth of, well, no traffic at all. Due to the national holiday all was quiet on the Madrid front. Ann was able to sail out of town as fast or slow as she wished. The roads were hers for the morning. Ann is the designated driver within cities and I drive out of cities since I give better directions and she does not get as angry at other drivers. Years (and years) of trial and error allowed this to evolve.

About an hour north of Madrid is the town of Segovia. This is a city on a hill with a wall around it, a gigantic Roman aqueduct, a cathedral and an Alcazar. We did the obligatory touristy things then sat down at a table on the Plaza Mayor facing the cathedral and had lunch. Two beers, a small plate of paella to share, a potato tortilla (like a cold Spanish omelet) and bocadillo of Iberian ham and rubbed tomato (It’s a small sandwich thingy). All for $16 - The best deal yet in Spain. We had no idea how much anything was going to cost since there were no prices. You point at what you wish to have at the counter and the waitress brings it out to the table. At least that is how Spanish language challenged Americans do it! We paid the bill and got a non-itemized receipt. We still have no idea how much anything cost individually but the price was right.

Lounging in the plaza taking our main meal of the day, we enjoyed the sun and people. That made the next stop, Avila, questionable since we had to get to Toledo for the night. Toledo was still a couple of hours away and the afternoon was fading.

Out of Segovia we sped to Avila, a town completely surrounded by a medieval wall with 80 towers within the walls. Arriving, it was obvious that the walls were so perfectly restored as to have used Disneyland construction workers. It all looked too beautiful. We passed on entering the city and headed to Toledo.

Our hotel in Toledo is located in the center of town within the walls and difficult to get to with a car. Out came my “trusty” computer and GPS when we were 20 km from town. The computer had very little power. That was a problem – the directions were in the computer also. The GPS worked perfectly; we made it to the hotel easily and the computer died as we drove up to the hotel. I am now happy again with Microsoft.

After settling into the hotel we left for dinner. What a disaster that was. Our food at a questionable outdoor patio restaurant was flavorless. The wine was a day or so old and right out of the refrigerator - almost undrinkable but not so bad as to complain. It was same with the food – bland, unimaginative but not poor enough to complain - $45 mistake. It was the Monday night of a holiday weekend and not much else was open. Let’s hope Toledo impresses tomorrow – It didn’t today but then we have only been here a few hours