DAY 20 WEDNESDAY 25 MAY 22 Palencia Spain First Full Day in the autonomous community of Castile and Leόn
OK the hunt is on to find where breakfast might be setup for
the taking. No clear-cut instructions or notices posted anywhere. Right folks,
it is on the upper floor of the cafeteria while the public is restricted to the
ground level only. Decent spread, if you want eggs, tell someone in the
kitchen. 
Hotel Las Castilla Vieja courtyard
We really wanted to explore the cathedral of Palencia but is
closed so they can set a large exhibit for big celebrations at the end of June when
it will celebrate being 800 years old! It dates from 1172 to 1504 and is built
over a Visigoth crypt from 7th century during the reign of Wamba and
is pretty damn old! I don’t know who Wamba was, so you are on your own there! Outside
photos only and so we had a target set to explore in this NEW city for us.
Plaza Major Palencia
Plaza Major first and then on to the cathedral. We had a bitter Kas in the sunshine beside the cathedral. Bitter Kas is our go to refreshment as it is alcohol free and really quenches your thirst.
Off we go to the Museum of Palencia (4 floors of very interesting stuff). It is well set up with pre-history, pre -Roman peoples, Romanization and Medieval. Paul kinda sloped off and I got roped into Art Display simply because I said “ si “when answering a question! The photo art display was a little freaky and did not represent anything approaching art in my estimation. It was a collection of very mundane photos from the mid 20th century. Ostensibly it demonstrates the transition throughout 20 years or so. In my opinion the photos were very ordinary and only special because someone of note took them! The Museum in itself was terrific. They had a large Roman copper pot full of coins which was only found in 1937! Apparently it was a common practice for Romans to keep their money in this way. Then they forgot where they buried it and had to leave in a hurry. It did not give indication what the coins were worth, a lot of them had fused together over the centuries, as you can imagine!
We walked back to the Plaza Major, where we sat outside in
the Don Jamon restaurant tent safe from the wind chill of the shade versus
sunny side of the plaza. Jane ordered gambas ala plancha, and Paul the baby
lamb chops. Our waiter was very good, he came from Ecuador 16 years ago and
loves it there in Palencia. He has 3 boys and a constant smile and chuckle in
his voice. Food was outstanding. During
Ensalada mixta he returned to say that their delivery failed to hand over any
gambas and so Jane had to go with a backup recommendation of clams in white
wine, garlic, and olive oil instead of shrimp.
Palencia Cathedral
Siesta and blog time before our evening foray to find food. It seems that our life revolves around finding the next awesome place to eat!
The Duke Restaurant below the hotel courtyard complex was chosen where we joined a few locals to watch the French Open Tennis on TV. Nadal was playing so everyone was glued to the TV set. They did not start meals until 9:00PM. Jane ordered gambas ala plancha (again) and Paul asked to have a Tortilla Frances with onions and cheese. (That is just a regular cheese omelet, he is eating light.) As it is not on the menu the server arm wrestled with the cook and it was decided that a tortilla did NOT exceed his capabilities and Paul would be in luck tonight. Next problem was what should a Tortilla Frances cost because it was not on the menu…. ended up at 3.50€.! Great deal huh?
We are finding that we do not have the stamina we used to have. We stop and recharge often! We were in the rack by 1045 PM and counting sheep. |
| Palencia Cathedral |
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