OVERVIEW TO BLOG & OUR TRIP

 

DAY 21 THURSDAY 26 MAY 22 Travel Day FROM Palencia Spain to Salamanca Spain

Off for our daily breakfast above the public level cafeteria café. A new chap is overseeing the breakfast rush (if you can say 3 tables is huge crowd for them.) Note that the coffee machine is broken and two kitchen staff helpers are prodding and poking the contents and sensors controls trying to bring the machine back to life. However the kitchen is now making coffee con leche for those who desire. Eggs to order are still available upon request. This is a very odd hotel. It bills itself as a 4star but I think it is a wanna be! 

Palencia Local Church

Ok, back to the room to finish packing for our journey of only 168Km only to Salamanca. We schlepped the luggage downstairs and left it at the front desk as we had to bring the car up first! After checkout Jane and I borrowed the key fob to gain access to the ascensor and building stairs to the garage next door. Eventually we got into the car and drove around on level two trying to find the Salida (Exit) eventually we saw headlights from cars coming down to park and we got aligned to snick by the open gate and up the ramp to sunlight out front of the hotel where we parked to bring the luggage down to load up. After 5 sweaty minutes we were ready to set out with the GPS programmed and everything tucked away neatly.

We had smooth sailing down the A62/E70 highway and after 1.5 hours we had a stop to stretch and relax a bit. We pressed on and drove smack up to the front door to the Eurostars Las Claras for checking in. An elevator to both parking levels -1 and -2. As a real 4-star they had an elevator from the garage up the 4^th floor for our room 404. 

Convent of Santo Domingo

We parked the luggage and headed out for some lunch. The front desk gal had recommended a local bar with outside tables and good food/tapas. Their recommendation was well founded because the food was outstanding!!! Salmorejo, Cecina de ternera (beef capriccio near enough), and Paul had the Duck with blueberry sauce, and of course the wonderful Jamon Serrano with tomatoes!

Santo Domingo

Siesta time and blog before going to the Plaza Major for tapas and people watching in the evening. It was only a five-minute walk but The Hubs has been having problems with all the walking. You would think it would be me with the bad feet!  This is a very large, beautiful Plaza. Full of people, some masked some not, children playing, dogs enjoying their walk. Young people, old people they are all here. To see these crowds now, we can appreciate how hard the COVID lockdown had been on the Spanish who now have come out AGAIN in force no less!!! They mostly live in apartments and are a very social people. We are trying to be very sensible about this, I keep a mask on my wrist and if it gets a bit busy I pop it on. It is quite easy to maintain the recommended distance.

We ordered a couple of sandwiches, I posted Paul’s on FB! He had fond memories of eating pepitos as a young man (steak sandwich in, it would seem, a whole barra of bread). I really wasn’t hungry but opted for a toasted vegetal sandwich. It will keep the hunger pangs away. And still the crowds passed by! Great people watching spot.

Santo Domingo Altar

Time to go back to the hotel and we opted for a taxi. Paul wasn’t up for the walk! We have been doing 3 or 4 miles a day. One day 5 miles. I’m not saying it is easy, in fact I cuss out my damn feet everyday, but what is the alternative?  We decided to go to the nice place we were yesterday for their cheesecake and a brandy. They gave us a taste yesterday and it is awesome, unfortunately they were packed, we waited a while but I really wasn’t up for standing too long. We headed back to the hotel for our own brandy! We were beat. Time to call it a day!