When Sharon was recuperating from her first knee operation, a comment from her about the Gaudi’s church in Barcelona, led Julie to present her with this book, “Back Roads of Spain” and yesterday we began the road trip. True to form, we hit the hills immediately and had a wonderful, but dampish day in the sierra west of Madrid. The book told us about some 3rd century BC carved bulls up a side road. Damn handy book!
We ended up in a small town called Mombeltran, a decent view of the local castle thrown in. Sun in the afternoon took us into the back streets of the town.
Bullfighting is big in these parts and we watched with interest the TV and the three old men and a pair of women in the local bar as they cheered and groaned as first the matador poked pointy objects into the bull’s back and then himself was poked into the air by a horn up his backside.
At present we are in Trujillo, home of the Pizarro clan, looters of Peruvian gold. Pizarro is on a horse across the square. Trans-Atlantic pigeons continue to visit his head after all these years. As I write this, Sharon is watching a bride arriving at the church across the plaza from our room.
Our guide book suggested this hostal, and at 45 euros a night with a decent view, another thank you to Paula and Julie.