Breakfast at the Mayoral has toast and selected goodies but NO
eggs and limited sweet pastries. The yogurt is not chilled and the juices are
dispensed from a machine obviously stocked with concentrate and water mixture.
Oh well it fills a void for the time being. The machine coffee is not all that
good either. (That is Paul’s contribution! ) Actually there are a lot of people
around, a few groups are booked in, youth sports teams etc. I wonder if they
ate all the goodies at breakfast?
We are heading for town and our 1st priority is to
visit the Alcazar. Paul is not in the mood for hiking to the escalators so we
take a taxi. We have been to Toledo many times but for one reason or another we
have not visited. There has been a
building on that spot since the 3rd century, historically it is very
important after all Carlos 1 received Hernan Cortes here but during the Spanish
Civil it was under siege and damaged hugely. This is from Wikipedia, the free
encyclopedia: "During the Spanish
Civil War, Colonel José Moscardó Ituarte held the
building against overwhelming Spanish Republican forces in
the Siege of the Alcázar. The
incident became a central piece of Spanish Nationalist lore, especially the
story of Moscardó's son Luis. The Republicans took 16-year-old Luis hostage,
and demanded that the Alcázar be surrendered or they would kill him. Luis told
his father, "Surrender or they will shoot me." His father replied,
"Then commend your soul to God, shout 'Viva Cristo Rey' and die like a
hero."[3]Moscardó refused to surrender. Contemporary reports indicated that the Republicans then murdered Moscardó's son. Other historians have reported that Luis was not in fact shot until a month later "in reprisal for an air raid".[4] The dramatic story also camouflages the fact that the fate of a number of male hostages, mainly from the Guardia Civil, taken into the Alcázar at the beginning of the siege is unclear. Some sources say the men "were never heard of again".[5] However at least one journalist who visited the Alcázar in the immediate aftermath of its liberation saw a number of prisoners chained to a railing in a cellar.[6]
The events of the Spanish Civil War at the Alcázar made the structure a symbol for Spanish Nationalism and inspired the naming of El Alcázar, a far-right newspaper that began during the civil war and ended during the Spanish transition to democracy as the mouthpiece for Búnker, a faction of Francoists who opposed reform after Francisco Franco's death.
By
the end of the siege, the building had been severely damaged. After the war, it
was rebuilt. It now houses the Castilla-La
Mancha Regional Library ("Biblioteca
Autonómica") and the Museum of the Army ("Museo del Ejército"), the latter having
previously been housed in the Salón de Reinos in Madrid."
After two hours of viewing the military displays; we departed for
a "real" coffee at a restaurant in the Plaza Zocodover. We had a combo plate lunch (remember the
hotel offers No eggs at breakfast); we shopped a little for family tee shirts and then
rode the Hop On/Off Double-Decker bus around the city for a couple hours. Saw
areas of the city never traveled by us before. The bus took us around the perimeter
of the city and some of the views were quite remarkable especially from the
other side of the Rio Tajo. The railway station is something to behold! Build
in 1919/20 in the Neo-Mudejar style as a fitting representation of the city. It
really is quite gorgeous. We did not go in but I understand the interior is as
impressive as the exterior!
Very busy morning and it was time for the siesta so we continued
on the tour bus to the stop near that very odd hotel! As the tour bus continues
until 8.30 we caught it back into town about 7.30 and the light was quite remarkable as the evening sun was
setting and providing quite a light show
on the Toledo skyline. We got off the bus at Stop #1, above the Alcazar and
walked down to the Plaza Zocodover. We did some people watching and ultimately returned to Bar Txoko for drinkies,
including Txakoli wine(which is from the Basque country) poured with an aerator
from a great height and ended up with tapas (pinchos) in Lizarran Bar around
the corner, a gal from Columbia her workmate were from Dominican Republic. Our
light supper consumed we marched to the taxi stand to hire a chariot.
We took a taxi back down to the Hotel. No nightcap tonight, no
bars in the neighborhood and the hotel bar was CLOSED. We walked over 6miles today and considering
we took taxis and buses all over the place, that is a lot of walking!
DAY 27, 30
JUNE TRAVEL DAY TOLEDO TO ALCALA DE HENARES
Breakfast at the Mayoral has toast and selected goodies but NO
eggs and limited sweet pastries. The yogurt is not chilled and the juices
dispensed from a machine obviously stocked with concentrate and water mixture.
Oh well it fills a void for the time being. Perhaps with 3 different groups
staying here the breakfast spread may be expanded for the extras eating.??? We
shall see. NO CHANGES. As you can see, Paul is a bit annoyed by the paucity of
breakfast goodies!
It is a short drive only 106K around the outskirts of Madrid. It
is always our goal to eat at Las Moreras and after an uneventful drive up to
Madrid and around the outer belts directly to Alcala, we found the turnoffs and
routes to Las Moreras resturant now that the A2 highway has been re-configured
around the airport. It was too early to check in at the Parador so we took a
short drive up to Humosa where the old Madrid communications site was located.
Did not find the site and so we returned back down to Alcala to scout out gas
stations for our refueling tomorrow before returning the rental car.
With 20 different trips to Spain Paul decided to have his first
fender bender accident. No one hurt from either car, local police responded and
gave no citations, it was a very slow fender bender but that damn car crumpled
like foil! The accident helped us extend our arrival time as we had to wait for
(1) local police (2) taxi and (3) wrecker truck, then off we went to Terminal 1 for a "replacement"
vehicle.
Well, that was interesting! I know we had to kill a few hours but
was that really necessary??
We went to lunch at Las Moreras , lamb chops and a Solomillo in
the very pleasant outdoor patio.A refreshing afternoon for "fender bender
recovery". We have been going there for over 45 years, in fact we had
lunch there the day before the birth of our beautiful daughter!
It was very pleasant to check in to the Parador Alcala. It is a
beautiful place built into a 17 century monastery, the former San Jeronimo
College. They have blended the old with the new and made it magnificent. It is
one of our favorites. The fact that you need a degree in computer science to
turn the lights on/off and lower the blinds is neither here nor there! It has a
REALLY good shower, with glass doors! Bliss! They have warned us that the pool
will close at 5pm the next day but as it is barely 80 F I will not be swimming!
I am at heart a reborn Florida girl and temperatures below 85 and unheated
pools do not figure on my radar! There
is a wedding here this weekend and I foresee a few problems. Hotel guests seem
to take a back seat to the wedding parties. I understand the economics of it,
let’s face it a wedding at a Parador must cost a bundle, you have to be
seriously well off to have a ceremony here!
We head in to town which is only a short walk. This is a lovely,
ancient city. The birthplace of Cervantes. Apart from the Romans and Visigoths
and Muslims it is the place where Columbus met up with Isabel and Ferdinand for
the first time. It too was hugely damaged during the civil war. Are you
detecting a theme here? Columbus, the Reyes Catolicos, Cervantes? I love the
rich history of this country and this city. The pride of this city is the
university, one of the oldest in the world, founded in 1293. Even more than
that, it has the best pedestrian area for bars and restaurants and people
watching! The Plaza de Cervantes leads in to the Calle Mayor which has pillared
walkways from the 16th century.
We drank tinto de verano and beer, ate a few tapas and relaxed!
Love this place!
DAY 28, 01
JULY 2017 SATURDAY PACK UP FOR AIR TRAVEL ON SUNDAY TO USA
We really
had to sort out the suitcases for our return to The USA. We always pack an extra
bag for souvenirs and purchases but we out did ourselves this time! We had to
go and buy another bag! Then we decided to take a trip down memory lane and
returned to Parque de Cataluna in Torrejon where we had lived for 3 years. It
was very upscale when we lived there and not quite as crowded. They always say
you cannot go back and to a certain extent that is true. We had many happy
memories of that apartment and it is where Ian was introduced to the world.
Alison had many happy years there. She learned to swim at the sports club
across the street. We drank many a pitcher of clara at the bar there too. Alright,
let’s go for lunch! Las Moreras is
calling us. Our trip is coming to and end and we are in familiar territory and
enjoying it immensely. The interesting thing is that we did not visit Alcala
when we lived here but we have certainly made up for it since!
After siesta and making sure that all bags were packed and ready
we headed in for our farewell visit to Calle Mayor! Well, let me tell you that
was a night to remember! First of all we were lucky enough to snag a table at
Lizarran and sat and watched the cut throat practice of nailing a table at one
of the bars! It is Saturday night after all. Then the brides and grooms started
showing up! We counted 8 altogether. Lovely girls and handsome young men
strolling the streets of Alcala followed by a photographer, beautiful trains
dragging through the ancient cobblestones. It is a very picturesque setting
after all! We had seen several ladies dressed in white with feathered angel
wings, what is afoot we asked?
It was getting late, we knew we had to get up early, we had snacked on pintxos and eaten our fill
so we decided to head back to the hotel when we heard singing coming from afar
and decided to investigate. Well, the scene we came upon really flummoxed us. There
were nuns in white robes prostrated on the ground, nuns in black robes with
white wimples, monks in homespun white robes and sandals assorted players of
music and many members of the public standing around watching. We were not that close so what we saw and
heard was most mysterious. There was heavenly music and singing, a raising of
hands to the sky, nuns in black embracing nuns in white and applause from the
on-lookers. Then they all walked off to the left. It was….interesting. What the
heck is going on? Surely this is not a ceremony admitting postulants into the
order? Surely that would be more private and done in a church, right? My
instinct was to follow the exiting holy ones and their spectators but my
conscience led me to follow Paul back to the Parador, however Alcala was not
letting us go that easily! Back at the Plaza de Cervantes those ladies dressed
in white had set up lots of chairs, donned white feathered wings and decorated the
bandstand with a multitude of white origami type birds. Very pretty, but will
someone tell us what is going on? Then we came upon another group singing and
and handing out religious tracts! This place is really hopping, but what is
going on??!!
We finally made it back to the Parador for a nightcap when Paul
learned he could not smoke his cigar out on the patio because it had been taken
over by the wedding group! I knew this was going to be a problem! He resorted
to crabbily stomping out to the sidewalk to have a puff or two. I sat at the
bar and contemplated taking my brandy up to the room to relax and go to bed .
This night has been very stimulating! I heard a hollering from Paul, “you are
missing it!” I dashed outside and here comes a parade of…..you guessed it,
nuns, monks, musicians and assorted spectators. This is getting ridiculous will
no one explain what is going on? A very cute young man, dressed in a homespun
robe and sandals put us out of our misery and explained that it was a living ,
moving play , using the city of Alcala as the stage! What an awesome concept.
We saw the first scene, missed the second and they were going to the Plaza for
the final scene where the other young man was going to sing. We declined to
join them but wished them suerte and they caught up with their cast members. I
wish we had known sooner we would have changed our plans but by now it was
getting close to 11pm and we really had an early start in the am.
The Parador was still a buzz of activity with the wedding taking
place in the swimming pool courtyard and the reception in the bar patio area
with splendid table settings for 25 tables complete with multiple wine settings
on each table. It was Party Time at the Parador! We headed for our room to wind
down and get ready for our departure in the morning.
The breakfast room the next morning was expecting us. They had
very kindly agreed to give us coffee and breakfast if we wanted before the
opening time. Lourdes, a very sweet lady we have known for a few years, always
takes care of us. Great service and a great Parador (barring the weddings which
always edge us out!).
It has been a great trip. Interesting new cities, new food and very nice people. We always try to visit new places each time we visit as well as some of our favorite cities. They never disappoint us. We are always made welcome and we try to learn about their lives, customs and history. They are a very proud, welcoming people. The sense of community we feel every time we come here is something we cherish. The simple act of walking after siesta with the family or sitting having a beer and watching the children play gives us untold pleasure. We missed our little ones at those times and wished they could be experiencing this with us. The kids seem to feel such freedom and are lovingly tolerated by most of the adults. We did this one totally on our own but we love to share these things with our friends we want people to experience the Spain that we know and love. Each year is a homecoming for us and we love it.
Hasta el ano que viene Espana! Hasta Luego!
