Segovia and Avilla Spain

 The last day trip we did from Madrid was a combined tour of the towns of Segovia and Avilla.  We first went to Avilla which is a walled city.  Saying it is a walled city is a little bit of an understatement.  It is one of the longest walled cities in the world with 8,255 square feet of continuous walls and 88 semi circle turrents.  It is also known as the Town of Walls and Saints.  The walls were heavily built from repurposed stones some of which were old tombstones from Roman Tombs.  The Saints part comes from St Teresa of Jesus who was born in this town and many pilgrims come here because of her.

Avilla

Jeff by one of the main gates to the walled city

St Teresa of Jesus

St Teresa of Jesus

St Teresa of Jesus was born in Avilla to a wealthy family who had bought a knighthood.  Her father bought the knighthood to help his acceptance in Christian society since his father had been a Jew at one time and converted to Christianity rather than leave Spain.  Her mother raised her as a devout Christian. Mom may have overdone the Christian upbringing because at a young age, her and her older brother tried to run away to help fight the Muslims or moors.   Happily, an uncle saw them outside the walls of the city and brought them back.  However, it was really the beginning for St Teresa.  She would later join the local monastery and become a nun.  She would become a mystic Christian and would also later push that the nuns should use less of their wealth on themselves and more for the people who needed help.  Neither of these beliefs were very popular with the other nuns and some clergy to the extent she was punished until a Spanish King befriended here.  She died on a trip to a neighboring town, so she was buried there.  Well people in Avilla felt she should be buried in Avilla, so the coffin was opened 9 months later and while her clothing was rotted her body was intact.  Someone took a finger then.  The poor lady's burial site would change several times over the years because of politics.  In the end, parts of her are still intact and in several locations.  Geez what a tough after life!   

Walls - long and strong

The tour ended with a climb up to the top of the walls and a chance to explore.  Our guide warned us not to turn left at one corner, but to turn around or we would be gone too long/lost and left behind.  Something about a really long way around!

Lots of churches

Segovia

Was our second town for the day and all I knew was it had a really impressive roman aqueduct.  Jeff thought there would be a really interesting castle too.  Happily, we were both correct.  The first thing you see as you enter the town is the aqueduct.  It is tall and very long and built without any type of glue/mortar just stone on top of stone.  And still standing I should add.

As we walked around the town, our guide pointed out a unique building feature that is common in Segovia called graffiti.  No not the current version but a much nicer version.  It is where they texturized the walls/added patterns to the whole structure.  After showing us part of the town, the guide set us free to find lunch and then join him for the walk to and tour of the castle.

Roman Aqueduct

pictures of various forms of graffiti

Originally a Mosque, then a Synagogue and then Convento Del Corpus Christi
We couldn’t go inside, but the bottom picture shows the interior.

Cathedral De Segovia

 Alcazar

As I said above, Jeff was right there was a gorgeous castle in Segovia and it is called Alcazar.  Look closely at the pictures because you have seen interpretations of it for years.  Disney based Snow White's castle on this one.  The castle was in use till the 1700s when there was a fire and most of the interior burned.  We were told that one painting was original, one ceiling was the spare from the original structure and the rest of it was rebuilt.  I have to admit I saw this one a day or 2 after the replacement castle in Madrid and I kind of prefer the style of this one although the new one is much larger and quite impressive.  Like many old buildings in Europe, this one was added onto several times including one time so the king could impress his new wife.  If you look closely at the picture below you will see different types of stonework and different building styles.

Moats and Gardens below the walls

Due to a fire, the contents came from other castles.
The stain glass was commissioned during the renovation

The ceiling I really like is on the top left.  Bottom right is the chapel built for the wedding of a king

baby black storks in nest by castle

an old roman gravestone in the wall

Wine tasting in Ribera Del Duero, Spain

We went on a wine tour led by Alberto and joined with one other couple, Renee and Harvey from Florida.  We had a long ride (2+hrs) traveling across the Sierra de Guadarrama Mountains to reach our destination.  Ribera Del Duero is one of 69 recognized wine regions in Spain.  It’s primary varietal is Tempranillo which does well in a dry climate.   In the map below, you can see our destination Ribera del Duero (dark purple North of Madrid.) La Mancha (below Madrid in light blue) is where we visited a winery as  part of our tour to Toledo earlier in the week.  Next week, we will visit Rioja for three nights.  While on the ship, I had done a wine tasting that included a wine from the Ribera Del Duero region so I was excited to do a tasting in the region.

A few of the 69 wine regions in Spain are highlighted.

Our first stop is Dominio de Cair which has an impressive building with an entrance that resembles a wine barrel.  It is a modern new winery built in 2008, but with very old vines.  The character of this wine region is heavily focused on the age of the vines.  Old vines 25, 50, 75 years old with low production are highly valued.  Come September, the fruit is harvested by hand.  This contrasts with California where vines are replaced to keep production up.  Fruit often harvested by machine.  They own 33 hectares, and purchase grapes from other farming an additional 103 hectares under the supervision of the wine maker.  

This is the only winery that we experience “the tour.”   It held a couple pleasant surprises.   They had three different types of tanks for the first fermentation.   In the picture below, you see large oak tanks, stainless steel tanks and concrete tanks.   We had never seen or heard of concrete tanks, but they were quite proud as that provides a porous container in between the Oak and stainless tanks.  

A fun aspect of the tour was the discussion of barrels.  They use both French and American Oak with different toasts.  The bottom left image shows the four different amount of toast for both American and French Oak.  Toasting is charring of the inside of the barrel.   After hearing how the type of Oak influenced the wine, our task was to taste the same young wine aged in both a French and American barrel of the same toast and identify the source of the barrel. 1 of 4 got it right. :)  

The demonstration of different Oaks and toasts was special

It’s time for a tasting.  They have set up a wonderful room with a gorgeous view of the vineyard.   Surprisingly, the table is full of food in addition to the tasting glasses.  I assume it’s the lunch that is included in the tour, but I am wrong.   Lunch is scheduled for the third winery.  

A Hobbit would call this second breakfast

We sampled three of their wines.  (Click on the links to learn more)  The first Selection “La Aguilera” 2019 was produced from vineyards over 45 years old.  Young by their standards.  It had 5% Merlot while the next two are 100% Tempranillo with much older vines.   We also tried: Tierras de Clair and Cruz del Pendon.  Carol and I have different preferences in wine, but we can always find something we both like.   In this case she liked the second best and I the third, so we compromised on a bottle of the first which we both enjoyed.  

Our next stop is amazingly different than the first.  The van stops in a residential neighborhood.  I ponder if the winery is in someone’s basement?  I then notice what looks like a storage shed, but instead it is the entrance to an underground tunnel.  We get out and meet our host.  She then takes us inside and down 12 meters, where in the 16th Century people dug out this Cellar.  There are 30 similar cellars in the area.  

The winery’s name is Nabal and it is operated by 3 cousins.  Our host is one of those 3 cousins. They use this old cellar for a tasting room rather than the modern facility depicted on their website.  It’s a great space that enchants all of us.   It’s a new venture for them.  The family is long time Vintner's, but the 3 cousins set out to try something new, Enotourism or Wine tourism.  Traditional winery’s in Spain don’t have elaborate tasting rooms.   They focus on selling to distributors.  The business is starting to change with a few medium to large winery’s taking a page from Napa and creating a destination experience.   At this stop we both agree on the Reserva 2016 Tempranillo from vines averaging 90-100 years old.   We also liked an unusual Rose, Rosado De Lagrima 2022 Tempranillo & Garnacha (Grenache)

16th century cellar

Though I’m still full from our first stop, it’s time for lunch at our third winery.   Alvides is another large facility.  They have a similar history, in that they inherited some small vineyards in the 60s, but launched a large modern facility in 2001 that then grew into wine tourism.  Our host is a Sommelier from Argentina with a British accent.  Everything in that sentence is unusual.   

• I expect a Sommelier at an expensive restaurant, not a wine tasting.
• How is it an Argentinian is working in rural Spain?
• Why does she have a British accent?

We are hear to taste wine not learn hear her history, so lets pour some wine and try to eat some food.  We both like Alvides Tercena Generacion (Three generations) and impulsively buy another Rose.  Alvides  Rosado 2022

Lunch

Our last stop is at Valdubon, one of four wineries owned by Ferrer Miranda.  They started near Barcelona in 1861 expanding into sparkling wine in 1914.   The family operates 3 wineries in Spain and another in Argentina.   

This should have been called the Food and Wine tour as we find plates of chocolate covered Strawberries and Cherries to enjoy with our wine.   Some (not us) may question Chocolate, but it was a perfect pairing with our clear favorite. The tasting notes Valdubon Diez describes the collaborative effort to smooth full bodied wine that has a taste of dark cherry.  This is a low production wine made in select years on vines averaging 75 years of age. 

After the tasting we had a chance to look at some vines.   Picture below shows what the flowers look like.  They had a slightly sweet subdued smell.   At the top of the page is a picture of the young fruit from a vine next to the one pictured below.  

Ancient city of Toledo & the plains of Castillia de La Mancha

Ancient city of Toledo

Our first out of town trip combined time in the old city of Toledo with a visit to a winery in the La Mancha wine region.  We met up with our guide by the Mercado de San Miquel.  From there our group of 13 that included a family of 5 were off to Toledo.

Ancient walled city of Toledo in background

Toledo was the capital of Spain at one time.  There is an old town and a new modern area.  The old town is what we explored.  The city has the nickname "city of 3 cultures" because of the cultural influences of the Muslims, Jews and later Christians.  It is a walled city and is located on the Tagus River with one of the key architectural sites being the San Martin Bridge.  Our guide walked us around for about an hour and then set us free to explore and to eat something before we headed to the winery.  One of the interesting parts of the old city is its "quarters" so there is a Jewish area with lots of Hebrew signs embedded in the road and walls and a Muslim area with former mosques and later a Christian.  Each area had a gateway and a note on the street.  If you were not of that religion, you could not enter that area.  

Walled city & San Martin Bridge

San Martian Bridge in background

The Christian section of the city has a gorgeous old cathedral - Cathedral Primada.  It is full of golden structures, and I do mean full.  We only did the short view at the end of our time so we did not get to see a lot, but what we did was quite impressive.  Our guide pointed out to his American tourists that all the gold there came from the Americas.  There is also a monastery for nuns in the old town.  Actually there were a couple of monasteries for nuns there.  We bought some marzipan (a Toldeo specialty) at a store selling items made by the various local monasteries.

Cathedral

Cathedral 

Cathedral 

Shop sold baked goods from monasteries

Left and top are Monastery, bottom right is adjacent church

There are many impressive old buildings in Toledo including former synagogues and mosques converted into churches and an impressive fortress plus several plazas.  From the trivia questions on the ship, we had learned that from Roman times to now Toldeo is the place in the world for sharp knives and swords.  We saw many shops with all sorts of swords and knives in their windows.

Toledo is famous for its knives and swords
They are capitalizing on the popularity of Game of Thrones and Lord of the Rings

Old city streets of Toledo

On a softer side, the painter El Greco loved this area and painted many works of the area. He resided here 37 years until he died in 1614.  There was a famous sculpturer who too liked the area so some nice art was floating around too.

The plains of Castillia de La Mancha is the setting for Cervantes novel, The man of La Mancha.  Cervantes lived for a time in Toledo.  He is remembered with the statue below.

Statue of Cervantes who lived for awhile in Toledo

Finca Loranque Winery in the Castillia de La Mancha wine region

From Toledo we drove to the Finca Loranque Winery,   The last part of the drive was down a dirt road.  We are in the La Mancha wine region.  I didn't understand our guide completely, but there were a lot of restrictions on what could or could not be done with the countryside in the area which was the reason for the condition of the road and why we could not get out of the van to take pictures.  Jeff and I commented that our rental car said no dirt roads so we were hoping that not all Spanish Wineries are down dirt roads!  We get to the main buildings and are surprised to find very nice facilities including a building to host wine tastings and events.  

A representative from the winery shows up and he starts to proudly show us the winery.  We start in a modern room with large stainless steel tanks that we learn have refrigeration bans on them to keep the wine cooler to slow the fermentation process.  We then walk through a doorway and enter the old storage area.  This area is from the 1800s and was strategically built to keep a constant year round temperature.  The walls are a 1 1/2 meters thick and there are windows up high that can be opened for ventilation as necessary - seems very necessary at certain parts of the fermentation process.  We ask what some large clay pots that kind of look like oversized bee hives are for and learn that they were the vessels for wine fermentation at one time.  While there has been a winery owned by a single family here since the 18th century, the current owners have only had it since 1982.  When they bought it, they were determined to bring it back to high standards and to move on from local wine tastes to more international.  Their first vintage was 2002.  

Left is cellar from 1800s

One of the things they have chosen to do is to implement an ecological/organic process.  One thing that stood out to both of us was that they drop lots and lots of egg whites into each holding tank to pull out all the little pieces of debris (stems, skins, etc).  Neither of us had ever heard of egg whites in your wine!  Then it was on to the wine tasting.  We had 2 different tempranillo wines and one that was a blend of tempranillo and merlot.  We asked why they blended the tempranillo with merlot and the answer was that merlot is better known in the States so they hoped that would help sell the wines to the US market.  

Madrid Spain

 Madrid, Spain

We had visited Barcelona in 2016, so upon disembarking from the ship, we took a High Speed Train to Madrid.  Reaching speeds of up to 186 mph, the countryside flew by.   We saw rolling hills of farms and later dryer lands with olive trees.  The train arrive early in about 2:45 min.  It was easy to catch an Uber to our apartment operated by a US company Sonder.   It’s nice to have a small kitchen and living room in contrast to our small cabin onboard the ship.   After unpacking it’s off to a Lidl Grocery to pick up breakfast and ingredients for two dinners.  Tomorrow we will go on a food tour, which we have learned is both fun, delicious and a good overview of a city.  

We have 10 nights in Madrid to see the city and a few day trips outside the City.   This post will cover our time in Madrid.  We will post our day trips separately.  

Dinner at a good restaurant near our place.

Secret Food Tour 

Is a company we used in Edinburgh and Singapore.   Again, we had a great guide here in Madrid.  It was a small group consisting of a young couple and a family.  In addition to 5 stops to taste the food of Madrid, our guide shared information on both the city today and its history.

EL Riojano 

Our first stop is a gorgeous wood and marble shop.  The front entrance looks like a pastry shop, but the back is small tea room.   We are here to bolster our energy for the day.  I’m talking sugar and caffeine! The sugar is a local variation on French toast.  Brioche bread soaked in milk cooked on the grill with a egg coating and a dusting of cinnamon powder.    Its consistency is almost custard like.   For caffeine you have the choice of Expresso or the specialty, Hot Chocolate.  Not being a coffee drinker, I went for the Hot Chocolate, which was like drinking a rich candy bar, it was that thick.  

 

Bartolome Gourmet

This is our stop to experience Iberian Ham.   Walking in, we knew they fed the pigs some nut.   Oh, it's not that simple.  The pigs are a particular breed and are raised free range along the border with Portugal. The ham is graded by a number of factors including male/female, cut and especially diet.  Bellota was our favorite.  Click here if you want to learn more.

Bar La Campana

Calamari like I have never had before served hot and tender.  They look like large onion rings on a fresh baguette.  They were fantastic hot with a squeeze of fresh lemon.  I who am not a fan of olives enjoyed the side of mild green olives too.  

Refra

I almost thought they sat a glass of iced tea in front of me.   It was dark and had a slice of lemon on the rim.   Spaniards like Vermouth and each restaurant is proud of their Vermouth.  This was slightly sweet. I enjoyed it very much.   I would have been in big trouble if I drank it like I do with iced tea.    We learned you should always order an alcoholic drink without any food as often the restaurant will bring you a Tapas to enjoy with it at no charge.  See below

Mirador Del Armco De Cuchilleros

For the Grand Finale, we started with a Spanish Cider.  It’s very dry and a little acidic.    Our guide demonstrated how it must be poured several feet into the glass as it wasn’t filtered, and the poring did something neither of us remembers.  It made a good show.   It’s best enjoyed with food, so we had a big spread of Cheese, Grilled Peppers, Blood Sausage and more.  To top all of that off, we could select from Cava, White or Red Wine or another Vermouth for another drink.   I enjoyed a nice Red Wine from La Rioja where we will travel to next week while Carol had Cava.  

During the tour, our guide shared how Madrid with 4 million residents in the city limits alone is a large city that has experienced Gentrification.   To preserve small family businesses, it grants a tax exemption to business of over 100 years of age, held by the same family and conducting the same type of business. They are also commemorated with a brass plaque.  One such business is Casa Hernanz which was established in 1860.  Carol purchased the shoes below.

Top right shows the materials used in the shoes
Left is the commemorative plaque
Right Carol’s new shoes

Exploring Central Madrid

We are staying in the old part of town, full of beautiful older buildings.   The are only 5 skyscrapers and they are all on the North side of town.  We enjoyed many hours of exploring the city.  

Behind me is the Cervantes Monument with his characters Don Quixote and his Squire Pancho Sancho Panza

Museo de National del Prado

The Prado Museum is over 200 years old and contains a vast collection of Spanish and European Art. We lingered in the galleries we found interesting and skipped or hurried through others as we find 2 hours is our limit.  I confess I broke the rules to capture images of the two table tops below.

Real Jardin Botanico de Madrid 

The Royal Botanical Gardens are next door to the Prado Museum.  We enjoyed a nice lunch before setting out to explore the gardens.   They were nice, but sadly some plants were not in good condition.  We were very impressed by the Bonsai, which I have a few images of in the collage below.  

Monastery of Las Descalzas Reales

This monastery is very unusual.  It was built in the mid 16th century.  It occupies the palace of Carlos I and Isabel of Portugal.  Their daughter Juana founded the monastery as a place for widowed or never married nobility.  She and her sister the widowed Queen are buried there. All of the Nuns brought a dowry which enabled the monastery to be adorned with incredible tapestries and paintings.  The tapestries are in the best condition we have ever seen.  I assume it is because of the care they received.   The grand stairway was overwhelming.  The top left and bottom images below show you how every inch of wall and ceiling are adorned.  While it is an active Monastery, the Pope granted that they may open it to the public to raise funds as wealthy nobility stopped joining the monastery.  

When we ordered tickets, we learned of a small problem to overcome.  Only guided tours of the Monastery are allowed, and they are in Spanish.   Before we went, I compared Google Translate and Apple Translate so we could understand what the guide was saying.   It was a good thing I selected the Apple App because another couple from Germany used Google which wanted to speak the translation rather than display text in a large easy to read font that we could both read.   Our only challenge was staying close enough to the guide to record his speech.   The App stopped listening if it couldn’t hear him sufficiently. 

Museo Nacional Centre de Art Reina Sofia

The Reina Sofia Museum is a modern art museum known for its large collection of modern and contemporary Spanish art.  We saw several works by Dali and Pablo Picasso including Picasso’s large mural Guernica.  It was created to commemorate the bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War.  It was odd that the government at the time allowed it and used it in an international exhibition.   The bombing occurred between the time the government commissioned him and the time of the event. The stages of creating it first in small scale were documented by a friend.  Did Picasso’s fame stay the hand of the government?  Madrid is known for food and its art scene.  There are 3 extremely well known art museums.  We visited 2 of the 3 because that was enough for us.  This one is considered to be the modern one, but to my chagrin no impressionist paintings at all.  I did enjoy the Picassos and Dalis.  Sorry, there were restrictions on taking photos.

They created a large atrium by enclosing the old museum with a modern new building.

Royal Palace of Madrid

The Royal Palace of Madrid is the largest in Western Europe.  It is in very good condition, partly because it was built in the 1700s after a fire burned the previous palace down.  Supposedly at the time all the top artisans came to Madrid to help build the new palace.  It is full of ceilings with lots of angels and cherubs painted on them and many gorgeous huge rooms.  Since this is still a working palace, we did not get to see everything.  We did see a huge (I do mean huge) dining room - seats 120 I think they said and there was easily 12 feet left at one end.  At one time, it was several rooms and made up the queen's quarters.  A few minutes later we wandered to a different area where we saw the new queen's quarters which too were quite nice.  Additionally, there is one room called the porcelain room literally everything in the room is porcelain.  They said the vines you see on the walls covered up the joints for putting the pieces together.

Cathedral de Santa Maria de Real de la Almudena

It was a long slow process.  The foundation was laid in 1883 as a Church, but then the plans were changed to make it a Cathedral.  Scope Creep! Then more the aesthetic requirements changed.  That’s how you get a never ending project folks.  It wasn’t finished until it was consecrated by Pope John Paul II in 1993.  

Side of Cathedral facing palace

Palace on left, Cathedral on right

Alter has an impressive ceiling

Pope John Paul II on right
Impressive Chapel on left

El Ritro Park

On our last day in Madrid, we decided to wander around El Ritro Park.  We only wandered around part of it because it is bigger than Central Park in New York like a lot bigger, plus it was another hot day.  The park started life as a hunting ground for the king.  We saw lots of people running, dogs having a good time and kids enjoying playgrounds.  There were great views since where we were was up on top of a good-sized hill.  One oddity was an Egyptian temple.  It seems Egypt gave Spain a Temple that would have been covered by Aswan lake for helping build the Aswan dam.  We also saw a rose garden that had a shady path for part of it so we explored that area and then decided to call it a day before we melted!  

Temple of Debod, a gift from Eqypt

Miscellaneous

We mostly walked to get to places in Madrid meaning we got to know the neighborhood where we were staying so we visited the Lidle (grocery) down the block and the Mercado San Delfonso, and a couple of the little cafes riming the local park and I checked out a couple of the shops too.  A couple of places were part of our regular route to the sites such as the Gran Via and the Puerto del Sol Plaza and the Plaza de Mayor.  I put Gran Via and Puerto del Sol together because the square which is large (several streets come off of it) and Gran Via which is a pedestrian shopping street kind of became one in my mind.  When I hit them, I knew how to get home on my own.  Plus there were lots of sites in that area.  Puerto del Sol has a couple of statutes in it including one that is the symbol of Madrid - a bear climbing/eating a strawberry tree.  Our guide told us the tree is pretty much nonexistent today partially because its fruit was so fragile.  On Friday evening, we were tired and frustrated when we did that walk.  Somewhat to my chagrin there was a huger crowd around a business blocking the whole street say 30 - 50 feet deep.  Jeff could tell there were some professional dancers at the store.  I later learned I had passed by a very popular night spot so I guess I showed my age by not being interested that evening!

Symbol of Madrid

Madrid is a good place to go to eat as we learned on our food tour.  We did cook a couple of our dinners at "home".  We also had to learn to adjust to the local eating schedule.  In Madrid, siesta is common with shops and with cafes.  If it is open between around 2 till 4 ish then it is geared towards tourists.  If the restaurant was closed in the middle of the afternoon and did not open till 8ish then it was a place that catered more to locals.  We had several good meals.  The picture at the top is from a restaurant around the corner from our apartment that has been around for many years.  We had 2 very nice dinners there for a very reasonable price.  Another night we went to a restaurant our guide had recommended for suckling pig.  We got there a little after 7 and were their first guests of the night, shortly after a couple of other obvious tourists showed up.  The food was as good as our guide had promised.  Having a true sweet tooth, I also hunted out several dessert spots.

Attractive building with a Great location across from the park