The Ham Nomads

22 Jan 2015. <ES> Olmedo, Valladolid, Castile y León; Segovia, Segovia; Madrid —

Olmedo. Not much to say, except that it was a delight. We moved our car from the aire just outside the town wall and up to a park in the street nearer the centre of things. We walked around until we found an opening in the town walls. An interesting walk, as we passed an old church, and a number of storks nesting on top of the walls.

We wandered about, and came upon a square on which was Palacio Caballero de Olmedo. We went in, to find that it is an audiovisual presentation, entirely in Spanish. We decided to take the plunge. Don't know how much of the content we understood, but the audiovisial display was brilliant. Turns out that this is a dramatisation of one of the most famous plays, El Caballero de Olmedo (The Knight of Olmedo) by Felix Lope de Vega y Carpio (Madrid, 1562 - 1635), Spain's answer to Shakespeare! The play itself is a little like Romeo and Juliet, but with older protagonists, evil plots, a duel, treachery, and typically Spanish themes of honour and chivalry. Sounds like good fun!

We then wandered a little further, found a post office. Again we were able to do our business — buying stamps, posting postcards and a letter — in spite of the language gulf! Coming out of the post office and turning right, we came across a panatería (a bread shop) where we bought a baguette for our lunch — this is one thing you see all through France and Spain, men and women (more often men) coming home from the bread shop with a long baguette (or more). Is this a trace of our old hunter-gatherer heritage?

We went back to the van, and left for Segovia, which wasn't far away, but which is at some altitude, so we had more snow driving. We parked in a little street below the cathedral, had our lunch there, then went on up to the cathedral. It was threatening to snow, so we made sure we rugged up and took our umbrellas with us!

On the way to the cathedral, we passed through the old Jewish quarter of the city. There is still a huge Jewish presence there. But we went round to the cathedral. This is the last Gothic cathedral built in Spain, in the 1500s. Once again, large spaces meant to impress, and numerous side chapels. The choir in this cathedral is slightly different, as it faces the main altar across the intersection of nave and transepts. There are pews sited in the intervening space — interestingly, the only seating visible in the whole place. We wandered the cathedral for a while, rather bemused that they had chosen not to pipe plainchant through the building, nor Spanish liturgical music, but instead we were listening to the familiar strains of Handel's Messiah. Refreshing!

We left the cathedral and walked some narrow (and empty) streets until we came to the Alcázar. This was once a Moorish palace, but became later the palace of Queen Isabella of Castile (and, with Ferdinand, of Spain) — it is from here she left to go to the Plaza Mayor for her coronation in 13 December 1474. The palace fell victim to a fire in 1862, but since that time the citizens of Segovia have performed miracles in restoring it to its previous magnificence. Much of this has been done with the aid of detailed drawings made in 1840 by José Maria Avrial, director of the school of Fine Arts and Trades. The ceilings are magnificent, and in one room there is a frieze (recreated after the fire) of all the kings and queens of Spain from Pelagius of Asturias down to Juana la Loca (Joan the Mad).

It was getting late, it was snowing, and we had to leave. If we had had a little more time, we would have made our way down to the Roman aqueduct that cuts right through the old city. It's over 2,000 years old, a dry-stone construction, huge, and in marvellous condition. It was still carrying water until the 1800s! As it was, we only caught glimpses of it as we drove out of Segovia.

We drove down to Madrid, getting in to the Camping Alpha campsite after dark. We've decided that it's the easiest thing to find a proper camping ground near large cities, and you can't get much larger than Madrid!

Distance driven — today, 130 miles ( 209 km ); to date, 11,888 miles ( 19,132 km )