We are breaking up our stay here in Salamanca with a trip out of the city to see small Spanish towns off the tourist track. My turn to drive this morning and I had the fun of squeezing the car out of the hotel car park.
First we headed to Ciudad Rodrigo, only about 50 miles from the Portuguese border. A sleepy little town (again actually city as there is a cathedral!) which was fought over by the French, Spanish and English. It is heavily fortified with a double wall and moat - now dry and filled with poppies. We were able to walk the city walls for a bit and discovered probably the oldest and most impressive post office I have ever visited (I have a bit of an obsession for visiting post offices and buying lots of stamps wherever we travel to). The Correos (post office) is a magnificent artesonado with a wooden Mudéjar ceiling, stained glass and medieval-style tiled friezes.
Onwards to our next town and definitely my favourite of the day - La Alberca - situated high in the Sierra de Francia Natural Park. This really was unusual. It looks like a medieval town with cobbled narrow streets and people selling almonds and hams (the main agriculture and trade here). The image above is of one of the little streets, built around a massive boulder - as you do! We were forced to try a few tapas (Colin yet again adding to his Morcilla sampling and again with a more successful plate than the attempt in León). We also managed to find our favourite Pimientos Padrón for the first time this trip. As we drove through orchards of almond and olive trees we could see the snow capped mountains of the Sierra in the distance, nice to see mountains again after our time in the Picos but these were quite different, much more rounded, less craggy.
Our final stop before we headed back to Salamanca was Béjar - the SatNav took an interesting route… we got there eventually. After negotiating narrow streets, leaping out for an ‘American style’ visit, there wasn’t actually that much to see although it was pretty so I was back in the driving seat this time for our return to Salamanca and the very tight parking space under the hotel.
Dinner at the same place as last night - we added a salad for healthiness to the steak and ‘arroz con leche’!
