in Zafra, saw Cuenca, on to Arcos mañana

Etamos bueno! All's well!

Our first day on the road was a little rocky in more ways than one: the car kept sticking in gears (probably my fault) especially when we were stuck at a stop light, on a hill, with another car breathing down my neck a few inches behind me...which it's fair to say made Chris just about ready to jump out the window and hop on the next plane home. But he handled it pretty well and I´m proud of us for getting through that, really. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Our first of the paradores (historic castles that were turned into hotels) took about 7 hours from Barcelona! It was only 5 hours based on the map but there was getting out of Barcelona that took an hour (thank God it was a quiet Sunday morning) plus we had eaten dinner around midnight the night before, so we were beat, plus the roads we took crossed SIERRAS or a 3,000 foot mountain range with little switchbacks.

So it was 7 hours in the put-put-putting car but on very well-maintained highways and the scenery looked like a combination of Tuscan vineyards, Montana or Yosemite (mountainy forests), and Wyoming (dusty one-street towns) along the way. I think in just these two days we´ve driven through 12 Spanish provinces and four major regions (La Mancha, Catalonia, Aragon, Castilla and now Extremadura) so I am so glad we rented a car. Our highest concern is that no one steals it and we generally just pay 4 euros a day for parking in a garage with a policia watching it.

Finally we arrived at the parador around 10 at night and it was was up a steep, steep hill on a cliff overlooking a gorge in Cuenca and we´re talking about a 15th century road, ain´t no guide rails. We parked and checked in, only to find out that you have to cross a little pedestrian bridge OVER the gorge on foot to get to the town and restaurants and Chris is terrified of heights. Oh Lord. So we ate in the castle (bleh) and the next morning I crossed the bridge while Chris took the long way around (down the long hill, back up a long hill). I seriously can´t believe they don´t mention that rickety bridge in any of the books or brochures or photos I had seen of that town.

Yesterday we left Cuenca for Zafra, another few hours drive, which is a tiny little hill town in Andalucia (the culturally rich region of Spain) which turns out to be a little sleepy and gray and rainy even -- we've hardly seen any tourists -- but it was just what we needed. Less sites, more putting our feet up and sleeping in.

Meat is pretty much 80% of the diet in Spain, so we tend to look or ask for well rounded restaurants that the locals like. The restaurant we found for lunch today was the most savory goat cheese salad I´ve ever had in my life and plenty of vino tinto (red wine) which is cheap and local, so very fresh.

The castle we´re at here in Zafra is from 1443 and extremely romantic and gorgeous. The room has enormous dark brown double doored windows that open to the plaza below.

Zafra:

Cuenca:

view from our hotel room:

little village of Albaraccin along the way: