The
weather was
overcast as we drove across the plain to Toro, a larger town with
busy main streets, and on to the outskirts of Salamanca where we missed
a turn on the ring road and ended up in the busy city centre. After
passing seemingly endless traffic lights and pedestrian crossings we
reached
the suburb of Ste Marta de Tormes and the ACSI campsite at the Hotel
Regis, our base for a couple of days, with an hourly bus to the city
centre. The next morning it was cold but sunny as we took the bus into
the city centre which was quite empty as it was a Sunday. We strolled
around the magnificent Plaza Mayor and along the side streets to the
Casa de las Conchas then passed the "new" cathedral (consecrated in
1733) to reach the museum of Art Nouveau and Art Deco. We returned to
the campsite for a lazy afternoon and set off the next morning via a
supermarket where the fresh produce was considerably cheaper than in
the uk. Taking the straight and empty main road to the south west with
the usual lack of laybys for a lunch stop, we reached the Sierra de la
Peña de Francia and climbed up the winding road with several hairpins
to the top of the mountain for a fantastic 360 degree view of the
surrounding countryside with snow on the distant peaks. There
were only a handful of people at the top where we walked
around the monastery. We slowly drove back down and continued
to La Alberca the preserved historic National Monument
village with its narrow cobbled streets and several shops
selling the famed serrano ham joints. We pulled in to the free aire
with about ten other motorhomes. At least the service point waste drain
seems to have been cleared since we visited a few years ago! The next
morning we took a short waymarked walk through the surrounding forest
then drove on minor roads through hills of rough scrubland
with olive groves and small villages. We amazingly came across a
layby with stone picnic benches for lunch, at a piscine naturel where
the local river had been dammed, obviously a popular spot in the
summer. After passing through the town of Hernán Pérez we turned
off towards the wooded hills of the Sierra de Gata and the free aire in
the small village of Torre de Don Miguel. It was still warm in the
evening as we strolled around the old village centre of balconied
houses with many flower pots and a large church with palm trees.
Torre de don Miguel flower pots
Taking a diversion to Plasencia and the Montfrague Natural Park where
we stopped along with lots of twitchers to look at the eagles circling
around the rocks, we reached Trujillo where there was a cheese festival
taking place with nowhere to park so we headed for the busy free aire
in Caceres. The old city centre was busy with people strolling around
in the evening sunshine.
Caceres pottery balustrade
Heading south the next morning we found a rare Repsol service station
with Autogas LPG on the N630 road and it was open on a public holiday
so we topped up our Gaslow bottle. We bypassed Merida on the busier
Autovia then took the road to Zafra passing a police speed checkpoint
luckily at a sedate 70 km/hr, possibly the limit for all
motorhomes in Spain - it would appear to depend on the width of the
hard shoulder! The aire at Zafra was on a busy roundabout by the
centre, we felt not suitable for overnighting, but we stopped there for
lunch and a walk
around the town centre with a few interesting buildings and a large
castle
now a parador (a state owned hotel).
Our route took us south to the
Sierra de Aracena and a stop at a rustic campsite in chestnut woods
near Fuenteheridos. We found a pitch next to a German
registered motorhome with a British couple, now living in New Zealand,
who were touring Europe for four months - it was good to have a chat in
English for a while. (Note - don't pitch among sweet chestnut trees as
the millions of old spines on the ground get everywhere!) We had a
lazy day in warm sunshine, walking into the small white town with its
twelve fountain spouts and back through the woods.
The next day we set off for a tour of the hills visiting Almonaster
la Real, a delightful town with many attractive old buildings
overlooked by an
ancient mosque, castle and bullring. The tower of the castle had steps to
several levels with open galleries and no protective barriers - I
decided not to climb to the top! They were preparing for a festival but
it wasn't starting until 10.30 that evening so we didn't stay and
left after listening to the prolonged peal of church bells at midday.
Salamanca
- Casa de las Conchas and new cathedral
Salamanca - Art Nouveau and Art Deco museum façade
View from Peña de Francia
Peña de Francia ironwork screen
La Alberca
Torre de Don Miguel church
Caceres Plaza Mayor
Zafra castle
Fuenteheridos - twelve spouts of the "fountain"