Salamanca & Segovia: "I hope the days come easy and the moments pass slow and each road leads you where you want to go."

Salamanca is absolutely stunning! I loved walking around the city seeing the cathedral right across from our hotel…

The Nuevo Catedral and Viejo Catedral…

We even found the Underground bar, guess the one in Hermosa is a chain.

Come to find out that Salamanca is the Nashville of Spain, I say that due to the amount of bachelor and bachelorette parties we saw.  

We enjoyed some cañas and tapas at Lilicook, recommended by Carlos, which turned out to be an excellent choice.

We then head to Plaza Mayor to meet up with Carlos. What a cool plaza! 

He walks us around the city, showing us his favorite spots.  We go by the Nuevo Cathedral again, this time paying close attention to the intricate details on the outside of the cathedral.  Ray had seen a postcard with an astronaut on it and so he was determined to find it.  Turned out to be a little harder than we had originally thought so its a good thing Carlos knew where he was and right next to it was  a gargoyle eating ice cream.  You definitely wouldn't expect to find these carvings on such an old building right?  These two littles guys were added in 1992 by the craftman in charge of doing some of the restoration.  Apparently the astronaut symbolizes the 20th century and the gargoyle represents the students.  

We then walk through a really spectacular garden with a huge artichoke…

to the Roman bridge.

Although it was hot, I convinced the team to walk across with me, despite Carlos saying there was absolutely nothing on the other side.

Pepe had to get a pic with the Bull, looks like he is missing something.

Earlier, Ray and I had walked into a Jamon store to gaze at the various ham legs and chorizo.  While in there, it was impossible not to notice the fantastic pastry smell, permeating the whole place.  We saw what the workers were making, but couldn't figure out quite what it was.  We figured we’d ask Carlos when we saw him.  So of course, when we end up passing the store again, we have to try a hornazo.  Its a Spanish meat pie, traditionally eaten in Salamanca.  

Carlos then walked us to the main gate at the University of Salamanca.  He explained to us the  tradition of the frog, saying that students who attend the university must find the frog on the outside of the building before being able to graduate.  Since this was where Carlos went, we of course had to check out the amphibian.  Although he won't admit it, Ray cheated and had seen where the frog was located while looking at a postcard earlier that day.  I looked and looked.  Its probably a good thing that I didn't go there, since I needed some assistance in order to find it. And yes, I have a picture of the frog, but I don't want to spoil the fun for those of you who have yet to find it. 

Back to Plaza Mayor for some tintos de verano. I must admit this might be my favorite drink of the entire trip.  Its red wine, with fizzy lemonade.  Refreshing, bubbly, and absolutely delicious. I guess theres another type, but I prefer the one con limón.  

For dinner, we were at a place called Tapas 2.0.  We all laughed at the English translated menu…

None of us chose the Kobe Bryant Burger! 

We settled for some more salmorejo, sashimi steak and steak tartar.  Somehow, I have never tried this tartar business, at least that I can remember.  Again, I branched out and tried something new and was pleasantly surprised.  Carlos mentioned this was his favorite and I agree it was quite good.  At the end of the night, we walked back over to Plaza Mayor to see it all lit up at night.   I can't even begin to explain how beautiful it was, surrounded by golden buildings showing off in the moonlight.  I totally understand why Carlos says this is his favorite place in Salamanca.

Pepe wanted a pic too

Somehow the places I come to love, I also find a heart.

Unfortunately, all good things have to come to an end and we have to leave Salamanca.  We say our goodbyes to our new friend and hit the road to Segovia, en route to Madrid, our last destination.  Along the way, we cross a bike race and catch the tail end of it… I tried to get a picture, but it looks like my camera decided to focus on our bug ridden windshield, rather than the blur of bikes. You can somewhat see their helmets in the middle of the picture.

Quite ironic that today also is Father’s Day and my dad absolutely loves bike races from the Tour de France to La Vuelta a España. This must be fate!   

Segovia, segovia, segovia! Before I begin with our time there, I must catch you all up on a back story that has been going on since our last trip.  

This book was used during our last trip, all throughout Ireland, Scotland, England, Netherlands, Germany, Czech Republic, Austria, Italy and Spain. As you can imagine, I spent a lot of time staring at the cover, at this stunning fortress.  But yet, I had no idea what it was or even where it was located.  During one of our drives, I scanned the front pages for an answer and turned up with nothing.  “Maybe its listed in the back?” I think.  So I flip to the back, still nothing about the cover photo.  I check the front pages again to make sure I didn't miss it.  Still nothing.  I check any pages that I would expect to have some sort of information about the cover page on it.  No answer.  At this point, I am determined to find out what and where this is located, which proved to be a challenging task to say the least, since I didn't even know what country it stood in.  I attempted to guess, maybe Germany or Austria,  maybe Scotland, perhaps France.  Finally, I’m forced to look through every page for any hint of this fortress. At one point, I come across an alcazar in Toledo.  “Looks similar. This has to be it,” I think to myself.  And so for the rest of our trip and the next 8 months, I consider the elusive fortress to be Toledo’s Alcazar.  Never thought to investigate any further since I was under the impression that i had already found it.  About one week into this current trip, my whole world changed.  Sounds drastic, but seriously, it did.  Ray somehow discovered that this mysterious fortress wasn't in Toledo as we had thought.  On the next page (of the book), was the Alcazar in Segovia.  With only a description to go on (no picture), we learn the answer we had sought after for so long.  Call it chance or call it fate, but at the moment we made this discovery, it just so happened that we had made plans to make a stop in Salamanca before heading to Madrid.  And where does Segovia sit in comparison? Oh just a hop, skip and a jump between the two.  I looked at Ray when he informed me of this and said, “Well, looks like we’re going to Segovia!” (end of side story). 

So here we are, walking into the epitome of our European travels.  Not sure how it happened, but this alcazar had become the most pivotal point of our trip.  We pass right through an amazing Roman aqueduct. It was pretty cool but it wasn't the main event.

And a local car show…

Still I have one thing on my mind and that is seeing the Alcazar. We walk and walk, following the signs. Somehow we find ourselves all alone walking the streets, but yet we keep seeing signs pointing us toward Al.  And then…

We catch a glimpse. I am absolutely elated. My step speed increases, despite the intense heat and uneven cobblestone ground.  Until we are finally admist the shadows of this incredible structure. Pepe wanted the first picture.

Yep, I’m quite the tourist, but I don’t even care.

Best picture ever!!!!

And of course we wish our dad’s a happy father’s day…

I just can't get enough of this amazing structure.  We drive around trying to find the best view of our pal Al.

Cascais, Sintra, Guarda: "Travel as much as you can, as far as you can, as long as you can. Life's not meant to be lived in one place."

We sadly leave Lisbon and head to Cascais and then Sintra, ultimately ending up in Guarda for our last night in Portugal.  Cascais is a quick hop from Lisbon, we get there and head straight to the Boca do Inferno, the mouth of hell.  What a sight! 

We spent some time wandering arounds the cliffs, checking out all the amazing views of the Inferno.  It was quite a sight to see!  Look at how clear the water is, Pepe wishes he had a fishing pole. 

We then make a short jump over to Sintra, well it should have been a short jump being that it is only 20 or so minutes from Cascais.  We make it to the city, up the narrow windy roads, but alas there is no parking to be found anywhere.  We drive around for over an hour with no luck.  We finally decided to head back down to the train station and ride the bus in. First we had to walk to another bus station, then catch not one, not two, but three buses, each costing money to get to the top, the Pena National Palace.  Being that 1) we were limited on time in the first place, 2) we still have a three hour drive to Guarda afterwards and 3) we already spent over 2 hours just getting to the palace, we were pretty fried upon entering the palace grounds.  

Its unfortunate since I was super excited about coming to Sintra after numerous people had told me about how fun and beautiful it was.  Honestly, I probably would have given up by now, but Ray was determined to not let the palace get the better of us.  I’m not sure why it was so difficult for us, maybe because we were tired from the night before or maybe we just didn't do diligent research before coming, but for whatever reason, we struggled immensely with this place.  

Let's just say that this wasn't my favorite place, but keep in mind, that this is my opinion solely based on my experience.  To me, being at the palace of Pena seemed a bit like Disneyland.  There were tons of tourists, it was extremely hot, and we were nickeled and dimed for just about everything.  On the positive side, the views from the palace were awesome, looking up at the palace, overlooking the city and the Moorish Castle. 

There was a wall walk that allowed you to walk all along the perimeter of the palace that was cool too.  

I got a great shot of one of the towers with the sun.

Once inside though was a different story.  Having been to the Neuschwanstein Castle outside of Munich, this palace had a very similar feel.  Everything was behind sheets of plastic or partitioned off.  I understand that this must be done in order to protect the rooms and artifacts; however, for me it takes away from charm and presence of the palace.  In a way, it seems fake.  I attempted to avoid any pictures with unnecessary barricades in them, as well as the numerous other tourists also there.  Pepe found a cool face within the walls.

I must admit that the views of the palaces and castle from below are way more magical than actually standing on the top.  

After our stint in Sintra, we make the trek to Guarda, our stop for the night on our way to Salamanca.  We get there, find our hotel and park instantly.  Cool fact is that the old castle’s wall actually runs straight through our hotel and the hotel is built around it. It was really cool to see. We head out to town to grab dinner and see the sights.  Within minutes we are surrounded by the Se’, a stunning old cathedral.  

The view only got better as the sun went down.

The cute lil square in front of the Se’.

We walked through the streets and noticed many decorations, bbqs, sardines and street vendors.  Somehow we managed to come into town as the Saintly celebrations began in Guarda, tonight was night one.  

Pepe was asked to dance by a nice gentleman. 

We happened into a tiny plaza with a stage (one that popped out of a truck, like a tent trailor).  

On stage there were four girls, all dressed up, singing and dancing.  They danced the exact same dance to every song that came on. Lets just say that after a few songs, we had learned all their moves.  Ray and I enjoyed watching the crowd dance and all the little kids running around, taking in the culture and traditions with a few cañas. 

The next morning, we hiked up to the top of our hotel after breakfast to find some amazing views of the city and the Se’.

Again, leaving another piece of my heart, this time in Portugal…

We head back across the border into Spain to Salamanca.