Chefprefers BLOG

Our Intrepid trip started today, if you have never been on an organised bus trip in a foreign language country, it can be a lot of fun. My wife and I first met on a bus trip back in 1990. That trip took us through the inners of Tasmania with a group of 20 with 14 single beautiful women. That’s another story.

Our trip was to travel from Madrid to Salamanca, then on to Coimbra , Lisbon, The Algarve in Portugal, then to Seville and Tarifa in Spain then take the ferry to Chefchaouen, then onto Fes and Marrakech in Morocco. Anyway, We arrived in Salamanca by public train and then took a public bus to our hotel. It was quite a ways from the bus stop to the accommodation were the parade of luggage rolling along the streets could be heard through out the old walled city. The baggage wheels makes the thump-thump sound from the cobbled stone streets. Our hotel room had double glazed windows and we still could hear the sounds from the street so one would wonder whether the position of the surrounding buildings were designed to amplify the noise. The buildings which surround the Salamanca’s square (photo) are occupied by mainly residents. So if you lived in these apartments, you would have the continuous sounds of the square in your every day life. Something for the realtor to think about.

I love these 15 century walled cities, they put so much effort into the look of the buildings, specifically the Churches. Building art everywhere telling you a story. In one feature, our guide (Diana) mentions that there was a street vendor who would challenge you to find a little frog on the decorative stone wall in 5 minutes, you would put down 15 eu and if you found it, they would give you 100. She pointed out the frog and it was so tiny there was no way I could have found it. (Photos)

After lunch, our group had separated, some went back to their rooms for a nap. But we went to the Cathedral and stain glass museum. There was an old and a new cathedral which are connected. The new huge church has multiple chapels along side the main room and a choir section in the middle. Lots of art works and statue tombs on display. You could hear a violin quartet playing in the old section entertaining the patrons. There was so much to take in that I gave up and we wondered into the adjacent stain glass museum. They had lots of porcelain and glass figures in display cabinets. I was bored by the amount of features. so we walked back to the square to have our five o’clock refreshments. It’s really nice to sit in these ancient squares filling your gut with liquor. We saw; A wedding parade, random walkers going in any direction, flying rats otherwise known as pigeons and the occasional entertainer. Sometimes you see a peddler selling trinkets or water. I spoke to a peddler while sitting near the Spanish Royal Palace and he said that he was from Turkey. I said, Is it worth it? and he said, On a hot sunny day. It was overcast and cold at the time. So he wasn’t too happy. Then I asked, why do you come to Spain to sell water, is it worth it? He said usually it’s good and I can send money back to his family. I guess he can’t do that in Turkey. Next up, what is a Caipirinha?