Awake, for morning in the bowl of night has flung the stone that puts the stars to flight.

And, lo, has caught the sultan’s turret in a noose of light!

Spanish life is not always likeable but it is compellingly loveable: Christopher Howse: ‘A Pilgrim in Spain’

Travel News

The long drive to Soria wasn’t as bad – weatherwise – as we’d feared, as we didn’t encounter the predicted rain/storm until we’d done half the trip. And we left the heavy – Madrid-bound, end-of-holiday – traffic as we turned East towards Valladolid and Soria. But it was a tad worrying to encounter not just 1 but 4 closed petrol station between those 2 cities. “Because” said the attendant at an open one we finally found “Sunday is a día festivo“. Which didn’t strike us as an adequate reason.

For those travelling on the A6, La Casa Carmela is a good option for lunch. An extensive, good-quality menú del día was available even though it was a Sunday – albeit at the steepish price of €18. Which possibly reflected the high-volume, end-of-August day it was.

We got to Soria just before 9pm and enjoyed a copa of Ribera del Duero in the Plaza Mayor. And I was able to introduce the local speciality – torreznos – to my appreciative travelling companion. This is crispy pork at its finest, described in full here. Where a Guardian writer is cited as having described them as: “deliciously decadent fried pork belly chunks”. Which is spot on.

And now I’m just left wondering which of the ever-changing speed limits I unwittingly broke on the 207km Valladolid-Soria leg of our trip. This features alternating bits of the unfinished A11 autovía and the old, replaceable N122. Not to mention closed petrol stations, where even the DIY, pay-by-card option was shut off.

Talking of unresponsive machine . . .

Cosas de España

I noted years ago that, although it’s a media favourite, giving the impression that Spain is worse than elsewhere, the incidence of physical or sexual violence against women here is comparable with that of the UK and lower than in Denmark and Finland. This is a comment on the media and not meant, of course, to diminish the seriousness of the subject or to excuse the violence in any way.

María has a few ripe comments for Spain’s ‘Neanderthals’ here or here

And Lenox Napier write on Spanish pueblecitos here.

Oh, dear. The VdG this morning: Sleepy and restless: Post-holiday syndrome doesn’t only affect adults. It also affects children. And going back to school can be a difficult time. In one week, 225,000 students will return to the classroom, and for the youngest, the change is drastic and problems arise: daytime drowsiness, stress, changes in diet. . . . Experts advise starting to prepare them a few days before, to get them back into the routine. They probably have bigger problems in Ukraine.

During my 2 months in Madrid earlier this summer, several copies of 2 UK magazines were delivered to my house in Poio. Rather occupied with family this summer, I’ve yet to read them so have brought them with me on this trip. There should be more but, during July and August, the latest copies didn’t turn up. I guess I’ll find out in due course whether Correos put them aside for autumn delivery or just binned them,

I was shocked to pay over €7 for a bottle of virgin olive oil last week but reader David in La Coruña has topped that, reporting that, in his local Lidl, he’d paid €8.30 for a bog standard light olive oil, which used to be around €3.

Oh, and petrol just shot up again. So much for inflation at less that 2% . . .

Finally . . .

And now we’re off to experience the delight of Nuévalos, Albarracín – ‘one of the prettiest villages in Spain’ – and Teruel’s Mudéjar architecture. Before heading off to Zaragoza at the end of the day.

Finally, finally . . .

Google maps again gave me bizarre instructions for leaving our hotel to go into the centre of Soria last night, suggesting that – instead of going back the way we’d come – we should turn the other way and access the main road via a baked earth road that would have defeated a 4×4 (todo terreno). So, I ignored it.

For new readers:- If you’ve landed here looking for info on Galicia or Pontevedra, try here. If you’re passing through Pontevedra on the Camino, you’ll find a guide to the city there – updated a bit in early July 2023.