Day 8 – A day in the country

Out the door first thing, we headed up the never-ending hill to pick up our rent-a-car. Avis opens at 9 and we wanted to get our adventure started. Today we would be heading to La Alberca, a small town in the mountains where things change slowly. A manual transmission blue diesel Renault was assigned to us for the day.

Tom was not concerned about the car being a manual because he drives a Fiat stick shift at home. After a trip to Malta a few years ago we decided we needed a small manual transmission car just for days like today. With the GPS set to English and our destination plugged into the car, Tom eased out into a major street in downtown and immediately stalled out the car. A precarious start, but we were on our way.

The GPS took us though the country roads to La Alberca. The sheer expansiveness of this part of Spain is mind blowing. As you can see the traffic is not too heavy either.

We had visited this town in the summer of 1972 on a day trip. Tourists are not supposed to drive into town so free parking is offered just a short walk away. The streets are very narrow and as we walked in, a Coke truck headed to the main plaza for a delivery.

A sharp turn in the road made it tricky for the truck driver!

Arriving in the plaza, the well was as we remembered with crystal water.

This is where the festival had taken place. We went to the tourist office and showed the pictures taken below using Tom’s phone.



July - 1972

The lady who worked in the tourist office was very excited and quickly left the office.  Returning with a gentleman that identified one the girls as his daughter. I think they knew most of the people in the photo. They were most interested in the shot of the la Guardia Civil carrying a weapon. She said, the children of the town had never seen a picture of armed police in La Alberca. Tom has sent her the pictures and promised to look for more when he returned home. She said, thank you and told him his Spanish was very bad and he needed to practice.

We wandered the streets of the town taking special note of their construction.

These homes have stood the test of time for centuries, not years.

Many had beautiful flower arrangements in the windows.

The pig in a small square by the church must be the only one safe in this region from becoming ham.

Leaving La Alberca, we headed to Villanueva del Conde in search of Bodega Cámbrico.
In the Salamanca region, there is wine made from the grape named Rufete. This fruit creates a wine much like a burgundy, but adds a level of spice. To reach Bodega Cámbrico we traveled through the mountains on small country roads.

In the distance, roughly 6 miles away we could see Peña de Francia towering over the area.

However, those 6 miles were mostly straight up, and Tom did not want to meet a tour bus on these winding country roads.

Rounding a curve, Janet thought she had found heaven. Wild lavender surrounded large boulders, with other wild flowers inter-mixed.

We stopped and enjoyed the views and the nature around us.

There were no markings for the winery as we travelled down extremely narrow roads and the GPS was clueless. After two stops for directions, we found a farmer on the side of the road who got us going in the right direction, and explained we had to park and walk into the winery.

The path was covered with beautiful foliage and flowers. Reaching the winery, we found it locked and no one on the grounds.

Oh well back on the road again.

It was approaching 3 o‘clock and the lunch bell was ringing in our stomachs. We headed to the small town of Béjar for a bite to eat. This is when Tom really wished he understood international signage. We ended up lost at the top of the hill with 3 one way roads all going the opposite direction. With some guidance from a resident we backed down the hill and made a very tight three point turn. Following the sign to parking we escaped our conundrum.

We left Béjar proper and sat on the other side of the river and enjoyed being out the confusion while we ate.

Returning the car unscratched and full of diesel we walked the alleys of Salamanca stretching our legs. There was a lot of car time today, but the sights and experiences will not be forgotten.

Dinner would be at the restaurant that replaced el Candil. The dinner was good, but the salad and the dessert were the highlight!

A salad was a meal within itself, and a dessert that was amazing! A pistachio sponge cake with a filling and pistachio ice cream.

The cotton candy and crème de mint decoration took away from the dessert, but we had no problem eating around them.

Approaching 11 o’clock and stuffed, we took a walk to once again enjoy the sights. The Plaza Mayor is almost clean and allowed me to snap this shot.

The cathedral lit up stands tall over the city.

We are so happy that we have returned – Salamanca is still a special place!