We left Salamanca this morning on route to Ciudad Rodrigo, a historical walled city on route to Portugal which se hope to go to tomorrow.

However with Martin being a bit of a history nut we had to stop at Arapiles, only a short trip from Salamanca and site of a great battle that saw Wellington defeat the French army and help liberate Spain.



Only an hours drive West and we arrived at Ciudad Rodrigo, a walled medieval city. It is a truly beautiful place as can be seen from the pictures. 




What can be seen on the last photo is the damage that the church suffered as a result of the assault by Wellington who captured the entire city in January 1812.

FYI, the hotel is fine 😉




 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
 Off to Cordoba. Not by any recommendation but because we can. For the first time the entire journey, about 3 hours, was on A roads which has pluses and minuses. You get to see a lot more of the country and on this journey that means vineyards, olive groves and working farms. However its much slower. OK, Cordoba centre is fantastic with a very Moorish feel. We have a lovely little hotel opposite Mezquita-Catedral De Cordoba. Now I've said before how many of the buildings we have seen have been truly amazing but nothing prepared me for this. The Mezquita-Catedral is truly one of the worlds best ancient buildings. Originally built by the Moors as a Mosque in 785 AD it was converted to a Cathedral  by the Catholic Church in 1236. OK enough of the history, check out the pictures and google it. A MUST SEE.
Read more
Image
 Our second and last day in Porto, so time to see the what we can of the city and to the compulsory Port tasting. After a leisurely start we ventured back into the older part of the city, did a little shopping and took in a few historic sites. What stands out is how many of the beautiful old properties are dilapidated and in need of TLC. For those that have noticed the similarity of construction of the bridge crossing the river to the Eiffel Tower, it is because this was constructed by a student of Gustavav Eiffel. Interesting fact of the day. We then took on the Port houses, starting with Taylors, followed by Quevedo, who interestingly Martin has met in London. My last Port house was Ramos Tintos and then I had had enough. Martin took on 3 more. Suffice to say I slept very well and apparently so Martin did to. 
Read more