Almagro
Sunday, September 19, 2010
Almagro looked like a good spot to stop, a bit over 200 miles from Valencia. The drive was pleasant and the highways were in excellent condition.
It’s Sunday and the village is quiet. We checked into the Parador, a national hotel chain.
The Parador Hotel de Almagro is housed in a convent built in 1596. It’s a big place, with a number of peaceful interior courtyards. If you enlarge the map enough and switch to satellite view, you can see how the property is built.
We had lunch outside and then walked into the white washed village.
A typical street scene, brilliant in the sun.
Almagro has a famous theater. It is easy to spot on the street; nothing else looks like it.
This is a wall of an old church.
We found Plaza Major, which is also really quiet at 4:10 pm on a Sunday.
The square is enclosed, and the two long sides have cafes on the ground level. Here’s what one side looks like. One cafe is ready to go. Our thought is that at 5 or 6 pm, the population of the village wakes up and ventures out.
The Parador offer a special, local meal (Don Quixote) for dinner, “La Gastronomía del Quijote.” It was a good bite–sized sampler, with baked cod, aged manchego, garlic soup, trout and stewed chicken with almonds.
Working our way to Cordoba, we drove about 200 miles to Almagro in Castile la Mancha to stay at a hotel built in 1596.
Next—Jaen and olive trees, in Andalucia.
