Weather report: not a cloud in the sky. High of 18ºC in Segovia and 22ºC in Salamanca.

Kms travelled today - 315

Picked up our car this morning and with the help of our GPS system (the voice of Billy Connolly) headed for Segovia; about 1½ hrs north of Madrid. Collecting the car from Avis was a breeze. We had read about all sorts of problems that people have had with rental car companies but we certainly did not experience any of them. We had prepaid online through a company in Australia (Driveaway Holidays) and everything was in order.

We chose to take the route to Segovia that bypassed highway tolls and arrived there at 11am. First stop was an old Roman aqueduct. This was in great condition and we think rates better than the Pont du Garde that we had seen in 2001. From there we wandered through the old walled city visiting the Jewish quarter and the cathedral. The roads were all cobblestone and the buildings had all been restored with the occasional new ones designed to merge in very well with the old. We headed off towards the castle (Alcazar de Segovia), the primary reason for the aqueduct’s construction.

One of the negatives of having a car in this instance was that the parking time was limited to 2 hours so we had to go back and move the car. We got there just before the meter maid did. Since we had to move it we thought we would try to get closer to the castle. This didn’t work thanks to Billy’s unhelpful directions which tried to take us up pedestrian walkways and bus only routes. Eventually we went back to where we originally parked only this time we did not have to pay as it was after 2pm on a Saturday. Took us a while, and some assistance from a local, to work out why the meter kept rejecting our money! Back through the old town to the castle picking a different route this time. This is one of the few castles that had never been breached, despite some attempts, and it was easy to see why as it was perched up on the cliff and separated from the mainland by a very deep wide trench which could have been full of water although there was none in it today. We enjoyed wandering through the castle as we could take photos and nothing was out of bounds. It had an interesting artillery museum showing the evolvement of weaponry, the usual armoury etc.

Back to the car and a 2 hour drive to Salamanca. This time we thought we go via the toll routes. Getting on to the right route took us through 4 toll booths in quick succession. The first one was to collect a ticket. Bruce didn’t hold up the traffic too much while we wondered what we were supposed to do. We eventually grabbed our ticket that had been issued automatically and headed off. At the next one we paid someone, got off the highway, seemed to do u-turn to get back on to it at the same place and immediately paid another toll. Not sure Billy got this right! Then there was the final toll booth where we were just asked for more money. In total we paid 20 euros. May try to avoid these in future but having said that the highway was of course excellent and with a 120 kph speed limit it was quick travel. There was ************e else on the highway – perhaps this is why.

Arrived in Salamanca and Billy proceeded to find our hotel. Unfortunately he kept trying to take us up a closed off pedestrian walkway. Frustrated we drove around to the other side of where we thought the hotel should be to approach it from a different angle. This time Billy did his job. Getting into the hotel underground parking was a challenge and even more so into the parking bay. First time Bruce has had to do a 50 point turn - glad our car (VW Golf) was not any larger.

We are staying near the Grand Square (Plaza Mayor) and after settling in we wandered around it and the immediate area to get our bearings, have dinner and then back to the hotel to bed. Couldn’t log into the Hotel Wifi but the person on the desk was unable to help. See how we go tomorrow.