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Cuba - More than old cars
Temp 18 high cloud with occasional sunny periods (good driving weather)
Today's Mileage 530 km; Total for trip 845 km
Went out for breakfast (coffee and croissant) in Salamanca. Had some difficulty finding a place that was open. The town is almost dead at 9am even on a Monday. On the way back to check out we dropped into the indoor market directly across from the hotel. The market was closed over the weekend. Although smaller it was comparable to the food section of the Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne. Pork and sausages (especially chorizo and morcilla) appear to be the main meat eaten however there was lots of tripe, black pudding and other delicacies (?) available. You could purchase all the usual cuts of pork as well as whole piglets, half piglets, their trotters, the snout of an adult pig and probably some other parts.
Checked out from the hotel and had to deal with getting out of the parking area. You will be pleased to know that only a 5 point turn was required this time and we were out amongst the rush hour traffic. Bruce is not keen on the roundabouts some of which have 3 or 4 lanes in them and we went around a couple of them more than once to move across the lanes without creating havoc. No sweat to the locals of course. Bruce isn't driving like one - yet - but it won't take long. We provided Billy with the destination particulars (avoiding toll ways) and off we went.
The first 3 hours of the trip were fairly boring flat countryside with very few towns and church steeples to be seen. We expected this sort of scenery occasionally. We listened to a music “playlist” given to us some time ago by our friends Jane & Togia. One thing we had not envisaged for this trip was driving through Spain listening to an Australian beer drinking song! There were other genre in the playlist.
The scenery did pick up as we went through some hilly country but even this had lots of gorse and scrub. Once we got off the motorway we struck a bit of coastline and some towns and started to see people who were obviously walking the St. James Way, a pilgrimage.
Time now for our first foray into a petrol station. The car is a diesel and at the first petrol station we were encouraged to front up to a pump which was diesel but looked a lot different to the other pumps and had a picture of a truck on it. The attendant kept directing Bruce to the payment machine where he thinks he had to insert his card and PIN and then draw the diesel. That was not a problem but the picture of the truck on the diesel pump concerned Bruce as perhaps this diesel was too heavy duty for a car. Needless to say our lack of Spanish and their lack of English could not resolve our dilemma. (Not sure Spanish lessons would have helped much here Alister!). Anyway we left and tried another. This one could not have been more different. It was part of a chain of petrol stations we had seen along the route and they had an attendant who took control as we entered. He had one question – full? – and one statement – pump 6 – as as he directed Bruce where to pay. The car is still running so he must have put the right stuff in.
Our accommodation is in a forest about a 15 minute drive to Santiago de Compostela. It is a typical 18th century house of Galician architecture. We had very nice fish dinner here tonight and will have breakfast in the morning.
Today's Mileage 530 km; Total for trip 845 km
Went out for breakfast (coffee and croissant) in Salamanca. Had some difficulty finding a place that was open. The town is almost dead at 9am even on a Monday. On the way back to check out we dropped into the indoor market directly across from the hotel. The market was closed over the weekend. Although smaller it was comparable to the food section of the Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne. Pork and sausages (especially chorizo and morcilla) appear to be the main meat eaten however there was lots of tripe, black pudding and other delicacies (?) available. You could purchase all the usual cuts of pork as well as whole piglets, half piglets, their trotters, the snout of an adult pig and probably some other parts.
Checked out from the hotel and had to deal with getting out of the parking area. You will be pleased to know that only a 5 point turn was required this time and we were out amongst the rush hour traffic. Bruce is not keen on the roundabouts some of which have 3 or 4 lanes in them and we went around a couple of them more than once to move across the lanes without creating havoc. No sweat to the locals of course. Bruce isn't driving like one - yet - but it won't take long. We provided Billy with the destination particulars (avoiding toll ways) and off we went.
The first 3 hours of the trip were fairly boring flat countryside with very few towns and church steeples to be seen. We expected this sort of scenery occasionally. We listened to a music “playlist” given to us some time ago by our friends Jane & Togia. One thing we had not envisaged for this trip was driving through Spain listening to an Australian beer drinking song! There were other genre in the playlist.
The scenery did pick up as we went through some hilly country but even this had lots of gorse and scrub. Once we got off the motorway we struck a bit of coastline and some towns and started to see people who were obviously walking the St. James Way, a pilgrimage.
Time now for our first foray into a petrol station. The car is a diesel and at the first petrol station we were encouraged to front up to a pump which was diesel but looked a lot different to the other pumps and had a picture of a truck on it. The attendant kept directing Bruce to the payment machine where he thinks he had to insert his card and PIN and then draw the diesel. That was not a problem but the picture of the truck on the diesel pump concerned Bruce as perhaps this diesel was too heavy duty for a car. Needless to say our lack of Spanish and their lack of English could not resolve our dilemma. (Not sure Spanish lessons would have helped much here Alister!). Anyway we left and tried another. This one could not have been more different. It was part of a chain of petrol stations we had seen along the route and they had an attendant who took control as we entered. He had one question – full? – and one statement – pump 6 – as as he directed Bruce where to pay. The car is still running so he must have put the right stuff in.
Our accommodation is in a forest about a 15 minute drive to Santiago de Compostela. It is a typical 18th century house of Galician architecture. We had very nice fish dinner here tonight and will have breakfast in the morning.
- comments
Gael Amazed you can find time to give daily reports - especially considering the lengthy distances you are travelling most days, coupled with having to deal with Billy! I take it the house you have pictured is where you stayed? Looking forward to the next excerpt.
Lesley We too are amazed Anne and Bruce how you manage to squeeze in such fantastic reports. When we met in Barcelona the reports might suffer due to our drinking time!!!! I would love to be in the car with Billy!!!!
Ros Could you please put the Salamanca Lady in the trailer.....the one you pull along you put in items you would like to bring home. I would like her please. I like her lean. What could she be waitiing for? The post?.....or??? ummmmmmm.......
Steve Mackay Great blog guys. How come they eat so much pig down there???