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The bin men make sure no-one sleeps in this morning. At 10:00 we are ready to walk into the old town. The streets are narrow and cobbled as we go uphill to the now ubiquitous Plaza Mayor, which is a large, sloping square surrounded by arcaded restaurants and bars with the town hall dominating the higher end. More narrow streets lead to the really old Plaza Santa Maria, unspoilt by any modernity at all. The buildings are mid tone sandstone, cut into regular blocks and decorated with simple, soft carvings. In the tourism office is a beautiful animated diorama, part nativity, part everyday people of the time going about their business; a woman throwing grain to pecking geese; a potter with his leg kicking the treadle on his wheel; a man threshing corn, all detailed figurines about six inches tall in a moulded landscape about ten feet square. We stop in a bar for coffee and toasted sandwiches and make use of the wifi before heading back to the aire. After servicing the vans we set off at 14:00 for Trujillo 28 miles east. It's a pretty ride through moorland and olive forests. As we crest one hill the landscape stretches away farther than we can see. We leave the dual carriageway and Trujillo looms up in front of us, a towering fortress with extensive stone walls, all very medieval. The camperstop is next to a former bull ring and easily found, unlike our roundy-roundy yesterday. Ali + Grete go to explore. Like our other recent towns this is a collection of ancient stone fortifications but its difference is the sweeping panorama from the battlements. From up there can be seen other smaller forts and farms nestling in the rolling green landscape. Trujillo is the birthplace of a number of conquistadors, most notably Francisco Pizarro who conquered Peru and Francisco de Orellana, the first European to sail up the Amazon. A+G return just in time to beat a downpour. During supper a drums and brass cacophony starts up in the bullring behind us. Played over and over one of the tunes becomes familiar as Adele's 'Rolling in the Deep' but whether the local musicians were mimicking their pop idol or Adele plagerised a traditional Spanish march, we cannot decide.
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