What an amazing day!

Wow!  What an amazing day!

 

I was up this morning around 7:30 am and actually ready to start the day! (I know, “it’s about time!”) We had a quick breakfast, and then decided to go to our local Carrefourstore.  We first discovered Carrefour in France, and truly, they can be the best stores ever!  Especially if you find a really big one, like the one near us now.  So, first to get to the parking garage!  We took a different way than we did the first time we parked when it seemed like we walked (and climbed) forever.  (I know I’m exaggerating, but when the map isn’t making sense, it sometimes feels like that!). This time, with our handy town map in hand, we were able to get to the garage in probably 10 minutes; no problem. Out of the garage and in another 8-9 minutes, Voila! Carrefour!

Yet another view of the amazing wall!

Me with friendly lion!

 

It's part (a large part!) of a larger shopping center in the modern part of Avila; it even includes a really lovely do-it-yourself-laundry!  Ah well!  Have to be content with doing things from “home” I guess.  

 

The Carrefour was great, truly – and we spent almost 2 HOURS there.  We went up almost every aisle (missed baby food and clothes and shoes in general) and had the best time!  (We both do love to grocery shop…). This place sells everything from fresh produce to refrigerators, washing machines and mattresses – luggage, sheets, towels and comforters – you name it, and they probably have it.  We especially enjoyed all the canned goods and interesting spices.  I did find some very nice and nicely priced Saffron to bring home for our Basque Salad.  I also found two t-shirts that I thought were fun – one even mentions my not-quite home town, Detroit!  So!  I just wish R had brought the camera inside, as they had cans of tuna fish that were I’d say 8-10 inches across and 4-5 inches high! – Really?  That’s a lot of tuna salad!  And how much EVOO does one really need?  Some of the containers were absolutely huge! 

 

Finally, we regretfully took our leave – but not without paying the bill, which actually came up a few cents less than $100 when R did the conversion from Euros!  Nothing changes, does it? 

 

Beautiful day; lovely villages!

This is a gorgeous part of Spain!

Lots of churches!

Mountains in the distance

It was now about noon-time, and we decided that today looked like a really good day to drive to Segovia to see the famous aqueduct.  It was truly lovely outside – about 26 degrees C and a perfect day for a drive!  We had seen the aqueduct before, several years ago, but as I was driving, while R was taking photos, I felt that I never really got to see it, certainly not from standing still!  Took side roads about an hour away, and Emmy (our GPS) brought us right to a very close parking lot for the center of town!  It was great!  We walked down into town and there it was! Still just standing there! They are estimating it was built sometime in the early 100’s AD, which still makes it around 2,000 years old – and it’s really beautiful!  And it’s HUGE!

 

View of the castle on top of the hill

Original marker here was Hercules

Who knew??

Walkway following course of the aqueduct

Those are very large stones and columns

It's truly stunning!

We stopped first for sandwiches, as it was lunchtime, and we had the best view ever eating outside.  We then walked under and around some of the columns – very fun!  Finished up around 2:30 pm; back to the car and on the road again.  As we were taking back roads to return to Avila, R discovered that the road we were on actually passed through one of the stickies I have plastered all over the local map to mark towns that supposedly have verracos to see.  The town, Santo Domingo de las Posadas was very tiny – but we drove slowly through the village and just as we were giving up and heading back to the main road – I spotted it!  Right in front of what looked like either the town hall or the local library!  So - our hunt for verracos has begun!  Such fun!

 

Love those pigs!

Back to Avila about 4, and into our parking garage (thank you, Bornja!) with no problems – and we’ve even figured out the shortest route to get there, so lots of accomplishments today – we even got everything we’d purchased back to the apartment, with the exception of the two cases of water … but they can stay in the car for the moment!

 

So…more later or tomorrow!

 

Much love,

m

xxx