DAY TWO 17 OCTOBER DRIVE FROM ALCALA TO MONESTARIO DE PIEDRA

We awoke at 0800 and it is still totally dark outside, no hint of a sunrise coming any time soon. Good grief it is 8AM, where is the sun? Paul’s left hand is still swollen and bothersome painful. Did he bang it carrying luggage or perhaps a spider bite? Need a Pharmacy before we hit the road. Medinaceli At breakfast the two ladies that we normally see were NOT working today: Lourdes the boss nor Veronica a younger newcomer. The current server, Maria, thought that Lourdes had retired already as she is doing her year’s apprenticeship for restaurant service position. Paul later found out from reception that Lourdes is on convalescent leave for a hip replacement until the first of the year. She is scheduled to retire mid year coming up 2020. A shame we will not see her. We checked out, left the car in the garage and made the short walk into town. We had a bit of luck at the Pharmacy, as Paul began explaining to the Pharmacist the swelling in his left hand, the patron next to us was a retired MD who examined the hand and suggested it was a potential spider bite and prescribed a cortisone cream which the Pharmacist promptly retrieved from the back room. How lucky was that!!? Medinaceli I guess I say it all the time, but I really love Alcala. It is so steeped in history, the birthplace of Cervantes, and has great restaurants! As we were walking back to pick up the car, we could hear the storks clacking their beaks, warning all intruders to stay away! The nests are getting huge but isn’t it a bit late to be sitting on a nest? They should be heading for warmer climes! Its going to get cold very soon! We hit the road at about 1100 heading towards Zaragoza on the A2/E90 autovia. This is the way we used to drive back in the day when we were returning from Torrejon to Elizondo. We used to stop at Medinaceli and Paul took a detour in Medinaceli to the old part up on the hill above the Cafeteria/Gas Station adjacent to the highway. In all our years in Spain we had NEVER ventured to the old town and found it well kept with stonework all appointed, clean and in good repair. It is quite beautifully maintained for such an ancient town. As often is the case it started with the Romans and there is a 1st century Roman arch in great shape which we did not see until Jane walked for hundreds of steps looking and finally found with an exasperated smack to the forehead right next to the road which we driven right passed. After numerous pics we found the Tourist Info office still open at 1430 hrs. the gal cringed when she heard English but Jane said we understood Spanish and so off to the races she went, rambling on about all the sights to see in town and throughout the province of Soria, giving us maps and highlighting them, it could have difficult to keep up but she spoke so clearly that she was easy to understand. She showed us a great App on the phone which is also in English about the Soria region. I will eventually pull it up and read it more thoroughly! We had lunch down below next to the gas station: Paul had menu: baked white beans, ham, eggs, potatoes, and dessert; Jane just had an omelette from the ala carte menu plus coffee. Then off we went to drive for another 45 minutes to reach the Monesterio de Piedra. It was a good drive and we spotted 5 big bulls next to the highway! [The billboard bulls, not real ones] Now, for some reason, there is no way to park next to reception and after parking, we entered the hotel  building by room 315 with reception on level 1 and we were off to find an elevator. After a half marathon we made it to reception. Next we found a luggage cart to help consolidate all the cases onto a single transport frame to our room. You walk down amazing, long, arched hallways. This really was a monastery at one time and is quite remarkable. This is edition two as the first was built in the 8th century. This one only dates from the 13th century….just sayin’. Apparently, this version was built for the Cistercian monks. In those days there was always one son who went to become a monk with a dowry from the family, there were lay monks as well but they had very little standing as they brought no money with them. They got all the hard labor and really worked for a living taking care of the “special” whose families sponsored them. Medinaceli Of course, as a hotel it is fully modernized and refurbished but there are areas, such as the cloisters, kitchen and dining room which are original. It is said that the first chocolate brought to Europe was cooked and prepared in this huge blackened kitchen. Our room has a full balcony over looking the all year round pool behind the hotel. You can hear the cascading water from the various water falls in the foothills overlooking the hotel from the south. After we got settled in we headed out for a well deserved glass of wine. There was another couple who had the same idea, together and separately we wove our way around the hotel from the 3rd floor down searching for a bar cafeteria! A closed bar, a dining room and dozens of beautiful lounges and a Library later, I manned up and went in search of the receptionist to found out where this elusive bar is! She could not understand my confusion, and directed me back up to the 3rd floor on the elevator, go right, go left go right again and down several flights of stairs to the prize! A bar with a very bored bartender! The other couple had given up and gone to the dining room which had eventually opened at 8.30pm! Hotel Monestario de Piedra Hotel Monestario de Piedra By this time and all the walking, I was dying of thirst and not a little annoyed! I drank that first wine much too quickly! The menu for snacks was a bit poor so we decided to head to the dining room, that is if we can find the damn thing without walking for miles! We headed outside, crossed the courtyard walked thorough the cloisters and with a bit of brilliance Paul pulled open a door to a service area and we scurried though the bins and sheets and towels to the opposite door and found ourselves outside our room and close to the elevator! Success! The dining room was delightful, we waved to our new friends, who were just about finished, and dined in comfort. The service was excellent the steaks less so! But we were exhausted and hungry so after a degestif from a very sweet waiter we completed our day!