Castilla+La+Mancha

=Goodbye Barcelona Hullo Castilla-La Mancha= Following our walking walking walking on our last day in Barcelona we wandered down to the Rambla el Ravel (our “local” Rambla) for a late meal – 10pm and the place was only just starting up. Knowing we had an early start we hit the sack expecting some usual noise from late night revellers coming home – well, we got it! Although most were just talking as they wandered past, the narrowness of the alley combined with the high stone walls seemed to amplify their voices. It sort of got quieter around 6am but as we headed to the metro we discovered a hard core group still at it – beer and wine at 7:30am anyone? Arriving at the metro we manhandled our bags downstairs before Gail said “Where are the tickets?” Of course they were packed away – one in each bag so, onto the station floor we went, opened bags and scrambled about till we found them. All nicely packed again we inserted said tickets in the auto gate only to have them rejected – it appears that a 2 day ticket is NOT a 48 hour ticket as we had thought. What to do? Buy a ticket into the centre (and from there pick up a bus) or …. Bugger it, upstairs grab a taxi! Which we did. Flight to Madrid easy, picked up the car – why is it that irrespective of which airline, which flight and whatever country we are in, we always seem to be offloaded at the furthermost point from where we have to go? Anyway, after shoving all the gear into the car (A Fiat Pinto) and turning on the GPS (thanks Jammo!) we headed out of the airport and Madrid heading eastwards. “Sarah” our new best friend (the GPS voice) is wonderful – I will NEVER travel overseas without a GPS in future! Even when we miss our turn she redirects us back on course – without swearing or calling you an idiot! Tomorrow we will explore it before heading off to PASTRANA - click to view it + notes || ||
 * Click here for PASTRANA**
 * We headed for Alarcon, a perfectly preserved fortified village which dates back to the 8th century. We stopped and walked the town before heading on to our accommodation just outside Cuenca. This area has amazing landforms and house which hang from the cliffs. It is known as “the hanging village”
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