PASTRANA

=CASTILLA – LA MANCHA=

//**Serrania de Cuenca**//
After a very restful and quiet night we had a quick look around Cuenca before we headed off into the vast Serrania, a mountainous area of forests and pastures dissected by deep gorges. Whilst some of the driving was rather scary it was well worth it as the scenery was spectacular as the road wound it’s way between huge, fantastic rocks and then opened up to run across the valley floor. There were a number of places to stop and take it all in but mere photos can’t do it real justice – the majesty of it all was quite overwhelming. We were lucky to see numerous large eagles soaring over the canyons – a couple came quite close to us. Our best new friend “Sarah” the GPS voice is wonderful although she does seem to ignore major roads if there is a quicker? shorter? route available irrespective of its quality. Accordingly we spent quite a deal of time in the late afternoon enjoying the rural blocks of the region, whilst occasionally catching sight of the motorway we thought we’d be on, in the distance. There were many many sunflower farms (?) on the way plus of course olive trees everywhere but around Beteta and Priego we also saw bunches of cane drying in the fields – an unusual sight for us. Finally in the late afternoon we arrived at our destination Pastrana, a very beautiful little village which has a number of historical buildings dating from the 1500’s. Narrow streets wind up and down the village mostly circling the old cathedral and Palacio Mendoza, both imposing, severe looking stone structures (life wasn’t meant to be fun then). We managed to mangle enough Spanish, with help from our translation book, to arrange accommodation in a lovely little “hotel” and then wandered the streets for an hour or so. We decided against having a drink in one of the small bars – the ones that were open had only males, and males who smoked – remember walking into those smoke filled bars in the past? It wasn’t attractive then and sure ain’t now! Tomorrow we head off into Castilla Y Leon and the city of Segovia – we have to pass back through Madrid but, with the help of “Sarah” we should be OK – we’re assuming that we’ll be on motorways sweeping effortlessly around the city! Hmmmmmmm?