Hostal Hermanos Plaza Castile-La Mancha

... pretty exact since street names aren’t always useful when we are on all these unnamed roads in the middle of nowhere. GPS coordinates are pretty failsafe unless…well this is my fault…one has to make sure they put the decimal point in the right place…oops! Luckily Chris has a wicked sense of humor and thinks I’m cute when I’m flustered otherwise this could have gotten ugly. We ended up at 0.4sumthing West instead of 4 ...

Spent another night on a parking lot near the city centre. When trying to find a decent place to park our van near all the sights, we got caught up in a lybyrinth of narrow streets, filled with cars (sometimes even in the middle of the crossings...). Well, Boštjan is a very good driver, but my nerves are not as good as I thought.

With the help of a security guard at a bank in one of the ...

... that I need to return to Spain - the fact that I'm alive and breathing is enough reason for me to return here.

Reading up on Aragon, the region in which Zaragoza is located, I found that it has quite an interesting history. Joining forces with Cataluna, together they formed a Mediterranean empire in the middle ages, but as always, it eventually declined. Together with Cataluna, Aragon once conquered Sardinia, which I guess explains the ...

June 14, Sunday

I think I lost a day somewhere along the line. Anyway we left this morning after a long wait for the woman to come at 10, she was late, as the elderly man on the reception did not know how to take a credit card payment. So much for being ready to leave 1 hour before our scheduled time, we left late.

We are on toll highways to get us to and around Barcelona. They are pretty cheap ...

Boring long day on the A23, highest col 1223m.

Looking for aire in Zaragoza when Brits James, Clare and Katie in their motorhome took us under their wing to the park they'd already stayed in. Left over from 2008 water based expo, with typically spanish rusty iron "sculpture".

35 degree C until light shower cooled us all off.

Bren washed her hair in the public drinking fountain, starting a trend with the other family.

... English. It was a very late dinner at 11pm so we were all very tired by this stage and very hungry but was defiantly worth waiting for with salad and bread to start with then the main been tajine with cous cous and another dish with vegetables with chicken and lamb. Was an amazing meal, the family didn't want to come and eat with us as its in there culture its rude to eat before the guests so we made them all come and sit around with us and eat which they all appreciated. Next ...

... home a fat wage, in a well respected job and still in contact with, i suppose, everyone else from science club or whatever (cant really see the rest of the "incrowd" thinking about the good old days that thay shagged some tart on field or nicked some glue to sniff from the corner shop as they put frozen food in box) but as i always say i this is only my experience and opion... So leaving people with whom you have had such great times, of whom you can really say are friends ...

I woke up about 9am, my latest start for about a week, and hauled myself downstairs to check out, before dragging myself three kilometres to Delicias train station to get a reservation on the evening train to Madrid. After some frenzied negotiation with a friendly woman who spoke no English I managed to secure myself a seat on the 14.32 train instead. I'd still get to Madrid that day, but it sadly left me just over four hours to explore the Aragonese capital ...

... los amontonábamos. Con el tiempo los soldados los echaron a aquella fosa común y los enterraron en cal. Aquí estan las ruinas de lo que era mi casa y al final de esa calle estrecha las ruinas del horno que mi padre tenía en su panadería. Esto era un hospital y allí había un casino. Junto a esa casa hay un refugio donde nos podíamos esconder treinta personas cuando no paraban de bombardear." " Una tarde un par de amigos y yo nos ...

... eine grandiose umgebebende Landschaft (letzteres würde ich in Toledo eher als öde bezeichnen), aber viel mehr gibt's nicht zu sehen. Ich denke, wenn es nicht am Jakobsweg liegen würde und jeden Sommer die Stiere durch die Strassen springen würden (San Fermin) wäre diese Stadt nicht halb so bekannt. Aber feiern kann man auch dort.:-) und die Uni ist glaub ich auch einiges besser als Toledo. Am Samstag gingen ich dann ...