All Saint’s Bank Holiday

Hello again

It is Sunday today and here I am writing from my pc at home and the 4 day long bank holiday starting last Thursday is now nearly over; over but not quite. There is still time for putting on more washing machine loads (the 7th I think!), time for some reading, for our daily walk, for making a vegetable soup out of the left overs from lunch and for updating my blog of course.

This has been a nice quiet holiday at home with the family except that we hardly saw the girls as they had their own plans. Merce from Yecla had come to stay and their new found friend from the Scout days, Laura spent a lot of time with them too. For them it was Halloween and turning night into day most of the holiday. They would get up at lunch time and have breakfast and the day would go in the same way, lunch turning into dinner, etc. Their normal time of going to bed was between 4 and 5 a.m! But who can blame them? They are young and entitled to enjoying themselves this way.

Our plans were more mundane and most of the time was spent doing what we like best: watching dvds, reading, walking, making meals and spending time on the computer. We did, however, take time to go on an excursion with my Father on Saturday.

This time we went to Chinchón, a pretty medieval town on the outskirts of Madrid which funnily enough we had never been to. And where did we have lunch? Well, the Parador, of course! Going for lunches to Spanish Paradors is becoming something of a habit as well as a gastronomic cum cultural interest. The quality is always superb and the buildings are generally of monumental standard. The one in Chinchón was once a convent and as is usually the case, we had a very good meal.

Chinchón is famous for its main square (plaza mayor) with beautiful balconies all the way round. It is also famous for its Goya painting housed in the main church of the Assumtion and of the same name (Virgen de la Asunción) and which, unfortunately, we were not able to see as it was closed just as we arrived. One of Goya’s most famous paintings is of the Countess of Chincón but of course that is in the Prado.

As usual Eladio bought a walking stick and I bought a plate. We seem to have quite a collection now and are in the habit of buying these items on most of our trips.

Next week will take us to another Parador, the one in Cazorla (Jaen) but this time to sleep. Friday is another bank holiday and we will be going away for the weekend with our usual travelling companions, Roberto and Mari Carmen. Let’s just hope we get the same good weather we have been having for so long now.

Have a good week.

Cheers
Masha
PS here is the link to my album of photos in Facebook of our visit to Chinchón. Clink on the link or red cross to see them. If you cannot open it, cut and paste this link and put it into your browser: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=20505&l=9a725&id=612236553 (all together without spaces)