We were heading up there to celebrate my host grandfather’s birthday!
Day One
The drive was a couple of hours long, though with some nice views of the Spanish countryside along the way.
We met up with Isabel’s parents in a town called Morón. (Yes, I did have a giggle at the name.) We stopped off to have a look at the town square, which was absolutely beautiful...
...and to have some tapas at the local bar. Mmmm, pork crackling.
We eventually got to Soria, and – after dropping our bags at a hotel – headed straight off to check out a local monastery. This was especially exciting, because Isabel’s great-grandfather made the monastery gates! Here they are.
The monastery was amazing. It’s no longer used, and so is open to the public. It was built over some caves, and so quite a lot of the monastery actually has cave instead of wall!
There were some incredible religious paintings and portraits of monks inside, but I wasn’t allowed to take pictures. There was also the most amazing chapel, with brilliantly painted walls and ceilings, and a huge circular window with gorgeous view of the river, but again – no photos. Sigh.
After our visit to the monastery, we took a walk along the banks of the Rio Duero. This included walking along this bridge.
You can’t really see them too well in this picture, but there were hundreds of padlocks fastened to the rails along the bridge. After my inquiring, my host grandmother took it upon herself to tell me about this particular tradition in Soria. I’ll summarise.
How To Ensure You And Your Travelling Companions Are ‘Eternally Bonded’:
1. Buy a padlock.
2. Engrave the names of those you wish to be ‘eternally bonded’ with into said padlock.
3. Lock padlock onto bridge railings.
4. Throw the key into the Rio Duero.
This resulted in hundreds of locks like so:
My host grandparents even showed us a lock that they put there together, over forty years previously! Naw.
Our stroll along the river was interesting. There are lots of sculptures, climbing frames, plaques, and monuments. We had some fun pushing around a giant water mill, which was originally designed for horses. We also climbed on a large sculpture.
As we walked, it became night. We headed into the city, for my first real taste of nightlife in a Spanish city.
This photo was taken at about 8pm, it got a lot busier and a LOT noisier. Buskers were everywhere, shops were open, and street venders were packed with customers. My host mother, my host grandmother and I did some window shopping in some boutiques while the others looked inside a giant toy shop!
When it hit about 10pm, it was time for dinner. We visited the most extravagant buffet I have ever experienced. The restaurant was three floors high, and you gradually wormed your way down – the top floor for entrees, the second floor for main meal, and the ground floor for dessert and payment.
It is somewhere I will never take my family, for fear we’d never leave.
Day Two
We headed out to a town called Tajahuerce. Tajahuerce is an ancient town of about fifty residents, situated about half an hour out of Soria. At this time of year, the town is completely abandoned by its residents, who choose to vacate it for warmer houses on the coast.
So, basically, we were visiting an abandoned – though architecturally stunning – little village.
What then, I’m sure you’re wondering, was the attraction? Well, ‘Tajahuerce’ is the last name of my host family!
Many novelty pictures, such as the above, were taken with signs. There was also quite a large playground that we had some fun on.
At this point in the day, my camera battery ran out. Which is unfortunate, because close by to Tajahuerce is a ruined castle. We spent the afternoon exploring the ruins on our own, and that night we took a (rather spooky) night tour!
Day 3
Was today, Monday, and so we had to head home. We did stop off in a little pub for brunch before we left. The pub food was nothing compared to a good ol’ chicken parma, but the pub did have a large flying fox on offer!
Aaaand I was back in Colmenarejo in time for a few periods of school. Ugh.
sounds like you had an amazing time!
ReplyDeletemmmmmmm pork crackling.... for some reason when i first saw the image i though they were weird swirly chocolate churros or something =S
oooh yeah the railings with padlocks are so cool! we saw some around Lake Como last year
omnomnom... i think i must visit this buffet!
you drove back from your adventure and then had to go to school for the rest of the day? uffa! that's silly...