During this trip we have admired the sturdy stone walls of many old towns: we've touched them , walked around bits of them, photographed them and wondered about them. ....but today we actually got to walk for more than a kilometre along the walls that protected the town of Avila from its medieval foes.
Having departed Salamanca after a fruitless search for a Laundromat (obviously not popular here!) we headed off down the boring highway (smelling slighty) through the plains of Spain ( but no rain! ) for the town of Avila. After a while Ewan needed some caffeine and was determined to drive down some country roads so we turned off at a random exit and headed for the unknown.
First stop was a rather isolated truck stop where the proprietor made us great coffee and plied us with churros to dip into it. These traditional long fried doughnuts are delicious dipped into thick hot chocolate and a few times I have considered having some.
Announcement: Ewan wishes me to make it clear that he has offered to buy me some 'churros con chocolat' a number of times and I have declined (predominantly because they probably have more calories per gram than any food I can think of! ).
However tomorrow is the big day: in 2007 when Lauren and I travelled together we had the most delicious churros con chocolat in Segovia and I will definitely have some when we reach there tomorrow, come hell or high water.
Anyway the most fascinating aspect of the truck stop was not the churros but the number of bottles of spirits: there were crates full of every spirit imaginable! Hopefully not being consumed by the truck drivers?!
Determined not to end up on a freeway we kept driving and of course ended up on a dirt road. It took us through a tiny deserted farming town, past a huge cross and across some dry plains to finally reach our destination.
Perched on a hill was the town of Avila surrounded by a beautifully restored medieval stone wall complete with battlements, and perfectly placed to defend the town. The terracotta roofs and white walls of the houses completed the perfect picture .......and they were plenty of tourists to take the picture!
Just outside of town there are four pillars around a cross where, in medieval times, travellers would be blessed before entering the city. Now busloads of day tripper tourists elbow each other to get the best spot to take the perfect photo.
Finally we parked and wandered into the old town through the wall. We were rather mystified as there were lots of people - young and old - dressed in medieval costume. From knights to jesters to servant girls to wealthy matrons - we saw them all.
Then we came across endless stalls with all of the stall holders dressed in medieval costume and their wares displayed with a medieval theme. Along all of the cobblestoned streets there were banners and flags, drums playing and the whole place was buzzing.
Finally Mr Google explained that it was an annual medieval festival that we had stumbled across.
As we tried to find the place where we could ascend the wall we had to avoid being injured by small boys dressed as Knights with dangerous plastic swords!
Finally we climbed up and walked for more than a kilometre along the top of the walls enjoying the sun and the views. About half of the wall is able to be walked and it is quite an experience imagining what it would have been like to be patrolling the ramparts and fighting off your enemies.
We located our hotel which was within the old walls, but fortunately not in the middle of the festivities, and had a siesta in the peace and quiet.
Our day was completed by a wander around town sampling the food available - although I'm not sure falafels were popular in medieval times. We had some lovely mint tea and baklava in the Arab 'quarter' before heading back to the hotel to collapse.
Your non- costumed reporter
Dianne
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