I didn’t even take the car out of the parador garage today. After yesterday’s drive and with another 680 km tomorrow it seemed a good idea to use my feet for other than pressing the accelerator. Last night’s dinner at Rincon de Antonio was delicious and when I suggested that I might try a DOC Zamora he replied “Zamora es Toro” and directed me to one of his favourites on the list – Victorino. It proved an excellent accompaniment to the six course degustacion menu.
I should have been shooting audio at 11:00 when most of the town’s churches clanged their bells to gather the faithful – and they clang these are not tuneful chimes but raucous “get to church now” blasts. Lots of the people clearly preferred the call of Mammon as there was a flea market in full swing right in front of the parador. By the way the parador courtyard was back to normal today. There were a very few interesting pieces but most would have exceeded the baggage allowance so I just looked and left.
Just below the parador is Zamora Museum which I was encouraged to enter by a couple of church-bound locals – probably trustees. It was an very interesting small museum with lots of archaeological finds from its long history, an early mosaic floor and some fine jewellery, lots of medieval masonry from destroyed churches and palaces and some paintings and sculpture, among which were two pieces by Mariano Benlliure whom we’d discovered in Valencia on our 2015 visit. He worked and studied in Zamora in the 1870s as a teenager.
I then decided it was time to pay the Duero a visit and fortunately you can walk across the stone bridge, along the gardens and children’s playgrounds on the left bank with great views of the weir (!) and then back over the new road bridge and back to town along the right bank through a splendid avenue. It was a lovely reflective stroll for about two and a half kilometres reminding me a little of Boston’s esplanade on a Sunday with cyclist, joggers and rollerbladers but all on grass and sand.
Lots of families having fun and a few who’d been sent out to the baker’s. Others needed help but were out taking the warm air.
My walk ended by the famous Aceña de Olivares the first sign of industry in Zamora in 986 – or at least that’s the first written reference so they may have been even earlier. 
They are flour mills driven by the power of the Duero and were in use until the early part of the twentieth century. They have now been restored and are powered up at 19:00 every evening except Monday so you can go in and see the machinery worked by the water. Maybe later on I’ll whizz down again – although that will entail a steep up to get back. I did make that up to visit Zamora’s castle – of course it has – the grounds of which have sculptures by local artist Baltasar Lobo who died in 1993. A lot of them are very pleasing and on this visit at least, I wasn’t made to do silly things beside sculptures by my companion.
I continued my stroll through the medieval old town passing a super triple stork site through to the newer area where I got confirmation that yesterday’s weather prediction was very close if not there – it was 26° as I passed by so it might have got hotter. It’s fairly typical of Spanish towns with elegant avenues, parks and not-too-ugly apartment blocks and some interesting designs for children’s play objects.
By then it was time for tapas and I elected for my first slices of ham from the paleta always a delight and gave myself a real surprise by ordering sopa de ajo which I’ve always thought of as the lesser known cousin of gazpacho. Not in Castile is it a chilled white confection. It’s more like French onion soup with garlic, pimento for spiciness and toasted cheesy bread circles floated on the top. It was very tasty and when I explained my surprise the waiter advised me that what I had expected is called sopa de ajo blanco and that this local version is the real thing – nothing like regional rivalry.
Then back to the parador to check up on the cricket – easy win for England, much needed one for Hampshire and to get packed up ready for my drive south tomorrow. A deserved beer on the terrace before dinner in the parador tonight and an early start in the morning – although breakfast is included and very good as always with fruit, yoghurt and cereals, eggs, bacon and sausage, cold meats and cheese for all the Dutch and German visitors and then a selection of breads and pastries. I won’t need to stop for lunch – just frequent coffees.
I’ve spared you the full romanesque and modernismo photo essay but here are a few favourite details to conclude. I love the bronze sculpture of the guy just walking down the street with all the others returning from church and the joy in decoration of the modernist architects.
After spending an excellent Christmas with Dee’s sister and brother in law in Sucina down the coast in the province of Murcia with Christmas lunch in Santiago de la Ribera and a Boxing Day excursion to Cabo Palos and Cartagena, we set off for Valencia for the week until the New Year. Given last year’s experience in Cadiz we left the car back at the airport and took their shuttle bus to the excellent boutique hotel Hospes Palau de Mar which is in two converted merchant buildings not far from the old city and the Turia Gardens, the 9 km super-park that semicircles Valencia in the former bed of the diverted river Turia.
We were too early to check in so left our luggage and set off for a Sunday flea market held behind the Mestalla – Valencia Football Club’s stadium where we went to see a match back in 2006. Sadly by the time we made it, the majority of stalls had packed up and gone. So it was time to find somewhere for lunch and console ourselves that if we had found anything interesting it would have probably been difficult to get it back home. After going back to the hotel and establishing ourselves in our room we walked off to the Plaza del Ayuntamiento where an ice rink was installed and fun was being had by all amid bright white light decorations on all the buildings around it. We found a lovely little family bar Jamon del Medio just along from the hotel so we dined there and only had a short stagger back to the hotel.
The wide sandy beach is fringed by a promenade with at least a hundred restaurants all promising the authentic Valencian paella – well this is the home of the dish after all.The surrounding area also has some interesting old buildings including beautiful wrought iron warehouses and the old Custom House with its tall clock tower. There are also lots of signs of the Americas Cup which was based here in 2010 and of the Grand Prix de Europa which was held here from 2018-2012. It was a bit early for paella so after a coffee we jumped back on the tour bus and headed back into the old town. 
There’s lots to explore here to with the modernist North Station and the Central Market with lots of local iconography and products. We were going to go to the Fine Arts Museum but of course it was closed on a Monday so plan B was back to the hotel to chill and read before a further evening explore of the centre. It took us to what was to be a breakfast gem for the next three days – the Café Agricultura which is part of the HQ building of the Royal Valencia Society for Agriculture and Sport. We entered a nice-looking cafeteria for an aperitif and idly picked up the menu which did a simple breakfast which was great value. Only when we ventured to the loo did we notice that the cafeteria led to a massive entrance hall with a monumental staircase and apparently, lots of meeting rooms and full scale dining areas. They also run the young farmers’ clubs and bridge and chess clubs along with influencing agricultural policy in the region.
That evening we heard a great commotion outside the bar near the hotel we were in and went outside to find the streets filled with hundreds of people in fancy dress running along. We went with them following the sound of some insistent drums to the Plaza de la Reina where we discovered this was the finish of an annual charity 5km run that’s held on30 December every year. The San Silvestre run has been going since 1983 and attracted an estimated 15000 to 18000 runners of all ages. As with so many events like this there are some serious runners but many are in fancy dress and there to end the year with a bit of fun.
Dee was very taken by this early fifteenth century Virgin by the Valencian artist Peris Sarria. There were also lots of sculptures, including this flamenco dancer, by Mariano Benlliure the brother of Jose who’s house we seen earlier. Their father and another brother were also painters so there was quite a dynasty of artistic Benlliures about which we had previously known nothing at all. Cultured out, we had a coffee at the museum and a stroll back to the Plaza de la Reina for another light lunch as we had booked the special New Year dinner at the hotel. This proved a riotous affair with silly hats, whistles and streamers and much jollity among the staff as well – many of them were international catering students drafted in for a big party by the hotel. It was a fine way to see in the new year.
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