We are not quite sure what a solar eclipse actually is, but the seeing of it was the purpose of this trip. So we had to drive to northern Spain to see it properly. And as the padre is not up to 12 hour drives we did it with an overnight stop at Salamanca
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| We (predictably) stayed at a poncey hotel, Hotel Rector | The hotel did really good breakfasts .. | .. and they were not just healthy options, there were buns as well |
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| We were living dangerously here,eating ice cream beside a police car | This is the main plaza in Salamanca. We seem to have frightened everyone away | We got stuck into a decent dinner in the town, By and large we only choose to eat at Michelin establishments |
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We had all the gear - these funny glasses - for the eclipse
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| The thing was due to pass right over us. | We supervised the preparation of cava for all hotel guests who were watching. Then we waited .. | we think we must have missed it, because it suddenly went dark .. | just as if someone had turned the lights off. For a couple of minutes it was pitch dark. Then it got light again. We have no idea what we were meant to have seen as it was too dark |
Anyway while we were in the area we checked out a few places
The hotel was poncey
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| Looks poncey | Decent enough bedroom | The madre got down to the bar before us |
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| But we soon caught up with her | ..and got our food order in | ..the padre joined us and we all enjoyed the puddings |
Funnily enough it did not go dark during the day again, so we could explore the area.
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| Our idea of culture, a statue of a hat full of apples | We checked ou this lighthouse as a possible eclipse venue | A really nice position, but probably full of the chattering classes on the day of the eclipse |
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| The local specialty is cider, so we had to try some | We try to avoid old churches, but this was UNESCO and | ..it had quite a splendid interior |
One thing we learned here, was dinosaurs. We used to think that the padres were dinosaurs, but it turns out that dinosaurs were animals that roamed the area round here a long time ago
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| Down on a local beach there were dinosaur footprints | That is a dinosaur footprint, so they must have been really big | Some had feathers on | others were just big |
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| Outside the museum we saw how big they were | And some were big and scary as well | others just ate grass and not small bears | and this little fellow gave us a ride |
Then on to France. It is a very nice country, but they only speak French, so are a bit difficult to understand
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| Condom is known for the 4 Musketeers | We met their statue, and this looks a dangerous place to be | We went on to the B&B that we were booked in o - poncey |
The great thing about this area is that they are really in to food, so we were able to indulge ourselves
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| We sampled the local Flock cocktails | and the local fois gras | we were still at it at breakfast | and at dinner |
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| They called this crepes suzette and it is rather nice | These are carrot cakes for breakfast | ,, and a basket of buns | ..and lunch by the river |
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| ..and lunch in a local town | Diner on our balcony | Juices at a local garden | and we even had room for ice creams |
Apart from the food we did a bit of local exploring
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| Us at Abbey of Flaran. UNESCO, so very cultural | This village had lots of cat statues, very cultural | We visited an Armagnac producer .. | .. very cultural too |
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| Back to old stones at this village, UNESCO though | Here is us pretending to be medieval peasants | And us enjoying a ice cream with a medieval peasant | We decided against swimming here as it was very dirty |
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| Up close an personal with more old stones | On top of that roof. It was UNESCO, so by definition, cultural | Getting away from old stones, there was field after field of sunflowers | Happily we were allowed the occasional lunch break |
We headed north after Armagnac to see Uncle Victor and Auntie Gaynor
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| First thing we did was make a pizza | Uncle Vic was impressed by our pizza, and wanted the recipe | Meanwhile the madre was the only taker for a swim in the lake | We went out for a trip to some village .. |
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| ..where we had a few photo ops. | And rounded the visit off with a cold glass of beer on a hot day | Tapas with the Gunns | And we share an evening glass of a decent wine with the padre |
After that it is back to Moraira, with a stop in northern Catalonia at Hotel Casa Anamaria - poncey
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| You can get the idea of exactly how poncey from ... | ..these photos | We met the chef, who had an Irish mother | And we posed with the chef and waiter |
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| The lady of the house looking very elegant | She started to wilt a bit, so we helped her finish her dinner .. | and the breakfast the next day | Not even the lovely pool could tempt us to venture in |
So back to Moraira
At Moraira we introduced Salamanca Bear to all the other bears in the house.
Off to Ireland next in a few weeks
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