Last day of vacation today and what a day it has been! Beautiful weather yet again and an almost dizzying experience in terms of the variety of visual pleasure.
Yesterday ended and today began in a very small town called Almagro. We stayed in a beautiful "Casa Rural" with lots of antique furniture in all the rooms, including our own.
Almagro is famous for its Plaza Mayor dating from the reign of Carlos 1st (1516 – 1556) and for having the oldest theatre still operating in Spain. It was created in 1628 and after a period of decline and neglect, it was resurrected in the 1950's and today holds regular performances of classical Spanish theatre. We visited it just after it opened at 10h00 this morning and the building has retained enough of its character for it to be easy to imagine what it was like for the theatre goers there some 500 years ago, hot and boisterous under the heat of a Spanish day.
From Almagro we went to on to Consuegra, going through some really pretty countryside on the way and also coming across a herd of genuine Spanish bulls which, while more camera shy than I would have imagined, allowed me to add a few very nice photos to what has been my best photo safari since Japan in 2009.
Consuegra, by the way, is home to a series of about 12 windmills dating from the 16th century built along the crest of a hill which also has a very impressive medieval castle. The whole scene is straight out of Don Quixote which makes sense as Almagro, Consuegra and Toledo where we are spending our last night, are all in Castilla La Mancha, the famous Don's home turf.
We arrived in Toledo this afternoon, another really beautiful city but I think that after Seville, Cordoba and Grenada, we have become so used to seeing outstanding architecture and religious art that we have become just a little blasé.
That being said, since we were again blessed with fabulous light today, we went back to our hotel before it was too late to enjoy watching the late afternoon colors play their magic with the towers, spires, domes and roofs of the historic Toledo. The experience was all the better from the quiet of our terrace sipping a well made Caipirinha...
Many if not most people go to Spain for the beaches etc.. but for those with an interest in history and who are sensitive to mankind's incredible creative capacities, this country is quite simply sublime. Add in almost two weeks of brilliant sunshine, deep blue skies, marvelous autumn colors and enough people still around to create some life without the claustrophobia of the summer crowds and I just can't imagine much better. Most of all, I really can't recall any two weeks of my life when I have seen so many beautiful things day after day, not even in France or Italy which are also extremely well endowed.
Once I get a little time, I'll put together a collection of photos and post them to a site where those that are interested can get a better feel for what I've been writing about for these last couple of weeks.
Interestingly, the fact that this was my first foreign holiday as a woman and also the single longest period that I have presented as a woman without having to revert back to male at some stage was basically a complete nonevent.
In our hotels no one made an issue out of the fact that the woman who showed up happened to have a passport that said she was a man and for everyone else I was "Signora" without the slightest hesitation.
What is going to be very, very bizarre though is going back to work as a guy the day after tomorrow. I'm still trying to get my head around that but, as the French say " a chaque jour suffit sa peine" (translates very roughly into " take your troubles day by day and don't worry too much about what problems you may encounter tomorrow"
With that, time to go out for a last Spanish dinner and more than the food which has been average at best, I'm looking forward to some more really excellent red wine (whites are best avoided...)
Bises from Toledo.
Donna
P.S. Applesprout. We'll certainly come back as we now understand just how much there is to see in this remarkably beautiful country but I think that for the North, summer or early autumn (Sept) would be better. No?
