Farewell Logrono, hola Madrid

Thursday 19 September 
We are up early to clean our Logrono apartment. Having not yet met the owner we can deduce by the belongings she is probably in her late thirties, early forties, likes to cook and also collect. Her interior decor is confusing to say the least with random silk flowers adoring the rooms, black and white framed poster prints of New York on one wall and a copy of a painting of Notre Dame on the other. Then there was the sea view in the bedroom and I almost forgot, little blue glass buttons glued on the wall randomly above the flat screen TV. Aside from the decor the apartment was meticulous and had stunning highly polished parquetry floors throughout. Being of typical European apartment style there were metal roller shutters that sealed you in from the outside world. We did meet Yolanda when she arrived to pick up her keys and she was as imagined and so very pleased that we had enjoyed our stay in Logrono. She promised to try and make it to Australia one day and our parting gift was a bottle of the local red – more wine to be consumed before we head home!
We set of at 10am for Madrid, via a couple of recommended stops. Amilee is right on track for the first leg of the journey as we speed along the freeway and head to Segovia.

The Roman aqueduct was well worth the diversion and Flashy picked up a car park almost underneath it for a mere €2. There were the usual tour bus groups gathered but not enough to be annoying and we sat and enjoyed a salad for late lunch listening to the music from the violinist playing to the audience below. From Sergovia our next stop was the Valley of the Fallen.

This little known attraction is actually the Abadia Benedictina de la Santa Cruz and it is set high on a mountain in the middle of a large pine forest. The first glimpse is of a large white stone cross, soaring 152metres high atop a mountain over 3000 feet above sea level. It takes your breath away. We walk up the short paths and around the corner is a parade ground that would hold 1000 soldiers. It is stark granite stone with no vegetation except the tops of the neighbouring pine trees and a hazy view over the outskirts of Madrid below. Leading off the forecourt is the entry to the Basilica which is completely tunnelled into the hillside. Its length is over 250 metres and we later learn had been constructed by thousands of prisoners of the Spanish civil war during Franco's reign. Franco is buried within the Basilica and debate still goes on as to whether or not he should remain there.
Our cultural experiences are once again exhausted so we set our directions to Madrid on all three devicesdevices -mobile phone, tablet and of course Amelie and set forth. The mobile Google maps advises us of an accident on the A5 which will add an hour to the trip so we follow the alternate M50 into the city and whilst Amelie soon picks up on it there is a period of complete silence – we guessed she just spat the dummy because she had been usurped. We arrive a little late but our eager host and hostess Maria and Javier are waiting for us as Lady P scoops up another perfect car park, the last one in the court. A quick tour of the old style apartment before we are left to our own devices and decide to head across the park for a few supplies. In typical Spanish style even though it is 8pm at the night, the park is throbbing with grannies, babies, adults, teens and in between. There are dogs, cats, bikes and a group of oldies playing their regular card game on one of the tables, complete with tablecloth. We are not even really surprised anymore.