Back from Valladolid

Back on the A6 bus to London. Vallodolid was good, even if it is far from having the charms other cities in that Spanish province may have. Unlike Salamanca, also located in Castilla, it is devoid of great monuments and places of interest are few. Its center is small, with a good number of shops, restaurants and, as most cities in Spain, it has an average of three bars or cafes per blocks of houses. The absence of great architectural buildings and profusion of venues to eat and drink makes it the perfect place to relax. Since you are free of schedules and opening times, you can wander from one bar to the next without feeling any shame at all. It is an industrial city with good hotels looking for punters during the weekend: another selling point, you get good deals on accommodation.

There's plenty of wines to chose from in the bars and restaurants. Valladolid is located near the four wine producing regions of Castilla y Leon: Ribera del Duero, Toro and Cigales, all producing red wines from the same variety, Tempranillo, and the region of Rueda, producing refreshing whites from Verdejo. They do have it all: Ribera del Duero producing serious, ageworthy wines; Toro, has lively and interesting wines that are packed with joyful fruit; Cigales, an up and coming region showing excellent potential and being largely planted with very old vines (many centenarians); and Rueda, with its whites, when you are having fish, or when you are going for tapas. The only problem with my trip was its length. Daniel and I arrived Friday at 1700 and departed Sunday, at 1500. With only one full day in the city, there was a limit to what we could drink. .

But there was another problem: flying with RyanAir. We did not register one piece of luggage when we purchased the tickets on line and there was no way I was paying an extra 12.00 GBP to bring back the wonderful bottles I found at a nearby shop: Bodegas Museum Reserva, Cigales, Libranza, Bodegas Matarredonda, Toro and Pago de los Capellanos Crianza, Ribera del Duero. But I am not crying, all the wines are available in London, which is still being a wonderful market place for wines from all over the world. More on the wines I did have during he weekend will follow...