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We didn't plan our honeymoon until after our wedding, since Kathy was in the process of changing jobs and Greg was taking a Winter Session Class at Kutztown.  We talked about taking some sort of road trip, bu then Greg found out about some cheap airfares to Europe.  Flights to Madrid were among the cheapest, so off we went three weeks later (talk about spontaneous!).  We spent almost a week there and split our time between Toledo and Segovia.  We didn't really spend time in Madrid since we're not city people, but we managed to find buses and trains to and from our destinations.  

We spent our first few days in the walled city of Toledo, touring the various churches, cloisters and the Alcazar (armory).  The hotel we stayed at (shown above) was partially built into the city's walls and had beautiful moorish gardens leading up to the entrance.  We had a wonderful dinner in the hotel's restaurant, and both our food and our room rates were incredibly affordable since we were there off-season (as we usually are).  We tried a lot of different types of food on this trip, including partridge, quail, ostrich, roast suckling pig, and something I couldn't identify, but I translated part of the dish as "veal", so it was probably something from a young cow.  Most of our trip was done by walking tours, which was not that difficult since the old city is not that large.

We spent the remaining time in Segovia, another walled city northeast of Madrid, which required us to return to Madrid by bus, take the subway to the train station, then catch a train to Segovia.  Fortunately, an English-speaking stranger helped us find the correct subway terminal when we were confused.   Segovia's Alcazar contained a museum of armor and looked like a fairy-tale castle.  The cathedral here was also beautiful, but under restoration during our visit.  On the Saturday evening of our stay, we enjoyed the local culture as we watched everyone congregating in the town square after mass.  There were children playing, street vendors selling fresh pastries, and people filling up the bars and restaurants for "Tapas" before dinner.  

I hope we will return to Spain to visit Seville and the Spanish Riviera, which promise to offer a completely different experience.

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Last updated 3/17/00.

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