Sunday morning, I got up early, left the hotel a little 7:30 and walked to the train station with my luggage. I had an uneventful ride to Atocha Station, switched to the Metro Line 11 and made my way to Tetuan. I then had a short walk to the Starbucks near the Vaughan Town meeting point and enjoyed a quiet breakfast.
Around 9:45, I walked to the meeting point, checked in with the VT staff, said hello and boarded the bus. I was in the last row center seat to enjoy the extra legroom and chatted with Maria G,, Maria D., Diana, Emilio and Joe from Vancouver. Even with a stop for coffee and restrooms, it only took two hours to reach Belmonte. Our home for the week is the Hotel Spa Palacio del Infante Don Juan Manuel. As the name implies, at one time this was a royal palace. There are many remnants of the old palace, to include places where archeological excavations were made - in many places, the new hotel was built around and over the remnants to make the hotel into a stop for tourist buses, not to stay overnight, but to see the old palace ruins.
We have a large meeting room where all of our group activities take place, including our official orientation.
My room is huge, measuring nearly 40 by 15 feet.
There are multiple banquet rooms, breakfast areas and dining rooms, many adjacent to the ruins.
On our first break, I went outside to explore - yes, Belmonte is in the province of Cuenca, which is in the Communidad of Castille - La Mancha and is on the route of Don Quixote, complete with windmills that he would have tilted at. The Man of La Mancha was from here!
This is a small town in the middle of rich farmland.
It is also on the route of the author and academic Fray Luis de Leon.
In a couple of places, there were billboards for free speech - nothing but remnants was left on any of them.
The area is famous for sheep's cheese.
The town has a pleasant plaza in the center of town and a sculpture of Don Quixote in front of the local high school.
I walked through the Estrella Gate and thought of the Estrella Mountains near Phoenix.
Several places had reminders of Fray Luis de Leon.
And they take pride in their history with many signs to educate visitors.
And did I mention they have windmills?
Around 9:45, I walked to the meeting point, checked in with the VT staff, said hello and boarded the bus. I was in the last row center seat to enjoy the extra legroom and chatted with Maria G,, Maria D., Diana, Emilio and Joe from Vancouver. Even with a stop for coffee and restrooms, it only took two hours to reach Belmonte. Our home for the week is the Hotel Spa Palacio del Infante Don Juan Manuel. As the name implies, at one time this was a royal palace. There are many remnants of the old palace, to include places where archeological excavations were made - in many places, the new hotel was built around and over the remnants to make the hotel into a stop for tourist buses, not to stay overnight, but to see the old palace ruins.
We have a large meeting room where all of our group activities take place, including our official orientation.
My room is huge, measuring nearly 40 by 15 feet.
There are multiple banquet rooms, breakfast areas and dining rooms, many adjacent to the ruins.
On our first break, I went outside to explore - yes, Belmonte is in the province of Cuenca, which is in the Communidad of Castille - La Mancha and is on the route of Don Quixote, complete with windmills that he would have tilted at. The Man of La Mancha was from here!
This is a small town in the middle of rich farmland.
It is also on the route of the author and academic Fray Luis de Leon.
In a couple of places, there were billboards for free speech - nothing but remnants was left on any of them.
The area is famous for sheep's cheese.
The town has a pleasant plaza in the center of town and a sculpture of Don Quixote in front of the local high school.
Christmas decorations are still up.
I walked through the Estrella Gate and thought of the Estrella Mountains near Phoenix.
Several places had reminders of Fray Luis de Leon.
And did I mention they have windmills?
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