On the way to Salamanca

Leaving Plasencia in the middle of the afternoon meant I had plenty of time to roam the countryside before arriving at my next Parador. On impulse I had bought a postcard a few days earlier of one of the largest Roman bridges in Europe. It happened to be quite near by, (well, more like an hour's detour), so I decided to go and see it as well as stop in a village where another well-respected potter lived.

He is the last to use a technique of encrusting designs into the pots. Even more interesting to me was the fact that he prepared his own clay, he knew where to find it, calculate it's quality and vary the heat accordingly. Apparently this region has some of the best clay in the world in terms of resisting high temperatures.

I enjoyed driving in this very rural and pretty barren part of Spain. When I got to the bridge, I was very impressed that it is still in use 2007 years after it was built.

What are so amazing are the extremes you find within an hours drive of Palencia. To the west is a valley where the best cherries in Spain grow, throughout most of the summer; they are the size of small plums! In the Jewish town of Hervás, we saw people selling things from their allotments, such as these wonderful yellow string beans; I thought they hadn't seen the light. Hervás' was a medieval Jewish town. Its narrow, steep streets are lined with houses made with adobe and chestnut-wood frameworks, their roofs plastered with Arab tiles to shield the wind. The whole community was evicted during the inquisition apart from those who were willing to convert to Christianity.

Only a short drive away is the national park of 'Monfrague', famous for its vultures and eagles. This is wild and arid looking land and you can imagine a cowboy ride up through the mid day haze at any minute. Houses are built of flint stone and shade is only found in man-made structures.

Lucky for me, my family took me to a natural watering hole where the locals cool off. We sat by the river, watching adults behave like children and I tasted the local cheese called CASADA - sort of like a fondue thing, which you just mop up with bread.
On the way to Salamanca I stoped at a village called 'Banos de Montemayor', where I had been told I would find people working with whicker. I was too late, the last of them had retired a couple of years ago and had opened a shop selling whicker-ware from china, the shop was called "Shanghai".
I got to Salamanca late, my hotel was just on the other side of the river and I could not believe the view when I pulled back the curtains.
I thought I would list some web-links on the people I have seen. However, there is really very little I can show. To get a taste of how behind the craft industry is in promoting itself have a look at this video which I found on the local press web-page: http://www.extremaduraaldia.tv/index.php?option=com_seyret&Itemid=&task=videodirectlink&id=3155