After having to cancel London and Greece, we decided to try to at least take a few-day’s worth road trip within Spain as some sort of consolation prize. We were, of course, very careful, using a lot of hand-sanitizer and never taking off our face masks except within the car, hotel rooms or when we were eating – strictly so.

We started off just in time so we surrounded Madrid right after rush hour so we did not get caught in any traffic jams. We drove northwards towards Medina del Campo, a town which played an important role in Spanish history, specially around the time of the Catholic Monarchs and their direct descendants. We were there at 11:00 sharp, right at the time when the castle Castillo de La Mota opened to visitors. Mota is the Spanish word for motte, which is a raised area of ground where a castle keep, and a walled courtyard or bailey, are built. They are protected by a ditch and a palisade. These castles are thus called motte-and-bailey castle. In particular, the castle of La Mota is made of red brick, typical to the area, but it is heavily restored today. The visit included the outer building, the yard and the chapel of St. Louise.

We stopped for a quick lunch at the Parador de Puebla de Sanabria. Paradores is a Spanish brand of state-owned hotels and restaurants which have a good reputation all around the country. In our lunch stop, I got my stamp passport because I can find stamp rallies wherever they are (≧▽≦), and Paradores has launched one.

Then, as we were a couple of hours ahead our very informal schedule, we decided to take a small detour and check out the Parque Natural del Lago de Sanabria y alrededores, the natural park that surrounds the biggest natural lake in Spain, Lago de Sanabria. It is also one of the few, if not the only glacier-origin lake in Spain. It was full of people swimming and sunbathing, but the landscape was still beautiful.

After lounging for a while we continued on our way towards Galicia and our destination, Monforte de Lemos. We stayed at the Parador de Monforte de Lemos, situated in the Monastery Monasterio de San Vicente do Pino at the top of a hill. It is part of a monumental compound, along with the former castle Keep and the palace of the former Count’s family, Palacio de los Condes de Lemos . Due to some kind of fluke, my room was doubled as “supreme” and the door came out to the actual cloister of the monastery, which was super-cool! (Also: Stamp number two)

We took a short stroll down the village, and we passed by the small sanctuary to the Virgin Mary’s image Santuario de la Virgen de Monserrat.

Then we saw the walls and the old gates.

Finally, we went back to the hotel to have dinner over there. Our choices included trying a species of scallop I had not tried before, the zamburiña, variegated scallop (Chlamys varia). We also tried the local pie, empanada. For dessert, they had a ‘variety of chocolates’.

The day finished watching the sunset before turning in for the night.

Driving distance: Aprox. 600 km
Walking distance: 5.02 km