Avila We continued on to Avila through yellow grass plains with very few villages, much the dry Spain that we had imagined. Avila is another town with amazing Roman walls that surround the old town completely. We parked just outside the walls in a 'Pay and Display' area to discover just how cheap parking can be! For about 4 hours, it costs only a euro or so. Wishful thinking that Sydney's parking charges could be so low! A wander through the town and to ...

Salamanca We had headed further south than we had initially planned in order to visit Salamanca. We had intended to travel due east towards Barcelona, but now having dipped this far south, our plans are to continue to Madrid before swinging north again. We arrived at Salamanca early so hopped on the local bus to the old city. Salamanca is a stunning place - there is no better word for it. We followed the walking tour suggested in the Lonely Planet guide w...

Lugo to Tordesillas: We left Santiago de Compostella quite late in the morning and headed east towards the old Roman city of Lugo.This town has UNESCO-listed Roman walls in near-perfect condition.They were indeed impressive - it was just a shame that the city inside was so modern.In the early afternoon the place was dead! The afternoon siesta when everything closes has taken some getting used to.Even supermarkets close down and don't open again till 4 or 5pm...

Santiago de Compostella: The big drawcard in the very north-west of Spain is the city of Santiago de Compostella.All the way since Santander we had past pilgrims on the roads walking towards the city.Mostly with day packs on, it was obvious that they were on an organised pilgrimage and had warm, dry, comfortable beds for the night.Only the occasional one had a full backpack with sleeping bags and mats on board - doing it the hard way. The closer we came to...

Galicia. Getting the pronunciation right is important in Spain.Complete non-understanding follows if you get the words wrong; especially the 'c' followed by an 'i' or an 'e'.This is pronounced as 'th' so Galicia becomes 'Galithia' and gracias is 'grathias'.It ca n be quite a mouthful! So here we are in Galithia in the far north-west of Spain.It is frequently wet and quite cold.Reports of more southern parts of the country being warm and dry are a bit ...