Thursday
20 September 2012 Barcelona to Soria
After
another great breakfast at The Patio, (omlette today) Lyndsay and Tony went and
retrieved our Kangoo from the tightly packed parking building, lots of
reversing required by Tony.
Managed
to get on the road by 10 am heading for Soria a town north west of Zarathoga.
Uneventful drive through lots of olive groves and vineyards, climbing quite
high over some passes and down into plateaus. Very dry in some areas, you would
wonder why anything grows.
Lunch in
roadside cafeteria catering to local workmen and passing trucks. Nice cheap
selection of tapas but some unknown when purchased e.g. Lyndsay’s tripe in a
tomato sauce.
Arrived
about 3.30 pm at our 3 star Hotel Corsa,
about 6 km outside Soria, near a truckstop and what looks like a giant
quarry, though turns out to be preparation to build factories. Looks pretty uninviting
from the outside, but has a pool and inside is fine, recently refurbished,
clean modern lines, very comfortable beds and most appealing €45 per room per
night. Shower is lethal though, oval base is very slippery and you need to put
down a towel asno non slip bathmats.
After
suitable siesta (over an hour) about 5pm
we headed into the town itself which is a mixture of an old town and some
suburbs with wide streets. Lonely Planet says population about 18,000. Found
Tourism office with very helpful young man who provided maps and directions to
important places.
Went for
stroll around old town after visit to church of San Juan, found central square
with kids sports programme going on and also a display of electric cars from
Renault and Peugeot. Heaps of people, especially older people, out and about
strolling, talking and laughing.
Whilst
in the square we noticed a large van with “Orquesta Sinfonica De Euskadi”
written on side (translates as Basque National Symphony Orchestra) then a large
poster outside a large theatre/concert hall ( ? El Palacion de la Audiencia) where we saw
they were performing that evening. Nice man at Tourismo told us tickets were
€10 each !! Bought tickets, had mediocre tapas dinner in square and then headed
off to concert.
Fantastic
hall, old building but obviously completely renovated inside with moden wood
panelling , seats about 500, enclosed
stage area and superb acoustics. Orchestra about 40 strong all in formal
black tails or dresses. Programme was Beethoven Coriolanus Overture, Mozart
Piano Concerto No. 9 and Mozart Symphony No. 40. Pianist was very slight young
woman, Judith Jauregui, who seemed to just stroke the keys and the conductor
was a rather flamboyant middle aged man with grey curls named Lorenz Nasturica-Herschowici.
A great evening was had by all.
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