DAY 18 MONDAY, 12TH
OF NOVEMBER ZARAGOZA drive to Lleida Spain and a new Parador for us
We enjoyed our NH breakfast
WITHOUT THE BUS CROWD on a Monday AM, stocked up for a hectic day of travel for
both sets of travelers Rick via train and Paul & Jane via car. Off we all
went to the public parking garage to retrieve the car. Back at the hotel we
loaded ALL luggage and programed Carmen for the Train station which she
immediately confused her to look for the BUS station instead.(that may have
been operator error) but Paul choose to ignore her and follow the good street
signs instead. We got Rick to the entrance and off he strode to change his
ticket for an earlier departure.
After being ignored by the driver
Carmen Garmin had a little hissy fit, I kid you not! Ultimately, we found the
outskirts after Carmen had a COLD START REBOOT. Sometimes you have to get tough
with these bossy GPS thingys show them who is boss! Finally we were underway nearly 30 minutes to
exit Zaragoza from the train station in light morning traffic.
We stayed off of the Peaje toll
roads and had only light truck traffic and few cars.After 2 hours Paul found a
Hotel for a refreshment break which turned into a lunch stop with menu of the
day for 12 euros and a good selection of plates to enjoy.The waiter wanted to
chat with the travelers and he wondered why we had ventured from Florida to
Lleida. Great service with a friendly smile and don’t forget to take your water
bottle, from lunch!
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| New Cathedral Lleida in town center |
Into town and Carmen acted up
again trying to find the new Parador, between her and the street signs she was
looking for the parking garage Paul ended up driving right up to the rear
entrance. We checked in and retrieved the luggage cart and a map of how to find
their remote garage which turned out to be the building immediately behind the
parador but the one-way system and streets necessitated a 12 block adventure to
enter the garage!!!!
We walked into town to get our
bearings and stopped by the tourist office for maps. The Parador is quite new,
open only a year. The building is not new, in fact it was a convent from 1723
to 1752! Then, who knows? No idea where the nuns went. They have done a
wonderful job renovating it. It is built around a three-story cloister and is
most impressive. Very clean and simple, as benefits a convent I suppose. Not a
lot of art on the walls which is quite unusual for a Parador but the simplicity
suits it. The rooms are large and roomy. Time was marching on and we were quite
tired after our busy time in Zaragoza so we had bar snacks at the Parador for
evening time and an early night to bed.
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