I have an hour of free time this morning, since there are more Anglos than Spaniards, so we get a break occasionally. I have time to write a bit in the blog about yesterday and today’s activities.
It was a full day’s schedule of conversation and conference call practice sessions yesterday. But during the siesta time, Susan, Elizabeth (both Anglos) and I walked 15 minutes up the hill to the castle. The castle was closed so we couldn’t go in, but it’s an expansive view from the top. I read that the movie El Cid with Charlton Heston was shot at this castle.
At the end of the day, there was an entertainment hour with music and a skit, then dinner at 9:00. After dinner, at 10:30, nearly everyone went to a bar in town (a 3-minute walk) that opened specially for us, and Pete hosted a pub trivia quiz. There were 4 teams of 6 people each and all the questions were in English, of course, although there were also music questions and some of the songs were Spanish. My team didn’t win, but it was fun. A group of us left at 12:15 after the trivia ended, but many others stayed to drink more.
This morning, it was lightly foggy outside at first, but the sun is burning that away fairly quickly. At noon today, after the first two conversation practice hours, we’re all going to a nearby winery for a tasting session. The staff members collected 8 euros from each who wanted to attend, and we’ll carpool there in the cars of Spaniards who drove to Belmonte rather than taking the bus.
Some other miscellaneous information:
Of the 14 Anglos here, 6 are from the US, 6 from the UK, and 2 from Kenya.
Our hotel was built on the ruins of the oldest building in the town, which dated back to the 1300s. It was first the palace of regional ruler, then later was changed to a nun’s cloister, not a monastery as I reported before. It’s immediately next to a very old church.
In the summer, Belmonte hosts an annual jousting tournament where people wear medieval armor, even in the 90-degree heat.
Lori's Travels 