October 21, 2022: We took the train to Valladolid to see the sights and attend part of the annual film festival, the Seminci.
On the train. Masks required. The trip was a little bit challenging because we had to transfer trains in Madrid, and the trains arrived/departed in different train stations.
After we checked into our hotel, we walked down the Calle de Santiago, the site of the evening passeo, to go for a walk in the park. You can see banners for the film festival at the side of the road.
At the entrance to Parque Campo Grande.
Looking back toward Calle de Santiago from a plaza outside of Parque Campo Grande.
Beautiful park, the Parque Campo Grande.
Swans!
It’s almost impossible to get a reservation for La Parrilla De San Lorenzo on the same day. Our reservation was made possible by a handwritten note from the assistant manager of our hotel. We got in and had roast suckling lamb, which stands as one of the best meals of our lives.
The freshness tag indicated that the lamb was processed three days before we consumed it.
Open kitchen.
October 22, 2022: We stopped at Valladolid’s Mercado del Val for breakfast, then toured a contemporary art museum and took a walk along the river. In the afternoon and early evening, we caught two movies at the film festival.
At the Mercado del Val we had a light breakfast.
A clever display at the fish vendor in the Mercado del Val
The Museo Patio Herreriano houses a provocative collection of contemporary art in a former monastery.
Exterior of the Patio Herreriano with a mix of new and old construction.
Whimsical works by Katja Novitskova
The inner courtyard of the museum.
The cloister of the former monastery.
This image stopped us in our tracks. We believe it was called “Hatred”.
Dislexia, by Alicia Martín, was Elaine’s favorite.
We walked along the river Pisuerga along a mostly paved path. These earthen steps were our exit up to civilization.
We saw our first movie at the Seminci, and for us it was a dud. It was Teorema, an older Italian film with Spanish subtitles. Not much dialogue really, lots of silence and people staring at the camera, and some self-destructive behavior after getting spurned. Our second movie, Jamón Jamón, was a lot better. It is an early film with Javier Bardem and Penélope Cruz, in Spanish with no subtitles. Lots of dialogue that of course we didn’t understand, but it was riveting. Funny, sexy, and it had the best movie fight scene with hams ever.
The hotel manager also sent us to this restaurant, Las Tasquitas, where we waited our turn, patiently.
This is one of the things we ordered. We don’t remember what it was, but it was good.
October 23, 2022: Our second full day in Valladolid we went to the Museo Nacional de Escultura, the Casa de Cervantes, and to two more movies at the film festival.
Our hotel, the Zenit Imperial, was housed in a former palace built in the 16th century. This capital was from the original building.
On our way to the sculpture museum we stopped at Iglesia Conventual de San Pablo.
The cloister of the National Sculpture Museum, which is housed in the former Colegio de San Gregorio.
A choir in the collection of the sculpture museum.
Most of the sculptures were painted wood, designed to back up to a wall, and many were hollow inside.
Pieta.
William in the cloister.
Cathedral of Valladolid. It has only one tower, because the second one was destroyed in the Lisbon earthquake of 1775 and was never rebuilt.
Lunch break at Bar La Cárcava. Elaine had a lamb slider.
Lunch, with the cathedral looming.
The cathedral looms.
Cervantes lived in numerous places in Spain including Valladolid, twice. We visited one of his residences.
Pasaje de Dulcinea is the current name of the little street that goes along the garden in front of Cervantes’ residence.
Exterior of the residence. It probably housed many tenants in Cervantes’ time.
On the first floor was a museum. It featured bas relief scenes from Don Quixote.
Reconstruction of the apartment as it might have been when Cervantes lived here.
View of the garden from the apartment.
The garden at the Casa de Cervantes. We sat there enjoying the sunshine until the guard had to throw us out.
We saw two films at Teatro Carrión at the film festival: a Spanish movie No Mires a los Ojos (“don’t look at me”) and an Italian movie Le Otto Montagne (“the eight mountains”). We disagree on which movie was better – William liked the first one (about a shy man hiding out in a wardrobe) and Elaine liked the second one (a coming-of-age story about two friends and their relationships with their fathers). Both had English titles, which helped.
We just couldn’t stay away from the lovely Parque Campo Grande and ended our day there
