A weekend road trip to the Sierra de Francia.

This past weekend we made a last minute decision to leave the city and head out to the mountains for a short road trip. We grabbed the cheapest rental car possible (a tiny little Fiat 500) and hit the tarmac towards the Sierra De Francia. Our first stop was the historic walled city of Ciudad Rodrigo.

We were hoping for the first days of summer to hit us, but it was cold, grey and windy! The town itself was deserted but we still enjoyed a hike around the ancient city walls.

After lunch we headed towards the mountains. We passed through lots of tiny pueblos, many with distinctive ‘fronton’ courts for handball/pelota.

As we drove higher the clouds came down, and by the time we reached our hotel at Peña de Francia, the visibility was 20 metres and the wind was so strong we could hardly open the car doors!

The following morning we made a careful descent down the mountain, through spooky pine forests shrouded in mist.

Our first stop that morning was La Alberca, a medieval village that in 1940 was named a ‘National Historic Landmark’. Here we bought local honey and explored the narrow winding lanes.

We then let our GPS guide us through tiny country roads towards Salamanca. We stopped for a walk on the banks of the Alagón river (getting totally drenched in the process by a passing storm) and then found our way blocked by these cheeky chaps:

We finished our weekend trip with tapas in the old town of Salamanca – the sun finally came out and it was a great way to end a mini-adventure.