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Saturday, 8 April. The bus left the hotel in Granada at 08:15 heading north toward Madrid. It was mountainous at first, and we passed a couple of people riding donkeys. We passed through the city of Jaen, site of a 13th century Moorish fortress (Santa Catalina), converted into a hotel (parador) in 1968. By this time, some of the group were feeling sick, Jane among them.
We stopped for lunch at Manzanares in the province of La Mancha, Don Quixote’s stomping grounds. It has a fortress built by the Christians about 1212. Several in our group bought ceramic pitchers there, filled them with wine, and brought them onto the bus for a rolling party.
Later we had a rest stop at the Don Quixote’s Inn. (Since Don Quixote was fictional, one might question the authenticity of the Inn.) Naturally, they sold Don Quixote souvenirs, and I bought a couple metal novelty sculptures of the man and his sidekick Sancho Pancha. Unfortunately, I didn’t have many pesetas left and had to borrow a few hundred from Barbara.
The bus finally reached the Madrid airport at 18:00. Our flight to Barcelona left at 20:00, and we arrived there at 21:00. We checked into the Majestic Hotel, a luxury hotel far better than any of the other hotels we’d used during the tour. (We learned that the last evening of an organized tour is usually very special, not only to soften any unpleasant feelings that may have built up, but also to generate larger tips for the tour director.)
Mr. Lehmann had studied in Barcelona and it was his favorite city. He had arranged a special "Barcelona by Night" bus tour for us, and without a doubt it was the highlight of the trip. Probably the most spectacular sight was The Magic Fountain (1929), an ever-changing spectacle of water, light, and color. We also saw many of the city’s other fountains, churches, and public buildings illuminated by flood lights. We even visited an amazing cactus garden. The final touch was a stop on a hill for a breathtaking panoramic view of the city.
When we got back to the hotel, Mr. Lehmann gave us each a voucher for dinner at the hotel so we would be treated as individual patrons, rather than as a tour group. What a difference that made in the quality of service we received! We also were able to order house wine for the first and only time on the tour. The difference was that a liter carafe of house wine cost us twenty pesetas ($0.35) rather than 500 pesetas for a bottle. And the hotel’s house wine was really far superior. We went to bed in a happy mood.
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