We decided to visit the Alcazar or fortress which is only a few hundred meters from the hotel.

Today was May 2nd and this is a public holiday like May 1, but not quite so important. 

But there was a ceremony at the Alcazar before we got there and along the way the military soldiers were parading down the streets.

As we walked along there was another little church - we did not go in this one

Just as we get to the area we got a nice view back to the Cathedral

Originally built in the 12th Century over the remains of an old Roman fortress, the Alcázar (fortress) stands on top of a promontory dominating the Castilian plain. In the Middle Ages, it became one of the favorite residences of the Castilian Monarchs and was successively modified until the 16th century when the conical towers and the sloped slate roofs were added. In 1570, Felipe II married his fourth wife, Ana of Austria, in the Alcázar. For most of the 17th and 18th centuries, the Alcázar served as a prison, until it was converted into the Royal Artillery School in 1764 during the reign of Carlos III. On March 1862 however, the Alcázar was devastated by a fire and it was later reconstructed from 1882 to 1896 by architect Antonio Bermejo y Arteaga. In 1898, after the restoration, the General Military Archives of Spain were moved to the Alcázar and placed on the upper floor where they remain to the present day.

The entry price was 5.5 euro.

The King and Queens chairs

We had a simple breakfast this morning of coffee and toast with tomato and olive oil at a little pastry shop across from the hotel. This is a very simple breakfast but was very nice and something we will do at home.

The tomato is either pureed or grated and basically that is it - along with a bit of olive oil. Really needed some Salt & Pepper which seems to be not the norm here in Spain.

The toast was simply a bread-stick cut length-ways and toasted.

The coffee was also very good after 2 terrible coffees since we arrived.

I found a recipe for this dish online but you don't really need a recipe and this is where it is shown grating the tomato.

We are staying at the Hotel Infana Isabel right in the Plaza Mujer square overlooking the cathedral.

Our room in on the right with the door open and the door next to it. It is a great room, very spacious, with a great view.

Another panorama of the plaza.

We had a lovely dinner last night at a well known restaurant called Jose Maria, this restaurant makes the famous suckling pig. The poor little piggy must be between 4.5 and 6.5KG (not much more than Basil) and no older than 21 days - 3 weeks old. This makes me feel guilty but I guess they eat them by the hundreds in this area per day.

The poor little piggy in the window - he looks very peaceful but he will be dinner for someone.

The pig has a little label on their right leg which has the date and a code so I guess they can track it back to the original farm. Not that you see any farms or animals almost anywhere in Spain especially in this region. So maybe they are all living in barns?

We started our meal with a little soup which came without us ordering it and I think is just a welcome gift.

They bring a large basket of bread of which I ate a small slice later finding out it was about 3 Euro for the bread.

When it is time for the main they came out with the pug in a large pottery dish and a jug of juices.

We were very lucky as they bought the whole pig out and then cut it up for us - we got 2 pieces of the piglet.

They use a plate to cut the piglet to show it is tender

Pam's was a huge piece of the piglet.

The piggy was very tender and lovely with crispy skin. The pork was 26 Euro each, and along with Wine and Water the bill came to about 62 Euro.

Here is a panorama of the Plaza Mujer square which our hotel looks out onto. Our hotel room is the one on the 2nd floor on the corner with two doors above the man next to the white car.