Quiet day at Medinaceli. We’ve enjoyed our good spot at the aire, right near the edge, so no chance of neighbours to our right. 

Big work morning for me, and by 2pm we were ready for that lunch out we’d promised ourselves yesterday evening. The Spanish seem to serve lunch anytime between 1 and 4pm, so a later lunch worked out well. 

Fortunately the restaurant had a very relaxed ambience, and not noisy at all, which would not have suited us. Our homework on the menu last night paid off, and the owner also gave us a run through in English, which was a great help. I went for “Migas pastoriles”, which is essentially fried day old bread crumbs with bacon and chorizo. Sophie had the “Trigueros”, which Google translated as “Thistles”, but it was in fact asparagus. 

For mains I went for the “Conchinillo”, or suckling pig, with Sophie opting for the “Carrillada de cerdo”, or pork cheeks. There was a moment of tension when Sophie realised too late that she’d meant to order the suckling pig, but had forgotten. Clearly this had to be my fault and so I was told that she’d be sharing mine. As it turned out, hers was an excellent choice, and mine was small knobbly bits of baby pig, but fried in garlic and delicious, despite my less than flattering description. 

At around 3pm I was advised that I was allowed to stay another night in this town, and so was able to order that much anticipated second glass of wine. A glass of wine, plus water were part of the deal, and as it turned out they didn’t charge us for the extra wine. So thank you Restaurante Bavieca. 

Desserts too were very nice, and we took coffee outside in the sun. Similarly to the wine, I had a second cup. So all in all a great result, and highly recommended. 

It was great to have the little victories of using a strange word for the first time and being understood immediately. Sophie can’t manage bread without butter, so as in France you always have to ask for it. The word for butter is “mantequilla”, and her valiant attempt at pronouncing this seemed to do the trick. Wanting another coffee I wasn’t sure whether to say “mas” for “more”, or “otro” for “another”. As it turned out, “mas” worked for the wine, and when I indicated I’d like another coffee the waitress used the word “otro”. So we’re learning very slowly, but it is very satisfying nonetheless. 

After lunch I went straight back to work, then at 8pm we went for another walk round the village, this time circumnavigating it and taking in the views all round. 

So that’s it for today. Tomorrow we move on, firstly heading for Lidl