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Madrid-Segovia tour. May 2002 Spanish
mission
I e-mailed the company, which is in its second year, and the owners sent me the e-mail addresses of a couple of people who had taken their trip. When they returned e-mails glowing about the trips they had taken, I hoped they weren't the bravobike.com owners working off a phantom e-mail account. Bravobike.com had a trip leaving at just the time Chris and I were free to go. We booked our flights using Northwest frequent-flyer coupons. The karma seemed right, so we took a giant leap of faith and went. We need not have worried. It was one of the best trips I've ever taken. Prologue Kaspar Winteler and Pablo Munoz, our guides, are waiting for us, smiling and holding a sheet of paper displaying our names as we get off the plane in Madrid from Amsterdam. They seem like nice fellows. Kaspar, 53, is a retired banker who was born in Switzerland; Pablo, 39, is Spanish and worked as an advertising account executive before he and Kaspar started Bravobike.com two years ago. They both speak English. We spent our first night in Madrid, catching up from jet lag. The next day, Kaspar and Pablo drive us to Rascafria, a village about an hour west of Madrid. We pull into a scene right out of a movie. I expect Zorro to gallop in any time. We will stay in a 15th-century monastery called Hotel Santa Maria del Paular that's now run by Sheraton. We drive past huge, heavy wooden doors into a cobblestone courtyard with a 6-foot-tall fountain in the center. Our room is fairly spacious, considering the first occupants were monks. The walls are about 3 feet thick with big, ancient shutters covering the windows. We have dinner in a big dining room with open rafters and a giant iron wheel chandelier. The three women from Boston who will join us on our trip arrive about 11 p.m., and we sit in the bar until 12:30 a.m. getting to know each other. Two are 40-something professional women, the third is a 50-something nurse. One has done serious mountain biking. The other two are more casual about it, like me. We're lucky our group has only five guests plus our two guides. DAY ONE Pedraza Pablo and Kaspar are in the courtyard at 10 a.m. with the van and our bikes, which are very nice Konas. The weather is ideal — upper 70s, low humidity, sunny, no wind. Not a cloud in the sky. For today, Kaspar is biking with us and Pablo is following in the van. We head off on pavement, then gravel, then dirt road. We bike through streams and pastures, complete with cows and an occasional bull. The Guadarrama Mountains are to one side, the flowing pastures to the other. When I signed up for this trip, this is exactly what I had pictured. We bike from village to village, each with its own town square and churches. There are stork nests the size of small cars built on the church steeples. Kaspar says they are heavy enough to kill if they fall on a person. After biking about 25 miles, we get to the small town of Lozoya, then begin a 6-mile, uphill leg. The 8-degree climb is too steep for me, so I get in the van with Pablo and we drive to the top, playing Spanish CDs. I get a better view of the countryside than I would have gotten while trying to climb the hill on a bike. Chris is soon out of sight, and the other women bike to the top, but not without difficulty. When the van gets to the top, I get out and bike downhill. Wheeeeeeeee. This is fun. About 7 p.m., we arrive at Pedraza, a darling, medieval town built into a mountain. We stay at the charming La Posada de Don Mariano, which has huge, heavy wooden doors on the rooms and wrought-iron balconies filled with geraniums. We bathe and plan for dinner at 9 p.m., which is early for the Spanish. The seven of us sit together at a large square table and share a wonderful meal and several bottles of wine. I leave after about 11:30 p.m., exhausted. DAY TWO Segovia Today is a very good day, and the 20 miles of biking, most of it with little hills, is pretty easy. Still, I'm glad I took that spinning class for three months before taking this trip. We've biked through little villages that are right out of a movie set, mostly deserted with tiny, narrow streets. The homes are made of stone, and geranium pots sit on every one of the many balconies. We're spread out enough that, sometimes, I find myself biking alone, listening to the birds chirp, feeling the sun and the wind. We seldom see a car. This is heaven. We happen upon a 15th-century village church where some women were on a scaffolding almost to the ceiling, restoring the frescoes. Catedral de Segovia, the cathedral in Segovia, has enough statues of saints to choke heaven. We visit a 15th-century castle and climb 144 steps to the top. Chris looks over the side, but I'm afraid God would cast me from the top into the dry moat below, so I stay near the center. Clearly, a lot of work went on in 15th-century Spain. Segovia is a charming town, with its own aqueduct and lots of little town squares. After some negotiating, I buy hand-crocheted tablecloths and shawls from some women selling in front of a church. The gorgeous shawls cost about $6 each. One tablecloth, big enough for a rectangular table seating at least 12, was $12. We have dinner outside overlooking the city, then head back to the hotel. I wish I had more energy. I'd be out all night. DAY THREE El Escorial We're up at 8:30 a.m. and off by 10:30 a.m., our earliest departure so far. We bike around Segovia, past a castle and along a river. Cottonwoods and their blowing cotton are everywhere. There are some steep parts where I walk my bike. On other steep parts, I ride. I'm finding my stride on the bike. We bike about four hours today, a short time compared to the other days. I think I'm getting hooked on this biking. We tour a glass factory and public rooms of a cloistered monastery. The guide for the monastery speaks only Spanish, so Chris translates to English. Meanwhile, a German man who speaks English translates for his German wife. I wish I knew just what the story sounded like to her. Chris and Kaspar head off for an hour-and-a-half up a very steep hill, while the rest of us get in the van and head for El Palacio Real La Granja de San de Illdefonso in El Escorial. Twice a year, the people who run the palace turn on all 28 fountains, and this is one of the days. Lots of school kids all over the palace, ooohing and aaahing over the dramatic fountains. DAY FOUR Madrid We bike all through El Escorial, then up to a hill above the city, where Phillippe II sat when watching the workers build the city. The rest have biked to the top, but I take the van. Pablo leads us on a trip downhill for what seems like a couple of hours. It's mostly dirt and rock along a path through wildflowers. It's probably very dangerous, but I love it. We finish biking about 3:30 p.m. at a small inn, where we have lunch. Kaspar breaks out a bottle of champagne, which in Spain is called cava. We're done biking now. Chris and I check the computers the guys put on our bikes at the beginning of the trip. I have biked about 65 miles; Chris has gone about 130 miles. Epilogue This trip far exceeded my dreams. Kaspar and Pablo were fabulous guides. They answered all our questions, worked hard to meet our needs and were fun to be around. I felt safe and challenged the whole time. Anyone thinking about seeing Spain should seriously consider Bravobike.com. The last day, Chris and I were sitting in the main square in Madrid for about three hours, watching the crowd, talking about what a great trip it had been. I turned to Chris and said, "I miss Dad." "I miss Julia (his fiancee)," he said. "Let's go home." And so we did. IF YOU GO Cost: about $950, depending on the strength of the dollar compared to the euro, plus airfare. What's included: bike, helmet, six nights' lodging and breakfasts, four lunches, two dinners. The guides give each guest a CD with pictures from the trip. Caution: Few people in Spain speak English. If you plan to be apart from the guides, brush up on your Spanish in advance. Guides' English is good. Preparation: Get those biking muscles in shape before you go. But there's always a van available. Clothes: Padded biking shorts and sun block are both a must. Food: A lot of seafood, and wine daily. Contact: www.bravobike.com or email: info@bravobike.com. Judith Yates Borger can be reached at (612) 338-8198 or jborger@pioneerpress.com |
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© Bravo Bike. Travel Agency CICMA 1200 Madrid (Spain) |
