Well we spent 4 hours travelling north to Zamora only to find that it was bigger than expected and a warren of one way streets, trying to navigate to find a hotel was quite stressful. So after trying to pull into a hotel that we did find but missed the junction twice we decided to come another 35km or so north to this place. On entering the outskirts it seemed a multitude of commercial and industrial areas but going into the town we found hotels, but the same as the last place, all of them a shut. They seem to like their siestas between 1300 and 1800 and the small boutique hotels shut at this time, which is when we normally arrive. No 5 star hotels here and in fact we are in a hostel but it's very nice with an ensuite bathroom and clean and tidy at 40 euros a night. Nobody here speaks English at all, apart from one person I met to check they had rooms. I did wonder whether they even took cards here to pay, but they do. Managed to park near the hotel and it's free for a change. Still, a bit of a change from last nights palatial room, but it does the job and it's quiet. The hostel is also a restaurant but doesn't open until 9 as usual. Spanish eat so late so we had a quick snack of Iberian ham on arrival. So going up into the centre walking up a hill brought us surprisingly to the Plaza Mayor which is currently on a festival of vegetables and local produce for a few weeks, where you can buy huge peppers, onions, garlics, squashes, honey, water melon all grown locally. So, after a couple of gins we went round and bought onions etc and then to a butchers to buy Serrano ham, salami, special flavoured regional pork and chorizo so we can share with our friends when we get back.
So now we are in the hostel waiting for a meal and then an early night. Hope to get somewhere tomorrow near Gigon, it's old stomping ground from 20 years ago when we first started wandering around Spain.
It's Benavente !!!
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