Our last full day of our driving tour through Spain and Portugal took us on an intentionally roundabout route from Badajoz, on the Portuguese-Spanish border, to Talavera de la Reina, just a few hours’ drive west of Madrid. We started off early, heading southeast toward the town of Zafra, where my husband had read about a few wineries we hoped to visit. The evening before, our friendly, non-English-speaking server at dinner, Maria, had grown quite animated when we told her that was our destination. With fingers curved above her forehead, she mimed a bull and conveyed there was some sort of celebration going on there. All the better!

Our drive took us through plains with alternating vineyards, olive groves and open range, but the farther south we went, the closer we drew to gray stone ranges of mountains, and at least twice we spotted large castles, imposingly lording it over the surrounding countryside on their high perches.   These had a different look than those one sees in northern Europe. Solid, blocky, lacking any extraneous ornamentation or narrow towers or spires, they nevertheless inspired me with a sense of history and permanence and how perfectly they belonged to the landscape.

We arrived in Zafra in late morning to find the area around what seemed to be akin to a county fairground buzzing with activity (and, I later learned, the town’s large bullring    lay nearby as well — which explained Maria’s pantomime!). From what we could surmise, this Friday was the start of a full weekend of what indeed would be the equivalent of an end-of-harvest regional fair. It also meant, unfortunately, that we found it very difficult to contact any of the wineries we’d hoped to visit, as most businesses were shut down. Once again, we learned the hard way that advance planning and research are essential! We’ve decided that future trips to foreign wine areas will begin with hiring a local guide with a specialization in wine tours so that we can enjoy insider access without having to navigate unfamiliar roads on our own. We did explore a little of the narrow lanes of this small city, though, and spied, once again, large storks’ nests perched atop church towers, a sight I will now always associate with Spain.

We arrived at our overnight destination, Talavera de la Reina on the Tagus River, in midafternoon, its impressive cable bridge visible from miles away.   For lunch we stopped along the way at a roadside gas station/convenience store much like others we had visited over the previous two weeks. These are far more interesting than most of the ones you see in the States. There always seemed to be a wonderful selection of sausages and aged meats, cheeses and (usually) fresh, crusty bread. Best of all, one could walk right in and buy an entire jamón (hoof included) to take home . . . there were always several hanging up over the check-out counter. No, we checked, can’t ship ’em home. We purchased what we wanted for a little roadside picnic; those meals are one of my favorite memories from our trip.

Talavera is a city of about 83,000 people known for its pottery and ceramics   (UNESCO named Talavera pottery an “intangible cultural heritage” in 2019). It sits on the Tagus River, and its historic center blends the old and the new, with modern hotels and apartment buildings sited among older churches and commercial buildings. Our hotel, the Be Live City Center, sat in the heart of it all, right next to a modern shopping mall and offering underground parking. The rooms were large and offered free wifi, a mini fridge and a spacious desk for work. The generous bathroom’s wide vanity gave us both space to spread out our toiletries, and we appreciated the roomy tub/shower combination. An unnecessarily confusing number of light switches on the headboard made getting all the light fixtures turned off at bedtime a frustrating challenge, but that was a small flaw in an otherwise comfortable stay.

We strolled about the city to stretch our legs and scope out options for dinner. We ended up taking advice from Tripadvisor and settled on a very pleasant place about half a mile from our hotel that had the vibe of a nice neighborhood favorite. Taberna Mingote, a tapas bar and restaurant, sits just off a little plaza and park surrounded by four- or five-story apartment blocks, and as we sat outside waiting for the place to open at 8 o’clock, we watched the residents stroll with their dogs and children run and play in the pleasant evening air. The sizable menu offered us a range of small plates, soups, salads and dinner-sized entrées, something to please the appetites and palates of each of us. It made for a very pleasant and relaxing end to our road trip.

— Patty Vanikiotis, associate editor/copy editor