So off we are going to Zamora – our next stop in crossing the top of Spain (sort of) before we go south! As we were leaving Tudela via the north to catch the toll way (we have previously approached from the south), all of a sudden I thought I was back in Japan! Looking out my window I could swear I saw rice paddies! Sure enough they were! Quite puzzled, I looked up this region of Spain and found out that along with some regions of Italy, they are the largest rice producers of rice in Europe! I will be darned! This area primarily grows arborio rice which is used in Paella – one of their National Dishes and popular in Valencia where we are headed to in a few weeks. Not much to report about the drive other than the toll ways have really nice Service Areas and some nice rest stops! As for the Service Areas, they have a gas station and some type of store or restaurant where you can use the washroom – no questions asked and nothing to pay. The one that we stopped at – again with the giant wheelchair sign which is more like 2 metres by 2 metres at this one – had a nice accessible washroom and in the store, 1 litre cokes on sale – they were cheaper than the 500 and 330ml ones! Go figure! Always happy to participate in a bargain and I was having some issues staying awake as the sun was shining on my side of the car making me sleepy, we picked one up! Andrew pretty well drove straight through until I forced him to take a break at a rest stop – where we observed the trucker ahead of us making quite the meal on his little stove that pulled out from the side of his truck! Quite the set up he had! The temperature was about 29 degrees outside so we stayed in our car, also, this rest stop was not as nice as others – their “rest stops” only have benches – no picnic tables or washrooms and they are just a pull out on the side of the highway – not like the ones in Canada or the USA. And off we went again zooming along at 120 to Zamora! Again, I had a quick nap until Andrew woke me up saying we were being followed by 2 motorcycle cops and what should he do? Ah, nothing, just behave himself and do not speed! In the end, they passed us and then sat behind a truck which slowed down and went ultra slow due to them now being behind him! Once the cops passed the truck we all resumed normal speed for the region. We were on this “bridging” road between the two express ways we had to take at the peak of the route you see below. From a topology standpoint, when we left Tudela, we were in wine country and now we are in flat prairie country – flat as a GF pancake! We arrived at the AC Marriott Tudela hotel without many issues – their traffic circles are a bit different in Zamora – instead of a “circle” you have half circles which you use to turn left and also service roads for the main drags – got a bit of taking used to! I am going to try and get a picture as it definitely it a new way of driving for us! We were pretty tired and did not want to go out for dinner at that point so I tried ordering pizza from TelePizza which was recommended but it was a flop – YES they have GF crusts and are recommended by the Celiac Association however once I got through ordering for Andrew and I (two different pizza’s) and entering the hotel’s phone number if there were any problems, I got a call from the front desk asking if I ordered gluten free pizza! I said yes and the desk clerk said they do not have any GF pizza crusts do I want to substitute? I told him to please just cancel the whole order as I need gluten free. So again, we revert to our back up plan – a picnic on the bed! Good thing we came prepared!
