From San Lorenzo El Escorial it was about half an hour back to Manzanares El Real on some back roads. The area is close enough to Madrid than many of the towns in the area have a quite prosperous suburban look about them with many modern buildings and nice housing developments due both to commuters and second home owners. We got back for "Barbacoa", a backyard barbecue the Jesus and Mariangeles characterized as lunch, maybe because it was our first food of the day other than some churros even though it was late afternoon by the time we ate. Jesus grilled up a big meat feast of Chorizo, Morcilla (blood sausage), Chuletas de Cordero (lamb chops), and Costillas (pork ribs) which were again only accompanied by crusty bread and a small salad. Oh, and of course some red wine. Jesus's interesting cooking techniques was to cook all the meats on pieces of hot slate laid over the fire on the grill.

Things stay open late in Spain and being so far west in the time zone it stays light quite late in June too despite a latitude similar to that of New York and Denver . So after what I considered to be dinner they took me on a tour of the town and its environs, including a short ride up into the Sierra Guadarrama and an ermita (chapel) overlooking the town. The true highlight of Manzanares El Real, though, is its 15^th century Isabelline Gothic Castle, one of the most important in central Spain built by Diego Hurtado de Mendoza, Count of Real de Manzanares, Marquis of Santillana, and Duque de Infantado. As well as being fun to tour, Gosthic castles like this one are good places for picking up decorating ideas for the next time I have a house of my own. Since I invested in some Renaissance style furniture the last time I owned a house it makes sense to stick with the style. I am refusing to let my tastes ever change.

The village church in Manzanares El Real is covered with stork’s nests, apparently quite common in many parts of Castile where storks have learned to prefer church steeples to trees as stable high nesting sites. I learned that storks are called Ciguenas in Spanish and that they also bring babies in Spain. It’s not just an English-speaking country tradition.