Day in Valladolid

Some years ago I arrived at Valladolid coach station from where I was collected and taken away from the city. I remember a place of grey, drab concrete and that, wrongly I admit, had shaped my view of the city until yesterday; it is a lot more colourful and a lot more vibrant than that image from yesteryear. 

Today I headed out early to get a better feel for the city, too early as it happened as the Cathedral was shut so I walked around its massive and solid block of white, dropped so neatly into the streets around it that you can not get far enough away to appreciate anything but its size. Shut too was the Pasaje Gutiérrez, a richly designed covered shopping arcade from the late 1800s so I headed to the Campo Grande park, a large public space near the river, and wandered its tree lined avenues. The park entrance is overlooked by the grand looking Cavalry School Building and it seems there was also once a barracks somewhere nearby so I couldn’t help but wonder whether this was the area in which Lee stayed while in Valladolid. If so, I am sure he wouldn’t recognise it today with its tidy, wide roads and mix of modern and old buildings. 

Cavalry School

Campo Grande

From the park I walked to the river Pisuerga that flows through the city and followed its bank for a mile. Although occasional boxy towers of flats overlooked the waters, the river banks were green and tree lined along my whole route with areas of grass and park and even a sandy beach. And at ten o’clock it was still pleasantly peaceful for a big city, deserted save for the occasional early Sunday morning runner. I could not help but compare it to the London embankment, somewhere I enjoy but with a little less of nature and in my experience packed at whatever time you are there.

River Pisuerga

Puente Mayor

I worked my way back via the Valladolid museum, an old palace containing mostly an archeological history of the city and after to the Pasaje Gutierrez that I missed early; all the shops were still shut but at least now the access gate was open so you could enter to appreciate its interior, all classical themes but built of, at the time, those most modern materials of glass and iron.

Pasaje Gutierrez

The day was now quickly slipping by. I stocked up on much needed supplies and went back to the cathedral but found I had now missed its restrictive Sunday visiting times. With a need to relax a little and to sort out some final details for the morning I decided to head back to the accommodation. Tomorrow I head towards Segovia this side of the Sierra Guadarrama mountains before climbing over them and dropping down to Madrid.

Town Hall - Plaza Mayor