October 16, 2014.

After driving a circle route past several small towns steeped in history we arrived back in Penafiel and decided to explore a bit before we headed to Valladolid where we were planning on spending the night.

On the way up the hill to the Penafiel Castle we passed these ‘chimneys’ which we were told were ventilation for the underground wine cellars.More wine cellar vents and the Penafiel Castle at the top of the hill.We didn’t go inside the castle but the exterior looked good.The castle was so perfect that it didn’t look real.Looking down from the Penafiel Castle at the fields off in one direction.And at the town in the other direction. Back in town were more wine vents.We were hungry but didn’t go into the Bodega.Instead we visited a winery recommended by our Backroads book. The buildings housing the wineries in this region were rather squarish and boring in comparison to the architecture in the nearby towns.
Our tortilla español with bread and a glass of red wine from the winery. Our lunch looks like a still-life painting.An actual still-life painting with the same bottle of the winery’s wine and the same glass of red wine, but with a bowl of plums.Lobster together with another wine from the winery.Then it was off to Valladolid.

Google map of Spain showing the cities visited between Penafiel and Madrid.  More on our 2014 trip to Northern Spain.