Rescue a princess

Well...at the very least you can pretend to, in this medieval castle that is part of the Paradores of Spain chain. The Parador de Alarcón is in the province of Cuenca and about 200 kms from Madrid. Ideally, you will book one of the "unique" rooms, located in the tower. Once there, I would suggest you allow your imagination to take over!

More Paradores:
Parador of Mazagón
Parador of Trujillo
Parador of Ávila
Parador of Cuenca
Parador of Santiago de Compostela
Parador of Salamanca

In the tip of Lima

For most visitors to Lima, the nearest they will get to El Callao is Lima airport, which is located in this province of Lima. The historical centre, Miraflores, San Isidro and Barranco are the districts best known to visitors to the city, and unless you arrive by ship, you will possibly not think of visiting the actual port of El Callao, and its district of La Punta. This was not always the case, the port was once very popular, but with the wrong people. Pirates, including Francis Drake and Jacon Clerk dropped in from time to time. These unwelcome visitors convinced the Spanish viceroy at the time to construct the fortress of the Real Felipe, which still stands and is now a naval museum. Walking down to the sea from here, you go pass Rovira, a restaurant founded in 1907, and arrive at Plaza Grau in memory of Admiral Miguel Grau, a national hero in Peru. In the port you can board a boat to Isla Palomino, home to a colony of sea lions. Isla San Lorenzo, another island about 4 kms. from the port, was the place from where pirates attacked the port and is now a naval base. El Callao was also the place where the first railway of Peru, and the second in Latin America, was constructed and home to the first fire station of Lima. Tintin and Captain Haddock also visited the port of Callao in their adventure "The Temple of the Sun".
To get to La Punta, you can walk through the district of Chucuito, which still has some houses painted with bright colours, similar to the Boca district in Buenos Aires, but it´s possibly safer to catch a taxi. By the way, don´t be alarmed by the tsunami warning signs - unless you hear the alarms!. La Punta is the place where the affluent families of El Callao have historically lived and you can infer this by the large and well kept houses and it´s four rowing clubs. There is also a wetland populated by hundreds of birds.

El Callao

El Callao

Admiral Grau

More posts about Peru:
Cebiche in the Panamericana Sur
Monet´s favourite flower...in Lima
MATE but no chess
Lima coast
Shaken, not stirred...and with chicken
Lima to Asia in one hour
The Maltese falcon found in Lima
A story of nymphs and satyrs...and it's not about politicians
An English vampire in Peru
Lima flower market

Lima Flower Market

Pictures of the Piedra Liza flower market in Lima.

Piedra Liza flower market