Castles, Cake, and Open Road

The next two days of our vacation were about my relentless pursuit to see every corner of Spain, my favorite country. Caceres, which we used as a base for our day trips, is about a three-hour drive from Madrid, through land that's fairly flat and arid--yellow fields dotted with olive trees and crumbling houses. We didn't make any stops along the way, though we tried for a McDonald's breakfast sandwich at a McDonald's that strangely didn't open until noon, despite advertising McMuffins in its windows. Caceres is a Unesco World Heritage site and the area been settled since prehistoric times, though the city itself was founded in 25 BC. The city as it currently stands is a medieval walled city, though what makes it distinct from other walled cities is that many of its buildings are from the 1500s rather than the 1600s. It's also in the Extremadura region, where the conquistadors hailed from--though more on that later. And even more exciting, it was in Game of Thr...

Since Breb obviously doesn't have an airport, much of our last day in Romania was spent driving to Cluj, the capital of Transylvania and the second largest city in the country. Though Breb was magical and one of the most memorable travel experiences I've ever had, we were both ready to leave--our tiny little house was charming the first day, tolerable the second day, and downright irritating by the third day, primarily because of the bathroom situation. The bathroom was located up in the eaves--which meant you couldn't stand up straight in any area except right by the door and you hit your head when you 1) peed, 2) showered, or 3) brushed your teeth. In fact, it was so small that you had to step out of the shower and into the bedroom to even dry off. I am well aware of how whiny that sounds, but since I'm not one to enjoy roughing it and often pick vacation spots based on the quality of the hotel (criteria: did it used to be a palace? does it have a butler?), that k...