Turns out you can't just walk into any restaurant in central Segovia. If Google's rating shows 4.2+, everywhere there's this massive crowd hanging around the bar, and you can only get into the actual restaurant with a reservation. There simply aren't enough tables for everyone.

If you ask about booking for tomorrow, they apologize at length but say everything's booked up for tomorrow too.

Rehearsal of a performance in Segovia with laser show and artists.

January 6th is a public holiday in Spain, everything (well, almost) is closed, everyone celebrates Epiphany. And they prepare performances like this one.

upd. Initially it was stated that Spanish people celebrate Christmas on January 6th, but of course that's not true. Thanks for the correction and my apologies for the inaccuracy.

The historic part of every little town I've visited looks pretty much the same: loads of buildings and cobblestone streets. No greenery, no trees, nothing. Just stones, stones, and more stones, with the occasional plaza. It's cool at first, but then you really crave something green (or at least some bare trees).

And the cars. Crazy traffic flows through all these narrow little streets. Pedestrians have nowhere to hide. At least the cars drive super slowly (otherwise you'd smash into the first wall you see).

Why is there always fresh, delicious, affordable bread in Europe, but back home you have to struggle?
(1 euro is for 5 pieces, not one)

It's January, winter, but oranges are ripening all over Spain. This is a garden at the Toledo Cathedral. The staff is so unhurried about collecting even the fallen fruit that some have already started to rot.

The local Spanish oranges from an ordinary store taste absolutely amazing (I hope the harvesting for sale is done more carefully :) ). You won't find a flavor like that in Moscow even at fancy food courts.

PS. The cathedral is really cool. And Toledo itself too. It was definitely worth the trip.

Finding a place to stay in Spain during winter is really tricky: it's around 50-59°F during the day, but temperatures can drop to freezing at night (or even lower). There's no central heating, so everyone figures out their own solutions.

Some people install a boiler for their house, some rely on air conditioners with heating function, and others think that's good enough for tourists anyway (:

I once ended up in a place from that last category, and man, it was freezing. The owners just shrugged and said they couldn't help. Since I'd booked for almost a week, I had to do something about it. Escalating the issue on Booking surprisingly motivated the owners to buy a heater so we wouldn't suffer.

Most guests visit Spain during the warm season, which doesn't make it any easier to judge accommodations based on reviews.

Toledo has an interesting synagogue called Santa María la Blanca. Inside, it looks more like a mosque. That's because a Muslim architect built the synagogue under the direction of a Christian king so that local Jews would have a place to pray.

It's the oldest synagogue in Europe that has survived to this day! But over 800+ years, something went wrong and the synagogue today belongs to the Catholic Church.

Since 2013, Toledo's Jewish community has been trying to take it back under their control, but the Catholics stubbornly pretend not to notice. And why would they, when it's the third most popular attraction in the city. And admission is definitely not free :)

Even Don Quixote celebrates New Year's :)

Pedestrian walkways in Spain are hit or miss in some places. The sidewalks are so narrow that barely one person can fit. And there are constant stairs going up and down. On the other hand, at least there's some kind of pedestrian zone.

People told me that parking in Spain is tough, but I had no idea it was that bad :)

On my way out of Madrid, I decided to stop at a shopping mall to grab some groceries and pick up a local SIM card. It was right on the way, so why not? Ended up wasting 40 minutes stuck in traffic getting there and hunting for a parking spot. It's January 2nd, technically a work day, but the place was absolutely packed with crowds everywhere.

PS. I could've gotten a SIM card at the airport, but the prices there are three times higher than in the city.

My flight was delayed, so I barely had any time to walk around Riga. But I managed to dash over to the market in the old airship hangars. It's got such a great atmosphere there. I really liked it.

A lot of guidebooks recommend checking out Silkītes un dillities while you're there, but it didn't seem particularly special to me. But the market itself is awesome :)

The flight on the first of the month wasn't exactly lucky: we landed 2 hours and 40 minutes behind schedule. A really frustrating delay. Just 20 more minutes late and the airline would've compensated me with 250€ (that's European law for you). But instead, I got to suffer for free.

I actually found the reason for the delay pretty amusing — an expired Russian visa belonging to one of the crew members. According to the airline rep, everything would've been fine if the guy hadn't left the plane, but he stepped out to check something on the outside. That's when the zealous border guards caught him 😅 (Do they really stand guard at every gate?)

airBaltic spent two hours negotiating to free their employee from the hands of these valiant guardians of the border. In the end, they let the guy go — it was just a fine, nobody went to jail. So hey, could've been worse.

Yay, New Year's coming! That means a few days off work and a chance to escape somewhere a bit warmer (if the forecast is to be believed).

Flying out on the first is awesome: the roads to the airport are empty, there's barely anyone at departure, and all the checks go super fast. Beautiful! :)

Lufthansa planes don't have a row 13! Well, okay. A lot of people don't like that number. But they also don't have row 17 (!!), because it's considered unlucky in Italy (and Brazil). It's weird that they didn't remove row 4 for the Chinese.

PS. Yet they park at gate 13 without any problems :)

I was really surprised to see barriers at the entrance to the pedestrian zone. There was nothing like that in Frankfurt before.

It seems terrorist attacks with vehicle rammings are making themselves known.

This time Lufthansa decided to play it safe and asked me to come early. There wasn't a huge crowd, but I actually did show up early :)

Germans being Germans, you know? They say they really care about the environment, so when planning trips, they try to pick destinations they can reach by train whenever possible. No planes, no cars.

Not all of them, but you'll definitely notice it.

Lucky for them they're right in the heart of Europe with everything at their doorstep. Though if you really want to go to, say, Greece, well, there's no way around it – you've gotta fly :)

In Germany, there's a law that if a child lives more than 2 km away from school, they get a free travel pass for all types of ground transport within their region.

You just write an application to the school and that's it. Sometimes officials are willing to work with you and approve it even if you live closer. A colleague submitted an application for his son even though the school is only 1.6 km away. It went through without any problems.

Germans really love playing the game of "who can squeeze more out of the state" (from tax refunds to little perks like this) :)

I specifically chose a flight without Sheremetyevo to avoid baggage issues. But Frankfurt Airport is putting all my plans at risk: 30,000 suitcases got stuck at the airport on September 28th and 20,000 still haven't left 🙈

I'm hoping my baggage will be fine :)