Ávila, Salamanca, and Valladolid

So I'm now three weeks behind on my blogging. But, I'm going to catch up!

Our next road trip was to the northwest.

We left bright and early for Ávila, about a 2-1/2 hour bus ride away. I really didn't know anything about this town before we arrived, so I was pleasantly surprised when the first thing I saw was a sweet city wall. Here is a picture:

This town dates back to pre-Roman times, and you can see lots of remnants of the Romans, such as grave stones, foundations of buildings, etc. In fact, the wall was built by re-using the stones from the original Roman wall. Neat-o! Anyway, here are some other goodies from our tour of the city:

Bull statue - from the pre-Roman Íberos

San Juan de la Cruz

Principal façade of the Cathedral

On the city wall!

View of the cathedral from the wall

And last of all, here is a view of the whole city:

 BTW's: It was freakin' cold during this whole trip. But still worth it!

Next stop: Salamanca. The Universidad de Salamanca is the oldest university in Spain, and the third oldest in Europe (after Bologna and Oxford). Almost the whole city is built with sandstone, so during the day it looks a little blah, but at night... WOW. Here are some pictures from around the city:

Stork nest atop a church

Casa de Conchas - House of Shells

Family shield (Inside the Casa de Conchas)

Patio of the Casa de Conchas - you can see the Arabic influence

Beautiful staircase

These columns look like curtains (Another Arabic influence)

The old university was beautiful! The façade is done in plateresco style, meaning it's very ornately decorated, just like silver (i.e. plata). There is a tradition in Salamanca: if you can find the frog on the façade, it means that you'll pass your exams. If you are a traveler and you find the frog, it means that you'll return to Salamanca. Well, I guess I'll be returning, because I found the frog! Here is a pic of the façade - see if you can spot the frog!

Did you find it? Here's a hint:

I don't want to jinx it for you and tell you where on the wall it is, but if you really want to know, tell me and I'll point it out to you some time! :) Here are some other pics of the university:

Patio

Univeristy chapel

Original library!

Just like every other city we've been to, we had to check out the cathedral. Here it is:

This one is pretty much your standard Gothic-Baroque combo (cathedrals took hundreds of years to build so they usually have a mix of styles). However, it is the only Gothic cathedral to have an astronaut on it. But wait... there were no astronauts in the 16th century! Right?

You're right. There were no astronauts in the 16th century. However, there were astronauts in 1992, when part of the façade was replaced. You can see the difference in color: new sandstone is white but turns gold as it ages (oxidation). Here's another goodie from the same façade:

Yes, you better believe that's a lion eating a double ice cream cone! Good stuff.

Anyway, the sandstone buildings were moderately attractive during the day, but once night fell, the whole city lit up in gold! Here are some nocturnal views:

In front of the cathedral

Plaza Mayor

View of the cathedral

Yes... I will be returning to Salamanca some day. (BTW, not only is it a beautiful old city, it's also a pretty hoppin' college town.)

Next city: Valladolid. This was the first time we've been to a city without an organized tour; we were turned loose for 3 hours to go explore! We ended up spending a good chunk of that time wandering around looking for food. But we eventually found a tapas bar and ordered some raciones. Cultural note: Raciones are a single item, served on a plate to share with 4-5 people. It's a great way to go; we ordered 5 dishes and fed 6 people for 36€. Pretty dang good! Because we were so awesome, they gave us these cute little dessert shots for free. It was like a berry purée with cream atop. YUM!

We wandered around the city for a bit and found some other goodies, like a park that was overrun with peacocks! (BTW's: the Spanish word for peacock is pavo real - "royal turkey". Heh.)

Come at me, bro!

Pretty fountain!

River running through the park.

Peek-a-boo!

There was also a monument commemorating Christopher Columbus. After all, Valladolid was where he died:

Upon returning, I was happily surprised with a medieval festival going on in Alcalá! Details to follow in next post!

Museo Reina Sofía and the Egyptian Temple

Okay, here goes another attempt at catching up on my blogging! On Wednesday, October 5, we went as a group to the Museo Reina Sofía (Queen Sofia Museum). This museum is mostly comprised of modern art. The highlight was seeing Picasso's Guernica and all of the preparatory paintings in person... it really was an emotional experience. Plus, the original is 25 x 11 feet. Obviously, no pics allowed. But here is a pic from Google:

There were lots of cool Dalí paintings too.

After leaving the museum, a group of us went to this park in the middle of Madrid that has a) a random Egyptian temple and b) a fantastic view of the city. Here are some of the pics I snapped:

On our way back to the Metro, we came across a market, so we decided to check it out. And there I found this joy:

Yes, you better believe it's a set of Russian nesting dolls with Bill, Monica, Hillary, Paula, and... er... a reproductive unit of Bill! Finding it in Madrid just made it that much funnier!

Valencia, Barcelona, and Zaragoza

Two weeks ago, we went on yet another road trip! This time it was to the east.

We drove a few hours to Valencia.

VALENCIA:

Immediately after disembussing (yes, I just made that word up), I noted that the air was breezy and smelled like the sea. PTL. First we saw la Llotja de la Seda (Silk Exchange). I love the spiral columns; check it out:

Valencia was the silk capital of the west, and merchants would come here to trade. Being a Gothic building, there are, of course, gargoyles. There were a few non-G-rated ones. I would post pics but I want to maintain the G-rating of my blog. Ask me some other time and I'll show you. They were funny! :D Here are the inside courtyard and the staircase leading to the second floor:

After the Llotja, we went to the market and saw this beauty:

I'm still not used to looking animals in the eye while I'm eating them.

Next, we went to St. Mary's cathedral, where you better believe the Holy Grail is! Or so legend says. I'd like to think I was in the same place as the famed Grail, so we're going with it. Of course, you had to pay like 15€ to go in the museum half of the cathedral with the grail, so we didn't see it in person. Boo. But it was still a pretty cathedral.

Dome

Altarpiece

Poster advertising the Holy Grail

Miquelete (Little Michael), the bell tower

A buxom water siren showing her goodies.

After that adventure, we went on a bus tour of the city. My favorite part was the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències (City of the Arts and Sciences). I REALLY wanted to go to L'Oceanogràfic aquarium, but alas, we didn't have time. But here are some views of the area:

Harp-shaped bridge

 Sweet pool behind the Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe

Random pods in a wall

 Watch out! T-Rex!

 Ceramic teepee

Next, we saw the Museu Nacional de Ceràmica. BTW, Valencia was also the ceramics capital of Spain. I learned a lot about how ceramics are made and colored and like such as. Sorry, no pics allowed inside. But we did manage to sneak one in:

We met up with our group at a restaurant to have paella. Cultural note: drink refills are not free in Spain. So pace yourself through your drink, because it has to last 3 courses. Anyway, we went to our hotel and I crashed within half an hour. Yep, I'm officially feeling old. The next morning, we headed for Barcelona!


 BARCELONA:

I was excited to have two whole days in Barcelona! It's the second biggest city in Spain, and I've always been told it's a pretty happenin' place. When we arrived, we couldn't take our bus tour as planned, so we got a close-up walking tour of El Barri Gòtic (The Gothic Quarter). Our hotel was about an hour outside of the city, so we went back to the sketchiest, most questionable hotel room I have ever been in. Seriously. But, I did get to wake up to this:

The second day, we finally got to take our bus tour of the city! They give you headphones and then you get an audio tour in the language of your choice. And it takes you to ALL the good places. So, it was a good time.

 We took a small break from our tour and found a restaurant. I had a chicken and veggie sandwich and a chocolate mint batido. Yum! Oh, and we found this HUGE jar of Nutella.

After embussing on the tour bus, we continued our sight-seeing. Here are the goodies we saw:

The Forum

The Plaza de Toros (BTW's, as of this month, bullfighting is illegal in Cataluña)

La Sagrada Familia

El Parc Güell - designed by Gaudí

Bird nests built right into the walls

View of Barcelona

The Casa Milà

Cool statues on the roof

Scale model of the Casa Milà

Finally got to swim in the Mediterranean Sea!

I really wanted to walk down La Rambla (the main shopping district) but alas, we didn't have time. I'll put that on the list of things to do next time I'm there!

I woke up the next morning with a nasty cold, so I was all grumpy-grump. At least I got to have my fun in Barça before getting sicky! We were on the bus all day, but we did make a brief stop in Zaragoza. The cathedral there was beautiful, and there was a wedding going on while we were there! (So, no pictures.) Finally made it back to Alcalá and I took an Ambien and went to bed!

Cultural note: In Catalunya and Valencia, they speak Catalán. Similar to Spanish, but not mutually intelligible. Catalunya is all bitter at Spain right now and kind of wants to separate, so you'll actually get nicer reactions from people there if you speak English instead. Just a thought.

Stay tuned for my next installment; I'll tell you all about my trip to Ávila, Salamanca, and Valladolid. Cheers!