Day 10 - Avila & Segovia

We took the all-day tour to Avila and Segovia today, leaving our hotel at 9:15am this morning. There were only 8 people in our tour group, so it was a nice small group, which seemed like a United Nations convoy, as we represented the U.S., Mexico, Brazil, Singapore, and our guide was originally from Argentina.

The first thing our guide, Sofia, said was I hope you dressed warmly because where we're going, it's snowing. Yes, SNOW, NIEVE! And we weren't far out of Madrid before the road signs warned of snow and soon after, it was obvious, Sofia was right.


It was about an hour drive to Avila. Our first stop was Iglesia de San Vicente.


Sofia really knew her history, unfortunately, all I can remember was no pictures (which I disobeyed only for a few quick snaps - a sign said "No Flash", which doesn't mean no photos and I didn't use a flash). The church was originally designed in the Romanesque style (i.e., the floor plan resembling that of the cross with low ceilings) but was finished in the Gothic style (i.e., very high ceilings).



Then we walked the streets of Avila toward St. Teresa's Convent. St. Teresa was one of the Church's counter-reformation saints, a doctor of the church, a mystic, and from legends, was a very witty dame. The 4th picture in this set is a plaque noting Pope John Paul's visit in 1982. The bone of her right ring finger is preserved in the convent, along with a lot of her relics which included a rosary with beads the size of a cherry!



And of course, how you can go to Avila and not see the famous city walls. At the river Adaja's side at 1630 meters from sea level, Avila is the highest city of Spain and possesses the longest city walls which still today surround the city (with a longitude of 2,526 mtrs, with a medium height of 12 mtrs, and 3 mtrs thick). (courtesy http://www.cyberspain.com/ciudades-patrimonio/fotos/avimuri.htm)


We stopped at a mirador outside the city for a better view of the walled city. It's that area behind K.


Then it was off to Segovia, another hour or so drive. Somehow even moving on the bus, I was able to get this great shot of the windmills.


Segovia is a town of about 56,000 inhabitants and about 19 or 20 churches. This is just one of the regular churches, not the Catedral. I guess even back then, size did matter: the richer and nobler you were, the bigger your parish. The peasants and proletariats had to contend with capillas. Who knew the "importance" of the House of God was measured by square footage?


But Segovia is probably most famous for it's aqueduct - a magnificent structure almost 8 stories high, with nary anything to glue the stones together, just pure engineering genius.


By then, it was 2:30 and time for lunch. We didn't buy the tour ticket that included lunch, so we went out on our own and actually went to "the famous restaurant" - Candido. Its namesake founder has a statue at the city limit; he invented the cochinillo asado al horno dish. The food was okay but nothing too special. We were going to try their suckling pig specialty, but I saw them cutting one to serve and the pig's eyes were staring right at me. Sorry, I just couldn't eat little Babe! (He was only 21 days old before he met his Maker!!!) So, we opted for veal bistek and cordero asado (baby lamb, another Candido specialty) along with Ribera Del Duero house wine (2.50 euro a glass) and for postre - ponche, a traditional Segovian dessert made of ground almonds, sugar, and lots of other bad stuff for you.



We met up with the group at the Catedral, which looks very similar to the Catedral in Seville. We arrived before the rest of the group which was good because K got to take pictures before Sofia said "no photos".




Then we walked through the snow to the Alcazar. Along the way, we saw this posted outside a store, which looks remarkably like a young George Bush. You know he'll be out of a job on 20th January... maybe this IS his new gig...


And finally, the Alcazar.




It was a long day, but fun and educational. It's amazing to see all these churches in every corner of even the smallest medieval towns (I think now, they've been replaced by El Corte Ingles?) and how Catholicism has shaped the Iberian Peninsula, and how the Spaniards in return changed the world. History is really fascinating.Catholic tradition says that you can ask for 3 wishes when you visit a Catholic church for the first time. In which case, Spain is a 3-wisher paradise!