This one is a bit longer than the last two... Sorry!
Avila, Salamanca, Toro, Tordesillas
Avila
This week we had our first overnight trip!
We took a bus to the city of Avila, there we saw the cathedral, and the famous
city wall. Avila is the coldest place in Spain, and boy did we feel it! The
wind was icy cold and blowing hard, but we still had an awesome time. The wall
was definitely my favorite part. It was in amazing condition, and it was huge!
At the end of our tour we got to go up and walk around on top of it. Most
interesting wall fact: They used the old Roman graves to build it. Roman
headstones and “casket stones” could be found throughout the wall. The roman
cremated their dead, so the stones weren’t very big, but you could still see
the writing on them and the area hallowed out were the ashes were laid. It was
a crazy. Our tour guide in Avila gets a 9 out of 10. She gave us all the facts,
and didn’t waste any time with pointless stories. We got our tour done on time
and I feel like I learned a lot. When people were lollygagging she wasn’t
afraid to tell them to hurry up! Loved that.
Minus one because she wasn’t very funny. I would have appreciated a joke
of two.
Salamanca
After our tour we got back on the bus and
drove to Salamanca, were we stayed in a surprisingly nice hotel! And it had
FREE breakfast, which is the best kind of breakfast! Our tour guide met us at
the hotel and we walked to the center of town. Salamanca was also really cold,
and very windy. We toured the old and new cathedral/s, (which are more like one
giant cathedral), walked along the pilgrim trail that runs through town (A trail
that religious pilgrims back pack. Along the way there are churches, convents,
and private houses that give them free food and a place to stay on their way),
we toured the University of Salamanca, and the Plaza Mayor. The university was
definitely my favorite part! Salamanca University is the oldest University in Spain and one of the oldest in all of Europe. It was founded in 1218. We got to walk through some of the old classrooms
and chapels, checked out the library, and we found the frog! (Here is more on the Frog story: http://www.culturaltravelguide.com/salamanca-mysterious-hidden-carvings ) Another interesting tradition: when a student went for a PhD they had to go
this chapel and sit with their feet against this grave all night. People would
watch to make sure they stayed awake and didn’t move. Then the next morning
they got to take their test after being awake all night!
If they
passed they got to celebrate by writing their name on the wall outside in BULL
BLOOD. From the blood of the bull your family killed in the Plaza Mayor as part of the three day party your family had to throw after you got your PhD. Salamanca
was an interesting town, it really reminded me of Chico… It is definitely a
college town. The local convent is a club at night in order to make enough
money to take care of their nuns. A DJ sets up on the alter, the choir becomes
a bar, and the chapel a dance floor. It’s a booming place, those nuns are doing
well. Our Salamanca tour guide gets a 3.5 out of 10. She talked way too much
about stuff that didn’t matter, like were to find the nearest H&M (chain
clothing store that we even have in the US). Our tour went much longer than it
should have, and by the end I was literally near tears. I know that makes me
sound like a total baby, but I was not the only one struggling. We hadn’t eaten ALL day (we’re talking like
6+ hours), it was cold, my feet hurt, and she just kept talking. However, I did learn some REALLY cool stuff, and she was passionate about
her city. I was definitely excited when she finally announced
we were free to wander on our own. We found a really good place to eat and we
had some amazing chocolate cream puffs, which can cure any problem, so after
that I was good to go. We did some more exploring, mostly we just walked the streets and took it all in. Then went back to the hotel
where I went right to sleep! (That is something that never happens, no matter
how tired I am I have a terrible time getting to sleep. That was definitely the best nights sleep I have had in my life!)
Toro
The next morning it was back to the bus!
We drove an hour or so to the town of Toro. This one reminded me of Gridley. It
was a quiet little place, and we really didn’t know what to do after we saw the
cathedral. We just bought some strawberries and ate them while we walked. Eventually
we found the Plaza de Toros, but there aren’t any bull fights in the winter so
it was closed. We wanted to see a Plaza de Toros though, so we decided to lift
each other up to see over the main gates. As soon as we got the first girl,
Kristen, up, she looked down at us and frantically whispered “there’s a man!!
He saw me! He saw me!” Well, we brought Kristen down as fast as possible and
tried to find a place to hide! I just started running down the street hoping he wouldn't see that I was with the group of kids that were looking over the gate. Turns out the guy was
really nice though. He opened the gate and instead of calling the cops on us he
gave us a tour! He just happen to come around the corner just in time to see
Kristen and he was actually really happy that we were interested in his Plaza!
He was the grounds keeper. That was definitely the highlight of Toro. He showed
us the stalls were they keep the bulls, you could see the scratch marks all
over the walls from their horns. Then he showed us the area where the take the
bulls to be inspected before the fight, and were they take them after the fight
to drain the blood and take care of the carcass. It was really interesting, I
am so glad we got to see it! The other members of our group also just happen to
walk by as we were going in, so they got to tour it with us! It really was a
series of fortunate events. We got so lucky! On the way back to the bus we
found a green grassy hill with a walking trail, so Lauren (another girl in the
group who is from MN), Marcos, Dani, Sarah (three of our professors young
kids), and I stopped and did some exploring. I found some awesome bugs, and
caught a ladybug! It felt so good to spend some time in the grass. Most of our
time is spent cities that are concrete and more concrete. A little bug catching
was very refreshing!
Tordesillas
After our awesome afternoon in Toro, we made a stop in
Tordesillas, another pretty small town. We toured a convent which was
interesting, but also not because it was really like all the cathedrals and
there weren’t even any nuns to meet… We also got to see the building where Spain and
Portugal met to divided up the Americas, but we couldn't go inside. After our quick hour in Tordesillas we
got on the bus and went home!
Our first big overnight trip was a success! There are tons of pictures on facebook!
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