[To see the pictures of the events, click on the picture above]
Spain is known to have the most Bank holidays of any
European country and last week we had the opportunity to have an early
Christmas holiday because Dec 6 and 8th were Bank Holidays and the
school also gave the girls the Monday off.
Amazingly Anatolijus had a few days let in his holiday account and so
off we went for a driving trip through central Spain. We were warned about the cold weather in
these parts however Spain is having an unusually mild winter so far and this
made for perfect travelling weather.
We started our trip with the 3 hour drive to Madrid and
spent 2 nights there. This was the first
visit for the girls and me although Anatolijus has been there at least 3 times
before. We focused on seeing the
highlights – Palacio
Real (The Royal Palace), Plaza Mayor, Prado Museum, and Retiro Park. I really liked the feel of Madrid and because
we were there on a public holiday the crowds of people and energy added to the
experience. On our way out of town we
stopped at Starbucks and then continued on to Avila which is famous for
producing Teresa of Avila, a great spiritual writer and creator of a new order
of nuns in the 16C. I studied her works
when I was at Regent and it is always so interesting to then see the place
where the person lived and worked. The
other famous thing about Avila is that it has the best preserved city wall (surrounding
the entire town) of any place in Europe.
We were able to walk a 1.2km stretch of the wall with sweeping views of
the plains and rolling hills surrounding the town. The sun was out and it was at least 16C on a
December day which was incredible. The
grand Cathedral, which is built into the wall, was interesting to see although
dark and heavy inside.
We spent about 3 hours in Avila and then continued heading
west towards the Portuguese border to the famous university city of Salamanca. The whole town is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and we
can definitely see why. The
architecture, walking plazas, cathedrals and museums are beautiful and it has a
comfortable warm feeling to it. The “New
Cathedral” built in the 15C was huge and as I walked by the huge pillars I felt
like Gandalf and the hobbits as they ran through the Mines of Moria. We are fortunate because Grace and Tessa like
cathedrals and haven’t (yet) tired of seeing new ones. The Plaza Mayor is considered one of the
finest in Spain and we could see why.
Our timing was perfect as we were there to see it lit up in the evening
with beautiful lights. A fun tourist
game is to try and find the frog on the façade of the Old Cathedral and to find
the astronaut on the New one. Anatolijus
spotted the frog in approximately 2 seconds, however it took the girls and I
longer to see it. The astronaut obviously
doesn’t fit with the 15C motif, however we found out it was added in 1992 when
restoration work was done. We have
included a picture for you to see it. We
enjoyed the Museo Lis which features
a collection of Art Deco pieces and is housed in a small palace
which is itself an exquisite piece of art, particularly the stained glass. Tessa developed a fun game for us to play,
find the object in the brochure. This
did wonders for keeping the girls interested as they looked at the glass vases
and statues to find the one featured in the brochure. Tessa was very proud that she and Daddy won
and for the rest of the evening she talked about what a great team they were
and she only wanted to sit by daddy and in fact she spends so much time with
mommy it is important for she and daddy to do things together etc…. a nice
bonding moment for them. Grace was happy
to give me ‘knowing’ looks about that Tessa.
The next day we visited St.
Esteban’s Cathedral and Cloister which were beautiful, in fact Anatolijus
said this church was one of his favorites as it was simple and elegant, not
overdone. We left there and walked
across the street to the Covento de las Duenas, the nuns here bake and sell
pastries. We entered a small, sweet
courtyard then went into a small room where a nun was behind glass windows and
the pastries were displayed in front of her.
She was quite elderly and had a big smile and Tessa started speaking to
her in Spanish being very animated. The
nun said Tessa speaks Spanish very well and then said, in Spanish, “Una nina es
delgada y el otra es un pocito gordo.” “One girl is slim and the other is a bit
wide.” I guess you can say anything when
you are a nun! Anyways the mantecados we
bought are a cinnamon flavoured biscuit which has a texture I can’t describe
and they literally are heavenly. It was
a lovely end to our lovely time in Salamanca.
The next and final stop before heading home was Segovia. We splurged and booked a 15C hotel Casa Mudejar 2 meters from the main
square and it was lovely to be right in the town. The main feature of Segovia is the 2000 year
old Roman Aqueduct
that runs right through town and has two levels of arches at its highest point
of 115 feet. It is totally impressive
and in amazing condition. The town was
decorated for Christmas which made it like a wonderland and this was a lovely
feature of each place we visited. In
terms of food Segovia is famous for cochinillos, baby pigs that are roasted and
served on a plate. Anatolijus did his
research and wanted to know if the whole little piggy was splayed on the plate
or only part of it. In the end you are
served a quarter of the roasted pig and it was very good. On our last morning we visited the Cathedral and Alcazar which is a
Castle that has been apart of many significant historic events in Spain
(ironically, trip advisor had nothing to say about this great location). The four of us climbed the 152 stairs to the
top of the turret to see the beautiful view, I am happy to say we were not the
only ones puffing. This day was also
Anatolijus’ birthday so it will be easy to remember where we were when he turned
37!!
On the way back, we also stopped briefly at another Royal
Palace which is called “the little Versailles” and the official name is La
Granja de San Indelfonso. Beautiful
and very French, complete with miniature version of gardens told to rival those
of Versailles itself.
Then, a 4 hour quiet drive back to Zaragoza. On this trip we saw some real treasures of Spain and feel
very fortunate for the experience.
