Ávila and Segovia

First, thanks to my special guest blogger for writing about our Salamanca trip. I have been pretty busy with work the past several days, so I haven't been able to put much time into the blog. Sorry about that!

Our trip to Salamanca was a lot of fun - we really crammed a lot into one day! We woke up early Sunday morning and drove an hour to Ávila. The drive was really pretty. It was mainly farm land - we could've been in Texas :) We thought it was fascinating that there were miles and miles (oh, excuse me, kilometers and kilometers) of farm land and no tractors or houses! I have no idea where they were hiding them!

Ávila is a really cool little town. It is completely surrounded by 40 ft. high, 10 ft. thick walls which were built in the 11th century. There are 90 semicircle guard towers spotted throughout the 1.5 mile wall. The wall is in absolutely perfect condition, which is amazing considering how old it is! It is considered the biggest and best-preserved fort in all of Europe.





We stopped for a breakfast of orange juice and pastries in one of the plazas and bought some yemas, a 'famous' local dish. Yemas are a candy made of sugar, egg yolks, and lemon flavoring. Healthy, yeah? We made our way through the streets lined with shops to the cathedral.



The cathedral was really pretty, but the best part was that the bells started to chime very loudly while we were standing outside. It was about 10am on Sunday morning and there is no way that anyone in that town was still asleep after the chimes stopped at 10:15ish. They were loud!

This lion outside the cathedral was trying to eat my new sunglasses (refer to the lion who ate my sunglasses in the palace in Madrid)


The town was really pretty. I think my Spain tourbook says it well when they say, "Although there is no single thing that stands out in Ávila, its intimate collection of historic buildings and streets makes it a worthy Wold Heritage Site."

We left Ávila and headed towards Segovia, our final stop on our weekend trip. It was beautiful! Just check out these pictures - don't they look like they're straight out of a fairy tale? I actually took these on our way out of town and it had started to rain a little bit, but I think that just makes it look more dream-like!





When we arrived in Segovia we headed straight towards the aqueduct, through the main square and past the cathedral. The aqueduct was constructed to bring water to Segovia with hydrolic engineering designed by the Romans. It is made out of bricks with no mortar and the arches (currently) stretch for 958 meters.





After taking a few dozen pictures of the aqueduct we headed to the cathedral. It was built between the 16th and 18th centuries. It is known as the "lady of cathedrals".



For lunch we ate at a great little restaurant in Plaza Mayor. We had read in several books that there was a local dish that was a must-have, cochinillo asado (roast suckling pig). It was really sad when they brought it out - I considered turning vegetarian for a few seconds, but once I took a bite I changed my mind. It was amazing! For dessert we had 'segoviano', a rich cake drizzled in ponche, a Spanish liqueur. It had the texture of tres leches, but with liqueur instead of milk. :)



After lunch we headed over to the Alcázar, a residence of monarchs during the middle ages. It has been used throughout the years as a prison and an artilery school. I was most impressed by the moat!! Unfortunately there was no water and no alligators, but it was still neat to see a real life moat.



The inside of the castle was really nice. There were several stained glass windows and very old furniture and decorations.



There were amazing views from the towers of the castle.



We almost didn't want to leave Segovia, it was such a nice town. We drove back to La Coruña on Sunday afternoon. The weather all weekend was beautiful - hot - but beautiful. The drive home was cloudy and rainy. There is a statue on the side of the road that looks like a Hook'em Horns (if you close one eye and tilt your head to the side) - I had to snap a picture.



I thought I'd give you an update on my 'mystery plant' from my Lugo post. They are starting to grow and now have green leaves. I'm leaning towards grapes... We also saw some 'hobbit houses' on our drive back. They were like little holes in the side of a hill - we thought they were hobbit houses. Juan was corrected at work Monday - they're actually wine cellars! hehe.



Next weekend - Barcelona!!