Avila + Salamanca = One Fun Weekend!

Hey hey hey!

OK, so I realize that it has been a while since I posted anything substantial, and all of you loyal readers out there are probably crying yourselves to sleep over this fact each and every day. Cry no more! Here is a full rundown of my past weekend!

We woke up at the crack of dawn to catch our 7:30 bus out of Toledo. As you would probably expect, as soon as the bus doors closed, about 95% of the bus fell into a deep deep comatose-like sleep. After 2 hours of driving, complete with watching "Los Otros" (the spanish-dubbed version of "The Others"), we arrived in Avila. Fun fact: Avila is the city with the highest altitude in all of Spain. Another fun fact: this altitude obviously affects the climate in Avila, making it much windier and colder than in Toledo. A third fun fact: no one felt it necessary to tell us that until the bus pulled into the tourism center at Avila. Hooray! So, we hopped off the bus and were met by a beautiful city and a 40 degree air temperature. Fortunately, I had a jacket, but others were not as fortunate:


We started the day in Avila with a tour of the church of St. Vincent. In all honesty, all I really got out of this part of the tour were some interesting pictures and a chance to warm up. The church, very much like all of the other churches in Europe I have toured thus far, was completely decked out from ceiling to floor in carvings, paintings, gilded surfaces, and candles. We were able to see many tombs, including those of St. Vincent and his sisters. On some of the tombs, there were carvings of intricate torture scenes, which surprised most of us. The detail and gore in these scenes are definitely not something that I want to be associated with my resting place, but oh well, maybe it's a European thing.

After the church, we had to trek back into the frigid outdoors, where we had the opportunity to tour the city's walls.

Similar to Toledo, Avila is surrounded by a huge wall that served as a defense against invaders. In addition to keep out enemies, it also allowed town officials to prohibit sickly-looking people from entering the town during the plague epidemic. Another interesting tidbit I picked up from this tour is that European staircases, in no way shape or form, have a uniform stair height. Some of the staircases had steps that were at least 18 inches tall, which required us to use ropes to climb these poorly maintained areas. Others had steps that were only about 2 inches tall, making the descent consist of awkward little skips. After walking around the walls for about an hour, we had some free time, we consisted of Hannah frantically seeking out some pants to fend of her impending case of hypothermia. Once we had overcome that obstacle, we were ready for lunch!

As part of the trip, we were provided lunch in a former palace. Needless to say, it was relatively ritzy, which is a big difference from the normal sandwich and soda places we've been frequenting. We all basically gorged ourselves, happy to have warm food in a warm environment. We then hopped back on the bus, fell back into our comas, and drove 2 more hours before reaching Salamanca.

Upon arrival, we checked into our 4-star hotel (oo la la!), and headed to our room. Our room number was 122, so we were excited about being on the first floor...apparently, in Spain, the first floor is the level that you encounter after ascending about 4 flights of stairs. Once we finally found our room, we opened the door to find a nice big room with absolutely no electricity. We tried absolutely every switch and outlet in the entire place and were about 30 seconds away from sending someone down to the front desk to sort this matter out when we noticed a little slot underneath the main light switch. Someone had the ingenious idea to try the room key and that slot, and wouldn't you know, that was exactly what we needed to do. Apparently putting the key into that slot completed some circuit, or other important-looking science-y term, that allowed us to turn on our lights. Hooray for confusing European technology!

Once we got all of that straightened around, we took a siesta, as if we had not slept enough on the bus, and then headed out to explore the city. Our hotel was pretty centrally located, so we were able to kill some time shopping before heading back to the hotel for dinner. Again, we gorged ourselves on most of the meal before all turning away our flan. Don't get me wrong, I tried it, but it was kind of like egg flavored jello coated in coffee. Barf.

After digesting a bit, we headed out for the night, choosing a little cafe/bar we had encountered previously in the day. When we got there, it was essentially deserted, so that was a bit odd, but we still managed to have a good time, and we appeared to entertain the bartender, so I guess it's fair to say that fun was had by all.

On Saturday, we had to rise early again to take a walking tour of Salamanca. Again, it was freezing, but we had no other choice but to tough it out. Our first stop was the Plaza Mayor, in the heart of Toledo. We were surrounded by the town call of Salamanca and many cafes and apartments. Someone in our tour group noticed a burly Spanish man on a balcony outside one of the apartments, clearly watching our tour group. He happened to be wearing only the tiniest pair of boxers I have ever seen. He waved at us, and then his friend, also in boxers, appeared on the balcony. Every one, including the tour guide, seemed to get a kick out of this, but shortly thereafter, we were ushered away from the Plaza and onto the other stops on our tour.

On the tour, the biggest sites were Salamanca's university and cathedral. The university is the oldest in Spain, and used to be considered one of the top universities in all of Europe. All of the classrooms looked more like churches, with long pews, lecterns, and giant murals. Scattered around the walls, there are symbols painted in red blood, along with names underneath them. The tour guide said that these symbols and names are put on the walls when a student earns his or her doctorate. After the university, we headed over the cathedral, which, of course, was ornate to the max. We had a complete tour of all of the building, including the side chapels and tombs, the main area, and the choir loft.

A picture of the outside of the university:

The Cathedral:

After the tour, which lasted for 5 long hours, we headed to the hotel for our group lunch. We had yet another meal of chicken and potatoes, so that was unbelieveably exciting, as you can probably imagine. Following lunch, we took a siesta and then prepared to head back out for another tour of a church in Salamanca. After seeing all of that, we headed to the shopping to pick up our requisite "Universidad de Salamanca" paraphernalia, and stumbled upon a delicious little chocolate cafe. After talking to someone who knows Salamanca relatively well, it turns out that we found THE place for chocolate in Salamanca, which of course, made me one happy girl. We all consumed many many calories, but I figure that it's kind of like dollars and euros, in that the conversion rate alters the numbers. Right? Right. Afterwards, we grabbed a sandwich for dinner and then the group split up, with my half calling it an early night after spending most of the day shivering and walking.

On Sunday, we woke up for mass in the Cathedral, which was scheduled to begin at 12:00, so naturally, the priest sauntered in at 12:15. After mass, we had a quick lunch and then decided to make a return to the beloved chocolate cafe before having to leave Salamanca. We hopped onto the bus, fell asleep, and concluded our weekend in Avila and Salamanca!

Un abrazo,
Jill