This year during the Holy Week (The 7 days leading up to and including Easter Sunday)
I followed the traditional Spanish schedule: work Monday, Tuesday and half of Wednesday, and then go on a mini-vacation. Somehow Angel and I decided to go on a roadtrip together (we’re really bad at being broken up, I’m just going with it because things are really good between us at the moment).
We left Granada on Wednesday and drove all the way up to Segovia. We arrived around 11 p.m. but still decided to do a sweep of the town.
We blew-off using a map and figured we would just follow along the aquaduct, but somehow we couldn’t seem to find it. Finally after walking around in a few circles, we asked a woman passing by who must have thought we were crazy because we were standing directly beside it at the time. (It turns out that it is only the famous, tall double arched part for the second half, otherwise it just looks like a stone wall with a gutter on top.)
Anyway we walked around for a while, it was almost eerie how deserted the center was. We had trouble finding a place to eat and even considered sampling the goods from a hamburger vending machine(!?!?).
The next day we discovered that the city was truly as charming in the light and the crowds as it had been in the moonlight. We walked the entire length of the town to arrive at the cliff where the Alcazar is perched. We passed Plaza Mayor, the beautiful beige gothic cathedral, and some adorable streets that surely haven’t changed much for centuries.
There were also lots of random historic mansions and palaces scattered throughout the town. We finally needed to take a break from all of the walking (and the cold for me, I didn’t really use my brain when planning for the trip and packed clothing for much warmer weather, like it had been in Granada the past week).
We ate a traditional Segovian meal, some part of the pig that was grilled and a vegetable thing, followed by tipical Segovian desserts, including el Ponche Segoviano.
After the meal we headed back to the car to circle the city from the outside, visit the Vera Cruz church (famous for it’s 12 sides) and take in the views of the city from a neighboring hill.
The drive to Ávila was short and beautiful, there were giant rocks scattered all throughout the grass and the hills. We even stopped to go climb on a particularly enjoyable-looking cluster.
We arrived in Ávila in the early evening and still had plenty of light to see some of the town, find a hotel and even explore a bit. This town was particularly special because Angel had studied at the University there. It is a very small town, but very well-known for it’s completely still-in-tact medieval city walls, or muralla.
We enjoyed one of the Ávila processions followed by a tour of his old bars and discos of choice. It was here that we discovered the wine ‘Toro’. DELICIOUS.
And speaking of delicious, we had a lovely meal that included the famous ‘Chuleton de Ávila’, a grilled steak that could rival Texas meat. On Friday we woke up fairly early and walked around the rest of the town, and even on the wall! It was beautiful.
Friday night we attempted to drive to Salamanca but we were met with signs at the city borders telling us that the city was full. We didn’t believe that was possible but after several hours of trying every hotel we passed, we got the idea that maybe it was true. Finally we found the closest hotel with a vacancy- in a town about 70km north called Zamora.
When we called they informed us that they had one room remaining, and as we were making reservations apparently someone else walked into the hotel asking for the room. We assured them that we would drive like crazy to get there as soon as possible and to hold it for us.
When we finally did arrive in Zamora it was almost midnight. As we searched for our hotel we encountered a procession in complete silence (it turns out that Zamora is one of the capitals for Semana Santa, they even have the national museum). We had a bit of an awkward moment when Angel asked directions to our hotel from one of the women in the procession. (Since they aren’t supposed to talk the poor woman was really unsettled and finally helped us but everyone else was shooting daggers with their eyes.) We learned that the hotel was the Parador (one of the nicest in Spain) and was unfortunately not accessable to us until the procession was over.
We passed the time in a cute little bar with some delicious tapas and a little ewok-sized ‘nazareno’ (the people in the procession that carry candles and wear the pointy cone masks) child next to us that was incredibly entertaining. When we finally were able to get to the hotel we were blown away by how beautiful it was (Originally the Palacio de los Condes de Alba y Aliste; built in 1459 by the first Count of Alva y Aliste).
We used the next morning to explore the old part of the town- a charming Cathedral and old castle (now the ruins, very pretty, no 90˚ angles.) We walked along the river and discovered the historical ‘Casa del Cid’ (Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (c. 1040 – July 10, 1099), known as El Cid Campeador, was a Castilian nobleman, a military leader and diplomat who is considered the national hero of Spain.) Strangely enough, outside of this house we ran into some people we knew from Granada who were just passing through on their way back from Asturias.
Late morning we headed back to Salamanca to meet up with some friends: Pablo and Gema (from Badajoz, we visited them at their cottage in Portugal last August). We had some cider and then walked around the town to see the tourist sights. Highlights include:
1. Searching for the frog engraved in the ornate front of the University. It is hidden and there are ALWAYS people standing out front looking for it. It is tradition that if you find it, you will pass all of your exams.
2. There was a restoration of the cathedral in 1993 and one man carved in an astronaut. According to my guidebook: " This caused an outrage in town, but now locals shrug their shoulders and say, 'He's the person closest to God'."
The 'new' cathedral was built from 1513 to 1733 and is mostly gothic. (there is also an 'old' cathedral, 12th century Romanesque style).
On Sunday we were all a little sad to be winding down the amazing vacation and decided to make one last stop on the way home. We drove to a town called Plasencia for lunch. This town was PRECIOUS. We wandered through the streets and plazas, explored a few gorgeous old buildings and even caught a procession. The lunch was tasty as well (I had one of my favorite dishes: Rabo del Torro).
When we finally parked in Granada it was 10 p.m. and we had driven a total of 15,412 kilometers over 5 days. Perfect Vacation.
SABES QUE…
• When the Romans built the Segovian Aquaduct in (somewhere around the 1st Century CE) they used absolutely no mortar or sticky goo between the giant granite bricks. At its tallest, the aqueduct reaches a height of 28.5 meters (93.5 ft).
• Ávila (1128 m) is the highest provincial capital in Spain.
• Zamora is the city with the most Romanesque churches in all of Europe.
• Christopher Columbus lectured at the University of Salamanca (founded 1218) on his discoveries.
• Plasencia’s cathedral is actually two churches built onto one another. There is the old, 13th century Romanesque cathedral as well as the "new" 16th century one.
Oops, I am getting ahead of myself- at this point I just dropped off the heavy backpack and headed back off to explore the town. It kept getting more and more charming- the buildings in the markt square were the stereotypical Flemish town image that comes to mind. Brugge is one of the cities with the largest amount secular gothic/medieval buildings in Europe. Right down a small shopping street leads to the Burg, which is also quite impressive architecturally. 
