My recent trip has not been that far away from Madrid. This past weekend my school took us on an excursion to El Escorial and Avíla. We first arrived at El Escocrial, which was freezing. It definitely felt like winter there and I was not prepared. El Escorial is half a monastery and half mausoleum. El Escorial was built for Felipe II and for God. Felipe II had Juan Bautista de Toledo design the building, but only four years after the project began was it passed on to Juan de Herrera after Toledo passed away. It took 21 years to build it, which is a pretty small amount of time in regards to how huge El Escorial is. The reason it is an amazing place to see is because of the size of the place and for its symmetry. It has four large towers in the corners of the building and there is a great dome in the center of the building. I was not able to take very good pictures that day so I might put up some professional pictures so you can see how huge El Escorial is. There are galleries, living quarters, a library (which was beautiful), basilica, pantheons (cemeteries) and gardens. It is amazing to walk through rooms where kings have been and to see where they slept when they were ill and sometimes where they have even died. The library was one of my favorite things at El Escorial. There are thousands of priceless books in the library not only in Spanish, but also in several different languages. They are all in amazing condition. My other favorite place at El Escorial was the Panteón Real. This room was beautiful and it is filled with the remains of every Spanish king since Charles V. The stairway leading to this room as well as the room itself is made out of beautiful green marble. It is kind of creepy thinking about where you are… in history. There is also a Panteón de los Infantes, a room for the children who had passed away. That was pretty intense to see. They also have a Pudrería, which is where royal bodies are/ were cured for over 25 years before being put into the crypt (tourists are not allowed). There are three empty tombs in the Panteón Real and currently there are three corpses in the Pudrería that will fill the tombs eventually. I do not remember who these bodies are.
After checking out El Escorial for half the day we got our free time before we had to leave for Avíla. The girls I was with went to lunch. It was pretty yummy. For a starter I had sopa with bread and for our main course I got carne asada with patatas fritas. For dessert I got a delicious tarta de chocolate…my favorite dessert so far.
On the bus ride to Avíla I took a small 45-minute nap, which was the perfect amount of time. Avíla is a small town near Segovia that is known for Las Murallas and the cathedral. We got to check out Las Murallas while we were there. Las Murallas (surrounding walls) where built to protect the city and to prevent others from invading. The walls are huge and it is awesome because you can go on the top to get a great view of the city. There are 88 towers, and nine gates, which is so impressive to think about. The walls have been standing for many years now, some say they were built in the 12th century and some say they were built in1090. Because of the time, and weather everyone was pretty tired and was not up for exploring for a longer period of time so we were not at Avíla for that long.
I am very thankful for these small day trips because I feel like I am taking advantage of every opportunity to see more history, more culture and more of the world. I was also able to take advantage of the Madrid’s culture by going to another rastro with my señora and my roommate on Sunday morning. This rasto was huge and I was able to find some cheap things. After el rastro we had a traditional meal from Madrid, cocido. I believe I already explain what it is in a previous blog. Since this was a hearty meal it is best to eat during lunchtime. A few hours after having our meal my roommate and I went running at a track near by. Since it was a Sunday night the park was filled with people, I loved it. One other cool thing that I got to do this weekend was to have an intercambio (inter-exchange) with a Spanish girl. It went really well. She wanted me to speak English for the first couple times, but I was really happy because I understood everything she said and when I spoke Spanish I didn’t have a hard time explaining things. I think each week I am starting to understand more Spanish and I am not as nervous to try to speak in Spanish. I can’t wait to see how my Spanish improves after eight more months!
