Toledo, Avila and Salamanca

Rather than give you a blow by blow description of what we did, I thought I'd just mention the highlights and share some photos of various places. We had planned to visit Toledo, Avila and Segovia, among other interesting towns. I had already been to Avila and Segovia with a school excursion and was very happy to go  to both places again. They are well worth a second (or even third visit).

Toledo - City of three cultures

Toledo has been an important town, approximately 70 kms south of Madrid, since pre-Roman times. It became an important town during the Roman period, was capital of Visigoth Spain before being captured by the Moors in the 8th Century. After the fall of the Caliphate, Toledo became the capital of one of the richest Taifas of Al-Andalus. It was also central to the reconquest by the Catholic rulers of Spain. 

Apart from it's place in history, Toledo is probably most famous for its steel making, including sword making which goes back to Roman times and for being the city where El Greco (painter) lived in Spain. It has significant Christian, Moorish and Jewish architecture, with the Alcazar (Moorish citadel) taking pride of place. We were also able to visit the old Jewish Synagogue and El Greco's house which has a selection of his works available for viewing. The surprise for us was finding an old Visigoth church that had been preserved. The Visigoths were generally a forgotten part of Spainish and European history. 

Gillian spent most of her spending money here, buying presents for her family. Very good place for hand made jewellery (mostly gold leaf) and knives etc.   

Alcazar at Toledo

View of the river and bridge



Toledo Train Station

Avila - Walled City

Avila is the highest provincial capital in Spain, set on top of a rocky hill at 1132 metres. It rises from the surrounding open plain and retains its complete wall (muralla) and towers. The Cathedral forms part of the walls and was used for the defence of the city as well. Whilst the walls and towers are one of the most enduring images of Avila, and one of the best reasons to visit, there is a wealth of other buildings and monuments to see as well. For those interested in Christian / Catholic history, Avila was also the birthplace of Saint Theresa and the Convento de Santa Theresa is worth a visit as well.

Avila is also famous for white beans, yemas (sweets that look like an egg yolk) and veal. We had a traditional lunch which included a bowl of white beans and chorizo, mashed potato with capsicum, onion and paprika and another soup with lots of garlic and bread pieces. This was followed by veal steak, lamb chops, roast suckling pig (cochinillo) and lomo (pork steak). We then tried the desserts - natillas for Gillian (like egg custard) and the ubiquitous flan for me (like crème caramel with slightly bitter caramel sauce). Gillian enjoyed the yemas, I found them too sweet.

Walls and Towers of Avila

Section of Wall

Statue in Avila

Yemas (very sweet and really do look like egg yolks!)

Cultured Salamanca - Home of the Spanish Language

I had a wonderful experience of being the tour guide for our day trip to Salamanca, having lived there for 6 weeks. We had planned to go to Segovia, but we ran out of time to do everything so had to choose. As Gillian had wanted to go to Salamanca since she was 10 years old, she opted for this lovely city. We spent a great day visiting lots of my favourite monuments, and found time to visit Casa Lis, an art nouveau museum that Gillian loved. It has some wonderful glass work, statues and statuettes, dolls and other wonderful art nouveau things. It also has a wonderful view of the Tomes river and you can just see the old Roman bridge from the front windows.

We managed to catch up with a fellow student and friend, Rebecca for the day as well which was lots of fun. We left home very early to get to the bus station to take the early bus, hoping to get to Salamanca by 11.00 am. However, the first bus had a brief accident as we went to leave the bus station (driver backed into the barrier and broke the tail lights). So, we had to disembark, await another bus and then reload before commencing our journey. We eventually arrived in Salamanca at 12.30 pm and were meeting up with Rebecca at 1.00 pm at the school. On our way to meet Rebecca, whilst crossing the street, we ran into Jose Ramon, who I stayed with whilst in Salamanca previously. I managed to completely surprise him by walking up behind him and tapping him on the shoulder! I was pleased we could visit him and Carmen at home just before we left to catch our bus home. It was quite a welcome from Carmen and Tango (the dog)! 

Façade of Casa Lis with Cathedral spire in background