If you find any problems, let me know.
S. Kathleen Kitao and Kenji Kitao
No. 10 Segovia, Avila, Madrid, and El Escorial : March 26--30
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Tuesday, March 26, 1996--Lancaster to Madrid
We took a train from Lancaster to London, and then to Gatwick Airport. Because we were concerned about the time, we had allowed more than enough time to get there--which of course meant that everything went smoothly and we got to the airport three hours before the flight.
We arrived in Madrid in the early evening and found a hotel near the Gran Via. The Gran Via had many beautiful buildings built on it during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but it isn't the major street it once was. Some of the buildings have hostels on different floors, and we stayed on one of those. To our surprise, the owner of the hostel did not speak much English, and since we don't speak much Spanish, we had some difficulty communicating with him.
We were able to ask him to recommend a restaurant, and he directed us to one only a couple blocks away, an inexpensive place that served large portions of good food. They had what was called in Spain a "menu," which means that you choose from a list of appetisers, a list of main dishes, and also have a drink, bread, and a choice of desserts. (This is usually the most economical way to eat in a Spanish restaurant.) Kenji chose the more expensive "menu," and he got about the largest steak he's eaten since we were in Argentina.
Kenji's Corner_____
We have learned how to get to Heathrow and Gatwick Airport well, and we can get there without trouble. We went to Gatwick by Gatwick Express and arrived there too early for our flight. We spent much time seeing things in different shops, and it came out fairly expensive. One advantage of shopping at the international airport is that we do not need to pay 17.5 percent VAT.
Madrid is west of London, but their time is one hour ahead, and it was not dark even though we landed at eight in the evening.
We had difficulty communicating in English when we changed money at the airport. We made a reservation of the hotel, and we took a bus to the city. It is close and costs only $3. We took a subway to Gran Via, which was at one time the main street. However, the buildings are old (even though a lot of them are still nice) and businesses moved. There are many hotels on different floors of many buildings. We found ours and found that no one there could not speak English. We watched TV in Spanish and tried--not very successfully--to figure out what they were talking about.
Since we were hungry, we managed to find a restaurant near our hotel. It was the best restaurant in quantity and price we found in Spain, and we visited there five times while we were there.
They had two "today's specials," one expensive and the other cheaper with lots of choices. They had a starter, a main course, a dessert, bread, and a drink. Except for bread, we had choices. They change the menu every day. One problem here was they had a menu in only Spanish. We used a Spanish phrase book which we bought at the airport and managed to find out what some of the choices were.
Their starter was big enough for one meal. The main meal was of course bigger. They provide a medium size bottle of wine or a similar size water. They gave us a big basket of bread. We asked for sangria, a typical Spanish drink. It is wine with juice and has some pieces of fruit, such as sliced oranges, apples, bananas, and lemons. It is really good. I had the second largest steak since Argentina. Since I am not accustomed to tipping, I do not like it. This restaurant is for local people, and probably people do not tip here, but I was more than happy to tip here, and did every time we visited here.
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Wednesday, March 27, 1996--Segovia
In the morning, we took a bus to Segovia. It is an old city located a couple hours from Madrid. It is located on a rocky ridge, and some of its city wall is still intact. The old part of the city has narrow, winding streets and buildings of honey-colored stone.
Segovia was first settled in pre-history (according to legend, by the grandson of Noah), but it came into its own under the Romans and became a city of considerable size. The city was later taken over by the Visigoths, and churches and a castle were built, along with a wall around the city. In the 15th and 16th centuries, the city was particularly prosperous, and the Cathedral was built, along with many mansions for wealthy people. In recent decades, new districts have been constructed outside of the center, but the old city remains pretty much intact.
We stayed in a hostel near the main square. It was in an old mansion.
After checking into the hostel, we walked over to the Roman aqueduct, which is the symbol of Segovia. It is an aqueduct in perfect condition with two layers of arches, which runs for about 700 meters over a square and up to the city wall. At its highest point, over the square, it is almost 30 meters high. It was built during the late 1st century or early 2nd century AD. It is really amazing, because it was built with stones, without mortar. We had lunch in a restaurant in the square under the aqueduct, took some pictures in the area, and walked to the bus station.
We took a bus to La Granja, a palace about 10 kilometers from Segovia built in the early 18th century by King Philip V, the first Bourbon king of Spain, because he was homesick for Versailles. This palace is like a small Versailles, with a series of highly decorated rooms. (The tour was in Spanish, so we couldn't really understand it.) At some points you can see through a series of doors, and it looks like you are looking into a mirror, seeing the same room reflected over and over.
But it is really the gardens that are the attraction here. There were statues of classical subjects and long avenues of trees. There were also fountains with statues. The main fountain had a series of steps that the water runs down. Even though there were no leaves on the trees, and the fountains were not running, we could imagine how beautiful it must be in the summer.
Kenji's Corner_____
We were tired and got up late. We managed to find the bus terminal for Segovia. When we arrived there, we did not know how to get the main square of the town. We took a taxi, which was worth it, because we would have had to go up a steep hill.
Even at the tourist information center, the clerks did not necessarily speak English well enough for communication. However, they had a good map of the city and various literature on sightseeing. They could gave us enough information we understood.
One interesting thing we found was that they do not make a hotel reservation and instead gave us a list of hotels. We did not have much trouble finding one nearby in an old mansion.
The Romans really liked to build things and make long straight roads. The aqueduct they built is unbelievable. It is really tall and huge. Even today it would not be easy to construct it using modern technology. They even built it without mortar.
The restaurant near there was very nice, but it was probably the most expensive one we ate at in Spain. I had a local famous dish, roasted suckling pig. Many restaurants around here have pigs in their windows, to indicate that they serve this dish. It looks terrible, but it was delicious.
The palace we saw, La Granja, was something. They had only tours in Spanish, and we could not understand much of the explanation. However, we could figure out at least a little of it with our knowledge of Versailles, history, architecture, art, information from the guidebook, etc. We enjoyed walking in the garden, even though fountains did not have water. (According to Kathi's guidebook the fountains are all turned on at 5:30, but that is apparently only in the winter.)
We had a menu of the day for dinner at a restaurant near our hotel. It was also a drinking place, and it was like a drinking place in Japan. It has a counter, and there are some food called tapas in the showcase. People sit at the counter and drink wine, sangria, or beer and order different tapas and eat them. Each serving of tapas is only $2-$5, depending on the type of food and the bar.
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Thursday, March 28, 1996--Segovia to Avila
In the morning, we went to the cathedral first. Segovia's cathedral, begun in the 1520s, was the last major Gothic cathedral in Spain, and therefore, it is very Gothic, with a beautiful bell tower, spires, a dome, and flying buttresses. The interior of the cathedral has many chapels. In the cathedral museum, paintings and tapestries on religious subjects, reliquaries, a silver and gold (gilded wood, actually) carriage used in processions, etc.
From the cathedral, we walked to the Alcazar, which is a castle. It is located at the ridge on one end of the old part of town. The Alcazar is Segovia is particularly well known, since it is reputed to have been the one that was the model for Cinderella's Castle at Disneyland. If you look at the turrets at one end, it does look rather familiar. It looks pretty much like you would expect a castle to look, with towers and turrets. It has seen a lot of history. Isabel, Queen of Castile (the queen who sponsored Columbus' voyage to America) lived here and left here for her coronation in the Plaza Mayor (there is a mural in one of the rooms depicting the scene), and Philip II celebrated the marriage to his fourth wife here, and extensively renovated the castle. We walked around in the castle and saw various lavishly decorated rooms. There are spectacular views from the windows and particularly from the tower.
After looking around in the castle, we took a path down the ridge and went to the Vera Cruz church. (Vera Cruz means "true cross," and the church was called that because it once had what was believed to be a piece of Jesus' cross.) It was built in the 13th century by the Knights Templar, a group of knights involved in the Crusades. It is a small, 12-sided church, with a simple tower. The interior of the church is simple, with an altar with paintings of scenes from the life of Christ.
We also stopped at two more places, one a monastery. At first we could not get anyone to answer the door, but finally a priest answered the door and showed us around. There was a pool beyond which there was a beautiful view of the old city and a cloister.
Finally, we stopped at the history museum, but it did not have many exhibits.
We took the bus to Avila, which is famous for two things--its intact 12th century wall and Saint Theresa of Avila. We walked from the bus station and found a hotel room. This hotel was once a very elegant one, and though it is older now, it is still nice. It is located right across from the cathedral, and we could see the cathedral and the square from our window.
Saint Theresa was born in Avila in 1515, and when she was seven years old, she and her brother ran away to be martyred by the Moors. Their uncle caught up with them not far from the town. She became a nun when she was 21 years old, and spent many years at a convent in Avila. Later, she founded a large number of convents in Spain and reformed the order of nuns that she belonged to. She wrote a great deal, and her autobiography was a best seller in Spain for centuries. She is one of the patron saints of Spain.
We visited the church built on the site of Saint Theresa's birth. It has paintings and stained glass depicting her and many events in her life.
At the Cathedral, they were having a special exhibition on the life of St. Theresa and the 16th century, so we couldn't really see that much of the Cathedral itself. They displayed a number of her possessions, including, for example, a saddle that she used to ride around the country founding convents, paintings of her, and many religious articles from the 16th century.
Next, we went to the Basilica of San Vincente. It was a Romanesque church built in the 12th century. It has a beautiful high alter, elaborately carved and covered with gold. It also has the tomb of some Christians martyred in the 4th century. (There has been a church in this site since that time.)
Next, we walked to the Convento de la Encarnacion, located some distance from the old part of town. It is the convent where Saint Theresa was a nun for more than 20 years. It has a typical Spanish bell tower (the kind that is also seen on missions in California) with three bells. On the top of the bell tower was something that we saw on bell towers, gates, and other high places all over Spain--a stork's nest. It has a museum of objects related to Saint Theresa.
Kenji's Corner_____
Many Spanish towns have a couple of squares, in many cases called the Plaza Mayor or the Plaza Espana, a cathedral, and an alcazar, which is a castle. Segovia has a huge cathedral which has many side chapels.
We walked to the alcazar which is located on a ridge from which we could see a nice view. We saw nice rooms and climbed up the tower, from which we saw a magnificent view of the Cathedral and the old town.
We visited Vera Cruz, a 12-sided church. I have never seen any building with 12 sides, and it was interesting. However, it was a small church, and there was not much to see inside, though they charged an admission fee.
The monastery was interesting. An old priest who showed us around did not speak English, but he pointed out important things on the way. Our Spanish was good enough to give him acknowledgement and express appreciation at the end of tour.
We also visited a small museum before we left for Avila in the early afternoon. Sightseeing by us is harder than organized tours, but we can see more in each town.
We need to do careful planning to go sightseeing in Spain. Many places are closed for two or three hours in the afternoon. However, those places are open late, until seven or even eight o'clock in the evening.
We started sightseeing after four, but we could see many things.
Avila is famous for its association with St. Theresa. We visited the church built where she was born. We also visited the convent outside of the town where she lived for a long time. We also saw a special exhibition in the cathedral. She started many convents and very famous not only in Spain but also among Catholics in other countries.
We visited a church just outside of the town wall, and we walked along the wall for a while. We really got tired around seven and went back to the hotel to rest before dinner.
We did not have a restaurant guide, and we walked around town to find one we wanted. We had a menu of the day, which I believe the best deal for meals in Spain. Whatever price it is, it has a starter, a main dish, a dessert, a drink and bread. It is interesting that wine and mineral water has the same value.
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Friday, March 29, 1996--Avila to Madrid
In the morning, we walked part way around the walls of the old city. From there, we could see a view of the valley and the mountains beyond.
The main city square is just outside the walls, with shops around it and a statue of Saint Theresa at one end. Just beyond the square is the Church of San Pedro, which we visited.
Convento de las Madres was the first convent founded by Saint Theresa, and it is located outside of the walls of the old city. At first, we could not find the museum, and we went to the entrance to the monastery. The nuns there do not communicate directly with the outside world. They have an opening with a revolving "door" made of wood, so that they can pass things in and out, but you never see them, and they never see you. Anyway, when the museum opened, we went there. It had things related to Saint Theresa, including her collar bone, her prayer books, and a replica of the cell she lived in.
We walked to the Monastery of Santo Thomas. It is away from the old city, in an area that must have been rural when it was built. It was built in the late 1400s and expanded by Ferdinand and Isabella to be their summer palace. However, their only son Prince Juan died in 1947 and was buried in the church, and the place had too many sad associations for them, so they did not use it after that.
We saw the church of the monastery. Prince Juan is buried in an elaborately carved alabaster mausoleum. We also saw the series of three cloisters which formed part of the summer palace. The symbols of Ferdinand and Isabella-- arrows and a yoke--were carved on the upper stories of the cloisters, and in the third cloister, there were also pomegranates. (Pomegranates are the symbol of Granada, a part of Spain which was, at that time, still under the control of the Moors. In including the pomegranates in their design, they were expressing their belief that they would be able to conquer Granada--which they did in 1492.)
Above the third cloister, there was a museum. Surprisingly, it contained a lot of art from the Far East. These were things brought back by missionaries to countries in the Far East.
Near the main gate, we were able to climb up on top of the wall of the city. From there, we could get a good view of the old city, the new city, and the valley and mountains.
We visited the Museo Provincial, which is located in the house where the deans of the cathedral used to live. It is a common style for a house, with two stories built around a courtyard. The museum had displays of various things related to the region, including archelogical remains, ceramics, carpets, and furnishings. They also had a special exhibition of weapons, including swords, lances, etc.
Finally, we walked to the shrine that marks the spot where Theresa's uncle caught her and her brother when they ran away to be martyred. It is a simple shrine, but it has a lovely view of the old city.
We took the bus back to Madrid and found another hotel room near the Gran Via. We went back to the same restaurant, and then walked a little way down the Gran Via, where we ran into two people we know from the Linguistics Department of Lancaster University. They were in Madrid doing some business for the university.
Kenji's Corner_____
We had chocolate and churros for breakfast, a traditional Spanish breakfast. The chocolate was a drink, but it was very thick. As a matter of fact, we ate it with a spoon since it was so thick. Churros are a kind of donut.
Today was really a beautiful day, and I took many photos while we were sightseeing. We walked along the city walls, on the top of the wall later, and visited many places. Kathi made a good plan to visit different places since they have different opening hours. We found a good restaurant for lunch. Since we walked a lot we had to rest well, too. Eating the menu of the day takes about one hour and is a good time to relax and rest.
We have seen many palaces and castles, churches, monasteries, and museums already. We will see more later. Frankly speaking, it is very hard to keep track of which was which without seeing the pictures now.
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Saturday, March 30, 1996--El Escorial and Madrid
In the morning, we took a bus to El Escorial, about an hour outside of Madrid. It is a monastery built in the 1500s, which was used as a home by Philip II in the last years of his life. From the outside (especially close up, where you can't see the spires of the cathedral) it resembles nothing so much as a prison, but it is the interior that makes it one of the most visited places in all of Spain. Where we entered, we saw displays of paintings and also some exhibits about the building of the monastery, including some primitive cranes.
The tour took us through the royal apartments, which were richly decorated. The quarters of Philip II were the simplest. They had an opening overlooking the basilica, so he could listen to mass. (He was old and in poor health when we was living here.) One room had maps of the known world made in various periods. They were interesting. There were also some particularly beautiful doors and doorframes which were decorated with inlaid wood.
The kings and queens of Spain and other members of the royal family are also buried here. In the Pantheon of the Kings, all the kings since the 1600s (and the queens who had children) are buried. They are in black coffins, in niches all around a circular room. In the Pantheon of the Infantes, princes and princesses are buried. For children who died very young, there is one wedding-cake-shaped tomb, with individual section. There were 60 sections, only 37 of them filled. (Infant mortality was high, even among the upper classes.)
Before we left, we also visited the library. It had thousands of old books (too old and valuable for anyone but specialists to handle them, I'm sure), and beautiful arched ceilings, painted with pictures of classical scenes.
We took the bus back to Madrid, and then went to the Prado. The Prado is one of the largest and most famous art museums in the world. The Spanish royal family have been avid, knowledgeable, and wealthy art collectors for many generations, and this collection is the result. Part of the museum was blocked off for a separate Goya exhibit, but we did not have time for both, so we just went to the general exhibit, particularly paying attention to the Spanish painters. I don't know much about art, but I really enjoyed looking at the pictures in this museum, seeing how the same scene is dealt with by different artists, etc.
In the evening, we moved to the hotel from which the tour of Spain, Portugal, and Morocco would start.
Kenji's Corner_____
We got up early and went to the bus terminal to take a bus to El Escorial. We found there that the first bus was not until 9 o'clock on Saturday, and we had to wait for longer than half an hour. There was another foolish tourist who did not know the Saturday schedule was different.
The monastery was huge and plain from the outside. We had to wait for a few minutes before they opened it in the cold, rainy weather. The inside was quite different, and there were many marvellous pictures. The royal palace was my favorite. I would like to live in such an elaborate place for even a couple of days in my life. We spent about two hours, but we had to rush a little. I wish we had spent more time there.
After we returned to Madrid, we went to the Prado. The Prado have many famous pictures. Unfortunately I have not studied art much, and I could not understand them well. Goya is one of the most famous artist here, and they had a special exhibition of his work. As you can imagine, many pictures are scenes in the Bible or somehow related to the Bible or Christianity, it is impossible to understand and appreciate them with such knowledge. Even with such knowledge, still it is hard to enjoy them.
We moved to the Intercontinental Hotel to join our tour. In Madrid, there are not many middle-range hotels. Most places to stay seem to be either four star hotels ($150 or up) or hostels ($60 or less for a double room with private facilities without breakfast). The normal rate of our room was close to ten times higher than the last night's room, but in my opinion, it is not worth more than five times more, even though they have a fabulous breakfast buffet.
We met our tour director. He came to our room and put luggage tags on our suitcases. He told us about the wakeup call, breakfast, what time to put out our luggage, and the departure time. He reminded us that the things are very expensive in the hotel and suggested that we eat dinner around the hotel. He said he would give us any other important information on the bus following day. He is a Portuguese, but his English was excellent, and he seemed to be very experienced.