Wow, it's been awhile since I've written, mainly because nothing new has occurred on my side of the pond. But finally this weekend I was able to take advantage of my time off and see some new sites. And some old ones too. First off, school is going great. I have a better feel for what the teachers want me to do in the classroom and I'm slowly learning all my student's names. There's about 100 of them so it's taking longer than it ever did at SLU. Luckily the majority of them are Javier, Carlos, Alvaro, Alba, Paula and María. If I use one of those names, i've covered about 60% of the students. Just kidding. But seriously, a lot of them are named Javier...
Anyway, this past Friday was a holiday to celebrate Columbus Day, or as they say here: Día de la Hispanidad. Or as my roommate said to me: to celebrate the great empire we eventually lost. I think in South America they call it Día de la Raza (Race Day, as in ethnicity) because to celebrate Columbus coming to the new world and slaughtering all the indigenous people is a little offensive to them. It's strange how one event can be seen in so many different ways by different cultures. Spain has decided to throw a military parade in its honor; a show of branch of the military, complete with jets, horses and a goat. Yup, I said goat. There is a goat (cabra) who is basically the star of the parade. This year people were worried he might not show because of the crisis and budget cuts, but he was most definitely there! Very happy I got to see the goat.
 |
| Waiting for the parade, with Alyson and Kristina |
 |
| Jets! Notice the red and yellow |
 |
| Some of the more elaborate uniforms |
 |
| La Cabra! La Cabra! People went nuts... |
 |
| Great view of Gran Vía |
 |
| Plaza de Colón, after the parade |
 |
| Plaza de Cibeles |
On Saturday, my roommate Victor and I decided to take a trip to Salamanca for the day and Valladolid the next day. Both are cities in the province of Castilla y León, northwest of Madrid. Salamanca is about 2.5 hours away by train. It's mostly known for its architecture and for being a university town. The University of Salamanca was founded in the 12th century and is the oldest, continuously used university in Spain; third oldest in Europe. It's pretty fantastic. The buildings are made of a certain stone that looks yellowish during the day and at night glows gold in spotlights. I studied in Salamanca about 6 six years ago so I've been fortunate enough to see it lit up, but we didn't get to see the glowing buildings this trip...we were on our train to Valladolid instead.
 |
| Plaza Mayor |
 |
| Art Nouveau Museum |
 |
| Lazarillo de Tormes - famous Spanish literary figure |
 |
| Cathedral from the Roman Bridge |
 |
| Roman Bridge and Stone bull built by Celtiberians: old! |
 |
| Archives of the Spanish Civil War |
 |
| University Facade |
 |
| Salamanca is also famous for its Jamón Ibérico, yum! |
Valladolid is a nice city to visit for a day, but that's all it really needs. It's the capitol city of Castilla y León and is a bigger than Salamanca, but it just didn't have the same atmosphere. Salamanca is so alive with young people in the streets and most Salamandrinas take a lot of pride in their city. Valladolid had some beautiful architecture as well, but not quite on the same scale as Salamanca. Still, it was worth the visit.
 |
| Academia del Arma de Caballería - Military Academy |
 |
| Plaza Mayor |
 |
| Iglesia de Santa María - Romanesque |
 |
| Cathedral - Renaissance |
 |
| Iglesia de San Pablo |
 |
| Río Pisuegra |
 |
| Having fun with the statues |
We got back late last night and were exhausted from walking all over. It felt good to curl up in my nice warm bed and be asleep before my head hit the pillow. Until the next adventure!
No comments:
Post a Comment