Holy Toledo!

Flying back to Madrid, we caught the half hour high speed train to Toledo, a small medieval city 70 km south of Madrid.  Toledo was once the capitol of Spain and still retains the atmosphere and aura of its decorated past.  The buildings and winding streets of the old city are contained withing city walls, holding hundreds of years of history.  The walls are surrounded on three sides by the Tajo River, known as the Rio Tejo in Lisbon, where it flows into the Atlantic.  

 In the 13th century in Spain, Toledo became one of the only places where Moors, Christians and Jews lived together and tolerated each other relatively peacefully.  The combination of these cultures' styles, architecture, art and general culture is what makes Toledo one of the greatest cities in the world.

Because of Toledo's charm and close proximity to Madrid, in high tourist season and during most afternoons it is packed with tourists.  The daytrippers from Madrid flood the streets every morning, wandering around most of the day before catching the train back to the big city.  Things worked out perfectly for Bromley and I, since we got there at about 8 pm, in time for the sunset without the hassle of crowds. 

The narrow streets were still decorated from a festival the town had hosted the previous weekend.  There where thin cotton runners down the center, lined with antique lanterns and baskets of various flowers.  The streets still maintain their medieval layout, and wind throughout the buildings, at times more like alleys.  The entire city is on a giant hill, with smaller hills within it.  Around every corner seems to be a snapshot of the past.  Cobblestone, churches, small family businesses- everything dark, shut down for the night.  The main square, Plaza Zocodovar, was right next to our hotel, and despite it being a Sunday night, was full of people eating, drinking and just hanging out.  

  The next day we had to catch the 1:30 train back to Madrid to then get on a 4 hour train to Alicante.  We woke up early and checked out the cathedral, the most famous in Spain.

We did a little souviner shopping, but didn't find much.  Souviner are tough because you want to remember the places you have visited, but at the same time, luggage room is limited.  (In my case, extremely limited.  I have absolutely no idea how I will bring my belongings back to the states.  Things just seem to appear and multiply so quickly!)  Anyway, we bought a little pin because I have a project I am going to do with them when I get home.  I'm going to need some metal work lessons from Dad because I think it might involve some soudering, that's another story.  We also bought some Marzipan, Toledo's famous sweet.  It is made with sugar and ground almonds and is amazing.  There are tiny, family run stores selling it everywhere in Toledo.  The older lady who sold it to us explained that they sold two kinds, one was 50% almonds/50% sugar and the fancy artisan kind was 80% almonds/20% sugar.  We went for the good stuff.  Neither of us had tried it before, which was probably a good thing because we probably would have bought a lot more.

It came in regular almond color or dyed and shaped like certain fruits.  Both were amazing, but I think I liked the fruit ones the best.  We still have some left; we had to ration it.  I'm not sure what is going to happen when it runs out--- might have to go back to Toledo!  

Lisboa, Sintra, e Coba da Roca

Arriving in the Lisbon airport we took a taxi to our hotel.  During the ride it was interesting  seeing everything written in Portuguese from being used to Spanish and looking similar but different.  The hotel was nice we arrived around noon.  From there we went exploring Lisbon, Heading down towards the River Tejo, we were kind of following our travel guide and kind of just walking and exploring.  We walked passed plazas and cathedrals and climbed up the endless hills to lookout points above the entire city. Hiking around the city all day, even up to the castle, we saw all of the Lisbon sights.  Exhausted from walking so long with countless hills.  We decided to take the train back to the hotel. Taking the metro back to the Hotel we bought a pass for 10 trips and thought it would be fine to just pass it back so we could both use it.  That did not pan out; I went through the turnstile then handed the pass back to Brom and it would not work again and let him through.  Luckily a nice local man was walking by and saw our troubles and swiped his card so Bromsky could get through.  After that we bought separate passes for the rest of our metroing.  Back at the hotel we took a break before heading back downtown for dinner.  It was past 11 o'clock so a lot of places had stopped serving food.  We wandered around for a bit, but it was still raining, so we went to the Hard Rock Cafe. It was nice to have some American food, a good old fashioned veggieburger.  Bromley had some macaroni and cheese.  Classic.

The next day we woke up and it was raining again.  It rained in Portugal everyday, but always just a light sprinkle and never lasting for more than an hour at a time.  Kind of annoying, but could have been worse.  We decided to head out by the airport to "Parque das Nacoes" or Park of Nations, where the 1998 World Fair was hosted.  The complete opposite of downtown Lisbon, the buildings, museums, arenas and aquarium there are very modern architecture.  Big, white, lots of windows, right on the Rio Tejos, it was a nice change.  To escape the rain, we went to the aquarium first.  It has a huge central tank the size of four olympic swimming pools and home to hundreds of sting rays, sharks, tunas and schools of random little fish.  The four quadrants of the building are spilt up into more tanks and exhibits featuring different oceans- arctic, tropical, mediterranean, Caribbean, everything.  Bromley was into the photography and got some killer pics.  (see picasa web..)

In the park we walked around the water gardens, rode the cable cars over the promenade, ate some Pizza Hut, and checked it all out.  

After a layover at the hotel, we went out to the Barrio Alto, Lisbon's nightlife district.  We saw some interesting folk, walked around, checked out some of the local establishments and ate seafood at a cute little place.  We didn't stay long because we were tired and the neighborhood is a little sketchy, honestly.  

The next day we took a day trip to Sintra, only a 40 minute train ride away from Lisbon.  Arriving, we took the bus from the city center up to the Palacio de Pena Parque, the oldest palace of European Romanticism.   It was the summer residence for the Portugese royal family.  The last queen of Portugal, Amelia, spent her last night in the palace before leaving the country in exile in 1910.  Since then it has become a major tourist attraction and has been declared a UNESC World Heritage Site and one of the Seven Wonders of Portugal. 

We bought the double pass for the entire palace and the moorish castle close-by.  Definitely a bargain, we got to go inside the entire palace and see many of the original decor and furniture used by the royal family.  Of course, no photography allowed, but it was beautiful.

The palace is surrounded by a huge park with many lakes, giant trees, old relics and hills everywhere.  The climate is warm and humid, with ferns and flowers everywhere.  The park was beautiful and deserted, so it was fun to walk around and explore.

From there we went over to the medieval castle, built by the Moors in the 9th or 10th century.  It reminded me of Alicante's castle, but was slightly more ruined.  Again, it was on top of a giant hill with breathtaking views.

From Sintra, we took a local bus to Cabo da Roca, the western most point of mainland europe.  It was beautiful--the rocky cliff shore with the Atlantic splashing against it.  There wasn't much there besides a little monument, a lighthouse and meadows of wild flowers.  We got there right at sunset and missed the rain; everything worked out perfectly.  

Matthew Bromley is in Spain

So then, after a few finals, a research paper or two and some Medieval Spanish Literature (ew), I hopped on a train to Madrid (anyone coming to Spain, if you check the Renfe website ahead of time, they will have internet specials on certain trains and cut the price down to nothing...) and met up with Brom.  The last time I saw him was around Christmas/New Year's... it had been some time.  Almost didn't recognize him.  :)

We met up at our hotel which was right off of Puerto del Sol, the plaza that marks the very center of Spain and basically the center of downtown Madrid.  First we wandered around the Botantical Gardens, and took some great flower pics.  It seemed like they were replanting some sections of it, but the parts that were done were very pretty.  The gardens were right next to the Prado, Madrid's famous art museum, so we headed there next.  No pictures allowed inside, but it was awesome.  They were hosting a huge Goya exhibit that week, so it was perfect timing.  Bromley lasted a few hours before the jet lag started to set in and he couldn't handle any more art.  

That night we walked around Puerta del Sol and Plaza Mayor, and ate dinner at a very cute italian restaurant in the middle of the plaza.  

The next day we got up early and went to the Royal Palace.  There was some sort of official ceremonies going on outside and on the streets the around the palace, with horses and carriages and guards dressed in costumes.  The horses were beautiful.  

We ate lunch with my friend Kim who was in Madrid with her Aunt who is visiting from the States, then we headed over to Retiro Park.  Hundreds of acres, with forests, gardens, lakes, fountains, pavilions, almost anything you could imagine.  Bromley decided we should rent a row boat, so we rowed around the lake for a while.  There was an accordion player on the shore, which I loved, so it was really nice.  We walked along the entire park and stumbled across some sort of movie shooting, which a water glass player.  Probably some crazy spanish movie.  

Next we went over to the Reina Sofia, the modern art museum.  Two of the rooms were closed for maintainance, including Picasso's "Guernica," very disappointing.  On the up side, our admission was free.  We saw other Picasso's and many Dali's, so it was pretty exciting.  

On the way back to the hotel, we found some ice cream in Plaza Santa Ana.  

Madrid is a great city because all of the major sights are within a few miles right in the center of the city.  We barely used our metro passes.  All of the museums and monuments are right next to each other.  From Madrid, we woke up early the next day and headed off to Portugal.

Lots to catch up on...

First, Camino de Santiago.

May 9-15 about twenty other kids in my program and I hiked 104 kilometers from Ourense to Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain.  We took a 14 hour bus ride up to Ourense- you can imagine the excitement.  We spent the first night there in a hostel type place in a cemetery.  Yes, slightly creepy.  The bunk beds were comfortable and despite the coughs and other noises that come from having 30 people all sleeping in the same giant room, it was a good night.  The next morning we got an early start on our route, Via de la Plata.  There are many different routes of the pilgrimage, from everywhere in western europe, all leading to the cathedral in Santiago.  The oldest and most famous route starts in Paris.  Our route started in Sevilla, but we just did the second half. 

The legend is that St. James body, which was beheaded in Rome and sent into the sea, washed ashore off the coast of northwestern Spain, and was drug inland to the spot where the cathedral stands today.  In the ancient times, when news of this spread, the pilgrimage to Santiago became one of the most famous in the world, along with Jerusalem and Rome.  It is said that if you complete the pilgrimage for religious reasons, your are directly admitted into heaven, no purgatory necessary.  We aren't sure if we qualify of not, since we are also getting 3 credit hours for school...

Anyway, the countryside in northern Spain is gorg.  It is green and hilly, vineyards everywhere.  We had a few rain scares- it would start sprinkling and we would whip out our poncho/trash bags,  but then nothing major would happen.  It rained all night one night, causing some swampage in the lower lands in between the hills.  We got a little muddy, there was no choice.  I had to throw away some socks- there was no hope for them.  Galicia, the northern region, is famous for their bread, soup and seafood.  The food along the way was delicious.  We would wake up and eat some fruit or something for breakfast, then start hiking.  About halfway through the day we would stop in a meadow and have a picnic, complete with bread, ham, cheese, wine and fruit.  Then back to the hike, until we reached the overnight stop.  Galicians love pilgrams and would constantly stop and wave at us, invite us inside for water or food, anything.  The places we slept are specially made and run for pilgrams.  People do the camino all throughout the year, but it is most popular (and less cold) in the summer.  Armando, our guide and fearless leader, said that during the peak times you have to hurry to get to the lodges before they fill up--- it becomes more like a race.  We were all thankful that we all had a bunk bed and were able to walk at our own pace and enjoy the countryside.  We walked a total of 4 days: about 20 km, 35 km, 30 km, 20 km.  Not bad.  We got to Santiago in the afternoon on the fourth day, and were all ready for a break.   We spent the next day walking around the city, going to mass in the cathedral (which has an amazing incense urn hanging from the ceiling that they swing across the entire church....see pictures) and having an amazing lunch in one of the downtown restaurants.  Then back to the bus for an overnight drive home.  It was funny driving back through the same hills we had just walked.  They didn't look quite the same out a bus window.  We got back to Alicante the next morning at about 6 am and were ready to collapse.  It was an awesome experience and I definitely never would have gotten to see that countryside in any other way.