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.  

Still living the dream...

Well, life goes on.  I have a few new updates for ya'll.

Last Tuesday a few friends and I took a day trip to Alcoy, a town about an hour and a half inland from Alicante.  We went for their huge festival, called Moros y Cristianos (Moors and Christians) that celebrates the battles between the two cultures centuries ago.  The festival happens at different times of the year in many different towns in the Valenician region, but Alcoy's is the largest and most famous.  The festival is three days, but we were only there for the middle day, last Tuesday.  The main event is essentially a giant parade.  Hundreds of people of all ages are dressed up either as Christians or Moors and walk through the downtown area.  The costumes are very intense and the crowed loves it.  The whole parade lasts from 4 - 10 pm, so we only stayed for part of it since we had to catch a 8:45 bus back to Alicante.

The best part of Alcoy was the people.  They were all so friendly, slightly drunk, and very excited about the Moors and Christians.  At one point we were walking down the street with lines of "Christians" on either side and they started chanting "USA, USA."  It was great.

During the parade I was standing inbetween a little old lade and an little photographer man, who both were from Alcoy.  They were asking me all about the United States and who I voted for or planned to vote for.  Everyone here tries to speak politics with us, and for me, I have no idea what I'm talking about, and really don't want to discuss it with them.  Then they started telling me everything I could ever want to know about Alcoy and the festival.  It was a fun day and I got some good pictures!  The horses in the parade were awesome.  (Really made me miss Blue...)

Anyway, other than that things have been pretty standard.  The weather keeps getting warmer and warmer so we have been spending a lot of time on the beach.  The last few days it has even been warm enough to swim and there were lots of boats out so we had some waves, which was fun.

A few days ago a bunch of American students and I were all down on the beach, hanging out.  Out of no where some guy comes over and says, "Hey, you guys speak English?"  We were like... Yes.  He started talking to us and turns out that he was on the Washington Generals basketball team that travels with the Harlem Globetrotters.  Pretty soon all his teammate/friends show up and were asking as all about our semester and travels.  They were really friendly and had been in Spain a week, so were thankful to have found other english-speakers.  They ended up inviting us to their game that night, each player got so many free tickets, so there were plenty for us to use.  Twelve of us went and had a great time.  I had heard of the Harlem Globetrotters before, but I thought they were a normal basketball team.  It was really fun to watch, and fun to also see all the Spanish people cheering and loving it.  After the game the team wanted us to show them the town, so obviously we took them to all our favorite bars.  They had a great time, and I think were a little sad that they were only here one night.  They have a four month tour of europe going on now, so they are scheduled every night to the max.  I put a few pictures up of the game, but I should have more soon.

That's about it for now.  Hope everyone is well at home!  I really miss you guys!  . . . and I keep having dreams about barbeque, so I must miss KC some too!

Senda del Poeta - Walk for Miguel Hernandez

This past weekend, everyone in my program and I had the pleasure of walking 70 km (roughly 44 miles) in honor of a famous Spanish poet, Miguel Hernandez.  Hernandez was born in Orihuela and died in Alicante, and the walk follows the same route.  Early Friday morning we took a bus up to Orihuela, a small town south of Alicante.  About 2,000 people began the walk the first day, including what seemed like millions of grade school age kids.  We began walking at about 11 AM and walked all day, arriving at Albatera, the sleeping point, at about 6 PM.  It really wasn't bad since we stopped about every 45 minutes for water or fruit breaks, and an hour-long break for lunch.  My only issue with the entire thing was the crowd- I definitely prefer to have my personal space and Spanish people do not understand that concept. 

In Albatera there is a theater dedicated to Hernandez where we were allowed to sleep.  However, it was attached to a beautiful little park with waterfalls and palm trees everywhere, and my friends and I thought it would be a great idea to sleep outside.  At about 3 AM we were all still awake and freezing, so we moved into the theater.  (Imagine hundreds of strangers all sleeping in a giant theater-- snoring, coughing, laughing... it was a long night.)

The next morning all the Spaniards were up by 7, so we had no choice but to get up too.  We started walking again at about 10, same routine as the first day.  Walking through small towns, orchards, suburbs, farms and countryside, stopping here and there for breaks.  The second day was the longest, due to the 28 kms and the lack of sleep from the night before.

We spent the next night at the University of Elche, the same city of the Palmera grove.  Many of the walkers dropped out after the first day, so there were considerably less people.  (About 300ish?)  We slept in the main part of the University, spread out everywhere, so there was much more space.  Libby and I were asleep by 10, not waking up the next morning until 8, despite the tile floors.  We were exhausted.

The next morning we ate breakfast and were back on the trail by 10.  The last day had the most beautiful scenery by far.  Alicante is the most mountainous region of Spain, and walking through the mountains was beautiful.  There were less villages and the ground became more and more dry and desert-like.  The finishing point of the walk is Alicante's cemetery, just outside of town.  We walked straight up to Hernandez's tomb and got a good look at it.  There were tons of local poets, all wanting to recite their poems at his grave.  The spanish peopler really got into it; we were all ready to catch the local bus back into the city.

The weather was great, pretty sunny, warm in the afternoons and more chilly in the morning and evening.  We got to meet a few local spanish people, so that was interesting.  This walk has been going on for years, on the anniversary of Hernandez's death, and for many people it is an annual tradition.  Hopefully it will get us in shape for the Camino de Santiago in four weeks!  

Ciao Ciao!!

The past week I have been in Rome visiting my friend Whitney, who I know all the way back from the old STA days.  Whitney went to Sion but we met through Melissa.  Despite the St. Teresa's/Sion "rivalry," we all hung out together and became a big happy family.  Such a sweet little history.

Anyway, Whitney has been in Rome since January.  She is quite brave: she actually took French in school, but went to Rome by herself without knowing any Italian.  By now is practically fluent-- well, almost.  She lives in an apartment near the Vatican with 5 other girls, none of whom knew each other before moving in.  I got to stay with them, which was amazing, because staying in a hostel by-myself would have been a little sketch.  They were from all over the US, and it was fun to just meet some new people.

So I arrived on Monday afternoon and Whitney and I dove right into the sightseeing mode.  We went to a bunch of the piazzas, which are big open squares usually with a fountain or monument in the middle and cafes, stores or churches lining the sides.  I have never seen so many churches- literally one on every street.  That night we went to dinner with Whitney's friend Michelle's entire family who was in town visiting for spring break.  Michelle has 5 younger brothers and they all look so much alike.  Her family was quite entertaining and the pizzeria was incredible.  The food in Rome was amazing- thin, crispy pizza with almost anything you can think of on it and tons of different types of pasta, bruschetta, focaccia, salads... it was amazing really.  

The next day we went to the market and picked up some blood oranges.  I had never heard of them before, but they are delic.  They are like regular oranges, except they are red on the inside and have a slightly different flavor.  From the market, we went walking around, strolling through the winding cobblestone streets until we came across a landmark.  Rome was unbelievably big, and you couldn't walk more than a block or two without coming across some amazing building or piazza or famous monument.  We saw the Pantheon, Spanish Embassy, stopped and ate some blood oranges on the Spanish Steps, had a little picnic in Villa Borghese... it was quite a day.  

The weather was UNBELIEVABLE the entire time I was there- sunny, 70's and beautiful.  They said it had rained five days in a row the week before and that this was the best weather so far of the year, so I was pretty lucky.  (The last morning was a little chilly and overcast while I was on the way to the airport, but no prob.)

That night we went out to dinner at another small restaurant in Trastevere, which is an old part of Rome on the opposite side of the Tiber River from the rest of the old central part.  It has a bunch of winding cobblestone streets, little cafes and restaurants everywhere, sort of the bohemian quarter of Rome-- so cute.  Dinner was amazing again.  From there we went to a few pubs and bars.  We were with people from Whitney's program and all her friends from school, all Americans, and it was great.

The next day was still more sightseeing.  We went to a long relaxing lunch at a small cafe, ate on the sidewalk out front.  In the afternoon, Whitney had to study for her midterm the next day, so her friend Kelly and I went walking around.  We went into St. Peter's Basilica, which was pretty overwhelming.  It's huge.  From there we walked down the Tiber River, past the island and saw a few temples and churches.  Then we walked up to this little orange tree park that had a great view down to the river and overlooking the city.  You had to walk up a long winding road to get to the park, then we kept just walking along the street.  There were a bunch of little churches hidden up there, including the one that the pope had said Holy Thursday mass in.  Anyway, we were walking along this little road and all of a sudden you come up to a huge green door, like 15 feet high.  When you look through the keyhole of the door, there are green shrubs inside the gated garden and the opening on the other end perfectly frames the dome of St. Peter's in the distance.  It was really neat, and something I had never heard of before.  That night we hung out in Whitney's apartment and watched some 30 Rock on the internet.  Classic.

The next day Whitney had to be up at 6 in the morning to register for her classes next semester (midnight at home...the time difference is so annoying.)  So we got an early start on the day and got some coffee from the cafe downstairs.  The guy that works there is friends with Whitney since she has been going there since January and offered to take us on a tour of Rome the next day.  Then straight to the Vittorio Emanuele, which is a relatively new monument that the locals don't like too much.  They feel it was selfishly built and doesn't fit in with the rest of Rome's architecture.  We walked up in it and through the museum, mostly just to see the view from the top, which was amazing.  It overlooks the entire Roman Forum, the Colosseum and many other ruins in that area.  We got drinks in the cafe and the top and had a few more oranges.  From there we walked down and saw the Colossuem close up, all the ruins, all that.  It is hard to look at them and actually realize what you are seeing, it seems so surreal.  It was really amazing.  We went to lunch in Trastevere again, got some sandwiches and sat in a piazza.  We also got some gelato.  (Actually, we had gelato everyday I was there, always from a different place.  It was so good, and since the weather was warm it was very refreshing and delic.)  

Whitney had her midterm that afternoon, so I let her study and went to the Vatican Museum solo, which was probably better since in museums you are mostly just reading the info and walking around looking at things quietly anyway.  There was no line, I walked straight in.  I decided to get an audio guided tour so I would know what in the world I was looking at, which ended up being really interesting.  You have a little walkie-talking looking thing and just type in the number and hold it up to your ear and it tells you all about everything.  The museum was incredible, everything in it was beautiful.  It takes at least 3 hours to walk through the whole thing, then the final room is the Sistine Chapel.  It was just like pictures, but ten times cooler in person.  It was beautiful, also somewhat surreal to be standing in.  

Whitney and I met back up after her test and hiked over to the Trevi Fountain.  We tried to find some short cuts and ended up just getting a little lost, but in a city like Rome, getting lost is still fun because every street is so beautiful, it was like being on a movie set or in a postcard.  Eventually we found the Trevi Fountain and threw in our coins, which is supposed to make it more likely that you will return to Rome in the future.  There were people everywhere, big tourist spot.  They say they pull over 3,000 euros out of the fountain every day, then donate it to charity.  

On the last night in Rome, we ate dinner at one of Whitney's friend's apartments, who made enchiladas.  They were delicious and it was nice to eat something different.  You don't find a lot of mexican food over here and we were all really excited about chips and salsa.  After dinner we met up with Whitney's baker friend and they took us to the Colosseum at night, all lit up, which is beautiful.  We also went to a park that overlooked the whole city, and you could see all the monuments lit up, popping up out of the rest of the city in the distance.  It was so beautiful and unreal to see.  

The next day I was on my way back to Alicante.  I am really proud of myself for traveling and flying alone.  I was very nervous, I don't know why, but there were no problems and it was actually kind of nice to just sit in the airport and read my book.  Well, if you read all of that, I'm impressed.  I kind of rambled, but that was Roma.  So fab.