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Castile & León Travel Blogs

Background: Spain's powerful world empire of the 16th and 17th centuries ultimately yielded command of the seas to England. Subsequent failure to embrace the mercantile and industrial revolutions caused the country to fall behind Britain, France, and Germany in economic and political power. Spain remained neutral in World Wars I and II, but suffered through a devastating civil war (1936-39). In the second half of the 20th century, Spain has played a catch-up role in the western international community; it joined the EU in 1986. Continuing challenges include Basque Fatherland and Liberty (ETA) terrorism and further reductions in unemployment.

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By DSR1700
December 1st 2009

First snowfall in Guardo and other things Europe » Spain » Castile & León » Palencia

first snowfall

Hey everyone! Yesterday it snowed in Guardo for the first time this winter! Everyone has told us that last year it started snowing in mid October and throughout the winter there were particularly heavy snowfalls, so the snow has arrived in Guardo quite late in comparison to last year. This fall in Guardo was unusually warm and sunny for the most part, so I'm still bracing myself for the colder weather yet to come. This past week the temperatures have stuck close to freezing throughout the days and nights so I haven't faced anything yet that I'm not used to. It's [View Full Entry]

By DSR1700
November 3rd 2009

Halloween in Salamanca!! Europe » Spain » Castile & León » Salamanca

Salamanca

Hola a todos! I went to Salamanca for this past Halloween weekend where I met up with six other auxiliares in my program. Five of them are working at schools in Palencia capital and one is working in the Basque Country (in Vitoria). I had met most of them at my orientation in Madrid and had visited one (my friend Brooke) in Valladolid the weekend before (she is living in Valladolid, a much larger city, and commutes to Palencia for work.) Salamanca is known as Castilla y Leon's most beautiful city and it is one of its liveliest as well due [View Full Entry]

By LiuMing
October 12th 2009

Boñar Europe » Spain » Castile & León » León

Puente viejo de Boñar

En la montaña leonesa ... [View Full Entry]

By Lulu Marie
October 11th 2009

León, Astorga, Rabanal and Molinaseca Europe » Spain » Castile & León

On Wednesday (7.10.09) we woke up in the monastary in León at 5.45am as everyone was getting up early! No chance of a sleep in. I stayed in bed as long as possible, the only motivation for getting up being the 7am breakfast. It was raining lightly and we prepared ourselves for that, but soon enough came the thunder and heavy rain! We had meant to have a look around town, at the cathedral and so on but it was so rainy that Angi decided to get walking. I was planning a rest day so we said goodbye, hopefully to catch [View Full Entry]

By Firebird7137
October 9th 2009

Segovia! Europe » Spain » Castile & León » Segovia

The Alcazar

Romantic weekend in Segovia: castles, churches and...military bands? Music: Goin' to Acapulco - Calexico & Jim James version Segovia, about 30 mins northwest of Madrid by bullet-train, definitely deserves its status as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Anne-Laure and I went there while she was in Spain for a romantic weekend retreat from the hustle and bustle of the capital...and what a trip! Here are some of the highlights: The old town is perched up on a hill and, from afar, looks like a ship with the Alcázar (castle-palace) jutting out as the prow, the Gothic Cathedral [View Full Entry]

By KHALEH NAZ
October 7th 2009

SPAIN-SEGOVIA-1006 Europe » Spain » Castile & León » Segovia

Photo 2

I am now in Toledo...Isn't there a song by the name of "On my way to Toledo"? The Journey from Burgos to Toledo was long...I arrived in the evening and took a night stroll through the narrow streets and plazas and had Paella from Fedeu in the main plaza...Amazing...The stroll was more like a hike...It was great...Later on Toledo... I stopped in the stony hill town of Segovia yesterday to visit the Aquaduct, the Alcazar (built on an old Roman fort) and the main Cathedral (which was Gothic Moorish). The air was warm and dry and the landscape in general from [View Full Entry]

By Lulu Marie
October 7th 2009

Carrión de los Condes, San Nicolás del Real Camino, El Burgo Ranero and León Europe » Spain » Castile & León » León

On Saturday (3.10.09) we woke up late (7.30am) in our green oasis hostel in Boadilla. No one in our entire 20-odd bed room had set an alarm! We missed the 7am breakfast but the owner was nice enough to sell us a giant coffee (in a bowl again!) and cake. We got walking around 9am in the thick mist, now well and truly in the flat Mesata plains, the biggest hill being about 10m high. The mist made for some great photos and we followed a famous Canal, Canal de Castilla, for a fair way into Fromista. There were hundreds of [View Full Entry]

By KHALEH NAZ
October 4th 2009

BURGOS Europe » Spain » Castile & León » Burgos

Photo 2

Today and as a matter of fact yesterday and today were Cidiano days (Celebrating El Cid of Burgos)...There were street fares, cafes and restaurants, and tapas bars (Except restaurants tonight) were opened till late, the families were roaming the streets...The general atmosphere of the city was very celebratory...The Burgosians (???) love their El Cid...They refer to him as Mio Cid (My lord)...I checked out Burgos' main cathedral...It is one of the largest cathedrals of Spain and it is absolutely beautiful in the form of Gothic architecture...El Cid and his beloved wife Dona Jimena are interred [View Full Entry]

By Lulu Marie
October 3rd 2009

Rabe de las Calzadas, Hontanas and Boadilla del Camino Europe » Spain » Castile & León » Palencia

On Wednesday we woke up around 8am, a sleep in for us, after a good night´s rest in the Burgos hotel. We packed up, checked out of the hotel and ventured out to meet up with Sarah who had caught up, to go together to see the Burgos cathedral. It was huge and very impressive! Angi then had a few chores to do around Burgos so she left me waiting at a cafe, writing in my diary, drinking coffee, trying to read the Spanish newspaper and watching as all the workers came in for lunch at 2pm. Angi came back after [View Full Entry]

By Lulu Marie
September 29th 2009

Belorado, Ages and Burgos Europe » Spain » Castile & León » Burgos

On Sunday we were quite sad to leave the lovely hostel in Santo Domingo, so we left a bit later than usual. It was only 24km (this, incredibly, is now a relatively small distance) to Belorado so we weren´t concerned about hurrying. It was also foggy all morning so it was great walking weather. The road was good; a flat dirt road for most of the day. Unfortunatly the land was very flat with few trees so we had to make a couple of detours for toilet stops! I think we concerned a few people the first time, when we had [View Full Entry]

Travel Blog » Europe » Spain » Castile & León