Blogs from Salamanca, Castile & León, Spain, Europe - page 14

Friday: Today was the last day of the “intensive month” classes. I think I’ve definitely improved my listening comprehension but I need to practice speaking more. Allison and I caught the 3:50pm train for Madrid, unfortunately it was the slowest train in Spain and we arrived late for our connecting bus to Granada. The lady changed our tickets for the next bus free-of-charge, but the bus left at 9:30pm. As it’s a 5 hour drive to Granada, we arrived very early in the morning two hours later than anticipated. Having successfully navigated the Granada bus system, we proceeded to get lost for two hours looking for the narrow street where our hostel was located. Finally tired of wandering, I asked two very nice Grenadian (is this a word?) girls for directions. They had never heard of ... read more

We arrived in Salamanca two days ago after a pleasant drive out of the Basque country and down onto the plains of Castilla y Leon. So much of the drive reminded us of Oregon, first of the western part of the state with lots of green and hills and trees and vineyards and then we could easily have been driving in Eastern Oregon with stretches of dry farm land as far as we could see. The directions that we had to the hotel were daunting as each turn was marked and some were only 10 meters a part. We rushed towards the city trying to determine what street we were on, but signage is difficult to spot at intersections. Soon the streets had narrowed and turned to cobble stones and we decided that we were totally ... read more

Saturday, September 13, we went to Toro and then to Zamora. Both are small cities (or really big towns, whichever makes it easier to imagine) with a lot of history. But in Toro, we really didn't get much history. Instead, we went to a bodega (winery) and had a wine tasting! Apparently in Spain it's perfectly okay to drink before 5pm, because the wine tasting was at 11am. The bodega is medium-sized I would say (though I have nothing to compare it to). They gave us 2 wines to try. One of their reds and a white. They get the grapes for the white from another bodega in an area that's better for white-wine grapes. Though I did about spit out the red because it was way too strong, I actually liked the white (here, "like" ... read more

The last day of the Ferias of Salamanca was Monday and it certaintly ended well. I went to my first "Corrida de Toros" (bull fight) and I didn't leave early or close my eyes, as my host family predicted I would. I met two friends from class at the Plaza de Toros where we handed over our tickets to the men in red berets who led us directly to our seats. The seat that I paid 34 euro for was in the sunny side of the plaza (the cheap seats, though I didn't think it was so cheap). It also happened to be one of the hottest days we've had so far in Salamanca, in the 80s (F), I think. The good thing about our seats was that it was located right next to the entrance ... read more

Yesterday.... I left Salamanca on the 12:45 train to Avila. After a ten minute walk the group and I arrived within the walls of the old towne. The castle-like walls called "La Muralla" surround the entire city. Visitors can climb the stone steps and walk on the top of the wall for a panoramic picture of Avila and the countryside of Castile y Leon. We visited the Cathedral of Avila which was ornate but not very well kept up. The Church of St.Theresa was much better and I got to see the room where Saint Theresa was born, though I doubt there was as much gold there in her time. Avila is known for their special dessert called "Yemas of Avila." They are pretty much consist of egg yolk and lots of sugar that has been ... read more