Important thing is, we're already on our way. We got to the Polish-Czech border (almost). We're planning to spend the night near Brno. Hopefully, we'll find a good spot for us. In the meantime, have a great weekend!
Saturday 11 August 2018
We're already on the road!
Hello from the road. Yes, we're already on our way. I haven't managed to post the last two posts from our last Eurotrip. I wrote wrote them, but I didn't have enough time to edit them. It was all about priorities. Packing everything, preparing everything.
Important thing is, we're already on our way. We got to the Polish-Czech border (almost). We're planning to spend the night near Brno. Hopefully, we'll find a good spot for us. In the meantime, have a great weekend!
Important thing is, we're already on our way. We got to the Polish-Czech border (almost). We're planning to spend the night near Brno. Hopefully, we'll find a good spot for us. In the meantime, have a great weekend!
Wednesday 8 August 2018
A Roman Aqueduct and a Moorish-Gothic Castle
Seeing Avila wasn't the only thing we had in mind for the day. We wanted to spend the night in the nearby city of Segovia, so we still had some driving to do.
We got to Segovia in the quite early afternoon. We set up our tent, had a little swim in the pool and still had enough time for an evening walk in the town.
First things first. A thing you can't possibly miss in Segovia is the Roman aqueduct. It's huge and kind of pretty. You can walk under it, you can climb up the stairs to see it almost fromthe top. You can see it from the distance, you can see it from up close. From the side or directly. Many options to choose from. Whichever you choose, though, just spend a minute capturing its size and beauty. Try to find that beauty if you can't see it at first.
Once you're done, keep walking towards the main town square looking for signs of the undergroung aqueduct. What signs? Where too look for them? Just look under your feet, on the ground, where there are bronze (?) signs with the symbol of aqueduct on them. I can assure you, once you find them, you'll know it.
By the way, why did they have two aqueducts? The one over the ground and the one under it? The answer is simple. As I havealready written, the big aqueduct can be seen from the distance. Easily. If I can see it, you can see it, citizens of the town can see it and their enemies could see it, too. It was relatively easy to poison the water running in the aqueduct in an attempt to poison the citizens of the town. That's why they were actually using the water from the underground aqueduct. It was much safer. At least the nobility was.
Once you got to the main town square, you can't miss the cathedral. If you have a chance, take a glimpse inside. I bet it's pretty. Look at it. Appreciate it. After all, European history is heavily based on Christianity, startin with Catholicism. The vast majority of catholic churches and cathedrals tell the history of the place. And are really pretty (church was rich and had an important role in the society. A powerful role, too).
When we got to the cathedral, it was already closed. So we couldn't get inside. So I can't say for sure that it was magnificent, richly ornamented and worth visiting, but I'm not expecting anything less of it.
There's also one more place in Segovia that's worth visiting, but we didn't get there either. Even to see it from the outside. It's the alcazaba, the fortress. It was already too late, too dark. Next time we'll try to catch up on it.
The next day, we wanted to hit the road and get as close to the border as we could. However, first we wanted to visit one more place.
Castillo de Coca or Caste of Coca is a 15th c. castle on the outskirts of a town called Coca, 45 km north of Segovia. Its a peculiar combination of Moorish design and gothic architecture. You can't get there by chance. You have to want to get there. It wasn't easy to find. It looks impressive, though. Like no other place we could imagine or no other place we've ever seen.
The place, unlike Castillo de Butron, is publicly owned and open for sightseeing. But... Yes, again, there's always a "but" when we're travelling. And there's always at least one place we can't see due to construction works, renovations, or simply some festivities. That happened with Arc de Triomphe in Paris, baptistery in Florence, Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, to name a few. And same was here, in Coca. The castle was closed for sightseeing (we were not the only ones wanting to see it, fyi), cause the previous night there was a huge party just outside of it and they were just starting to clean up the place. There was no passage to the castle.
We got back to the car, got back to the main roads and managed to drive up to Saragossa. We saw nothing there, though. We spent a very lazy afternoon and evening by the pool, sipping drinks and having a lot of fun. Lazy fun. We all needed it. It was our last stop in Spain. It was time to say good bye to delicious Spanish food and drinks and its wonderful sights. The following day we crossed the border. But it wasn't the end of our trip. We still had two places outside of Spain that we wanted to see.
We got to Segovia in the quite early afternoon. We set up our tent, had a little swim in the pool and still had enough time for an evening walk in the town.
First things first. A thing you can't possibly miss in Segovia is the Roman aqueduct. It's huge and kind of pretty. You can walk under it, you can climb up the stairs to see it almost fromthe top. You can see it from the distance, you can see it from up close. From the side or directly. Many options to choose from. Whichever you choose, though, just spend a minute capturing its size and beauty. Try to find that beauty if you can't see it at first.
Once you're done, keep walking towards the main town square looking for signs of the undergroung aqueduct. What signs? Where too look for them? Just look under your feet, on the ground, where there are bronze (?) signs with the symbol of aqueduct on them. I can assure you, once you find them, you'll know it.
By the way, why did they have two aqueducts? The one over the ground and the one under it? The answer is simple. As I havealready written, the big aqueduct can be seen from the distance. Easily. If I can see it, you can see it, citizens of the town can see it and their enemies could see it, too. It was relatively easy to poison the water running in the aqueduct in an attempt to poison the citizens of the town. That's why they were actually using the water from the underground aqueduct. It was much safer. At least the nobility was.
Once you got to the main town square, you can't miss the cathedral. If you have a chance, take a glimpse inside. I bet it's pretty. Look at it. Appreciate it. After all, European history is heavily based on Christianity, startin with Catholicism. The vast majority of catholic churches and cathedrals tell the history of the place. And are really pretty (church was rich and had an important role in the society. A powerful role, too).
When we got to the cathedral, it was already closed. So we couldn't get inside. So I can't say for sure that it was magnificent, richly ornamented and worth visiting, but I'm not expecting anything less of it.
There's also one more place in Segovia that's worth visiting, but we didn't get there either. Even to see it from the outside. It's the alcazaba, the fortress. It was already too late, too dark. Next time we'll try to catch up on it.
The next day, we wanted to hit the road and get as close to the border as we could. However, first we wanted to visit one more place.
Castillo de Coca or Caste of Coca is a 15th c. castle on the outskirts of a town called Coca, 45 km north of Segovia. Its a peculiar combination of Moorish design and gothic architecture. You can't get there by chance. You have to want to get there. It wasn't easy to find. It looks impressive, though. Like no other place we could imagine or no other place we've ever seen.
The place, unlike Castillo de Butron, is publicly owned and open for sightseeing. But... Yes, again, there's always a "but" when we're travelling. And there's always at least one place we can't see due to construction works, renovations, or simply some festivities. That happened with Arc de Triomphe in Paris, baptistery in Florence, Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, to name a few. And same was here, in Coca. The castle was closed for sightseeing (we were not the only ones wanting to see it, fyi), cause the previous night there was a huge party just outside of it and they were just starting to clean up the place. There was no passage to the castle.
We got back to the car, got back to the main roads and managed to drive up to Saragossa. We saw nothing there, though. We spent a very lazy afternoon and evening by the pool, sipping drinks and having a lot of fun. Lazy fun. We all needed it. It was our last stop in Spain. It was time to say good bye to delicious Spanish food and drinks and its wonderful sights. The following day we crossed the border. But it wasn't the end of our trip. We still had two places outside of Spain that we wanted to see.
Wednesday 1 August 2018
Another medieval town surrounded by town walls
We're leaving for our Eurotrip2018 soon enough. It's time to finally finish up this story. Just a few more posts left, I promise.
We are already heading north. From Cordoba we got to Merida (we didn't visit the town, though). And the following day, we got to...
We love medieval towns. And those surrounded by town walls are always on our list of places to see. If you add towers to those town walls, you can't make us happier. Or can you? How about by letting us visit a place with complete medieval walls? A place not with one, two or even ten towers, but all in all with 88 semicircular towers? A place with town walls of averageheight of 12 metres and average thickness of 3 metres? That sounds like a dream. So most probably there is no such place. Or is there?
Actually, there is. The town is called Avila and is located in Castile and Leon region of Spain. It's located northwest of Madrid and is just...stunning.
Already dricing up to the town, you can see the impressive town walls with their towers. Frankly speaking, that looks much better from the outside than from the inside. Cause from the outside you can see the semicircular towers. Semi - so they have to be flat on one side. And that's on the inside.
The town looks like built from a stone. One, particular stone. All buildings and walls from the same one.
Finding a parking spot wasn't too difficult. We got in the medieval part of the town through one of the nine entrance gates. We found ourselves just off a small church. It's not that difficult to find a church in Avila, though, as it is called a Town of Stones and Saints, with the most churches per capita in Spain.
Anyway, the part of town where we landed was quite deserted. We didn't know what to do, where to go. I mean, the town walls looked impressive, I have to admit that, but is that really it? There was nothing, literally nothing interesting around. And we could see no one we could ask for any directions.
We decided to take our chances and follow one of the narrow streets. It was hot like hell. You know, mid-August in Spain in the middle of a sunny day. The street was shadowed, which made it a little easier to walk. The further from the gate we got, the noisier it was getting. And that was a good sign.
Finally, we got to the part where all the tourist attractions were packed. Not that anybody moved them there. But it so happens that they're all in one part of the town.
First of all, we decided to see the monumental cathedral. It is partly a cathedral, partly a fortress, with one of its walls constituting the town walls. The entrance fee isn't high, the kids got in for free and we all got audio guides at the entrance. The cathedral is quite impressive, with many interesting details, including a secret passage.
Having seen the catedral on the inside, we decided to see it from the outside. And not just from the ground. It was time to climb up the town walls. In order to walk the town walls, you have to buy a ticket. The walls are divided into two parts (the ones you can walk). The shorter part is on the right from the entrance to the cathedral. And it's not for the faint-hearted.
Although when you're already up on the walls, you can walk them safely (see the kids in the pic below? The path is wide and has walls on both sides), getting up there is not so easy. The stairs are steep, uneven and every step is quite high. Plus, the barriers there (I can't remember any, maybe they were there, but weren't really securing anyone?) we practically non existent and the stairs were very narrow (hardly possible to pass by someone else). The other part of the walls was much safer to get to, but actually it was this part that made a much bigger impression on me (and in my opinion, gave much better views).
Having walked the town walls, we went to have lunch and got back to the car. We still needed to get to our next stop. We even did a little bit more sightseeing that particular day!
We are already heading north. From Cordoba we got to Merida (we didn't visit the town, though). And the following day, we got to...
We love medieval towns. And those surrounded by town walls are always on our list of places to see. If you add towers to those town walls, you can't make us happier. Or can you? How about by letting us visit a place with complete medieval walls? A place not with one, two or even ten towers, but all in all with 88 semicircular towers? A place with town walls of averageheight of 12 metres and average thickness of 3 metres? That sounds like a dream. So most probably there is no such place. Or is there?
Actually, there is. The town is called Avila and is located in Castile and Leon region of Spain. It's located northwest of Madrid and is just...stunning.
Already dricing up to the town, you can see the impressive town walls with their towers. Frankly speaking, that looks much better from the outside than from the inside. Cause from the outside you can see the semicircular towers. Semi - so they have to be flat on one side. And that's on the inside.
The town looks like built from a stone. One, particular stone. All buildings and walls from the same one.
Finding a parking spot wasn't too difficult. We got in the medieval part of the town through one of the nine entrance gates. We found ourselves just off a small church. It's not that difficult to find a church in Avila, though, as it is called a Town of Stones and Saints, with the most churches per capita in Spain.
Anyway, the part of town where we landed was quite deserted. We didn't know what to do, where to go. I mean, the town walls looked impressive, I have to admit that, but is that really it? There was nothing, literally nothing interesting around. And we could see no one we could ask for any directions.
We decided to take our chances and follow one of the narrow streets. It was hot like hell. You know, mid-August in Spain in the middle of a sunny day. The street was shadowed, which made it a little easier to walk. The further from the gate we got, the noisier it was getting. And that was a good sign.
Finally, we got to the part where all the tourist attractions were packed. Not that anybody moved them there. But it so happens that they're all in one part of the town.
First of all, we decided to see the monumental cathedral. It is partly a cathedral, partly a fortress, with one of its walls constituting the town walls. The entrance fee isn't high, the kids got in for free and we all got audio guides at the entrance. The cathedral is quite impressive, with many interesting details, including a secret passage.
Santa Teresa of Avila
You can light up the altar for a better view of it.
The tiny door to the secret passage and the story behind.
Having seen the catedral on the inside, we decided to see it from the outside. And not just from the ground. It was time to climb up the town walls. In order to walk the town walls, you have to buy a ticket. The walls are divided into two parts (the ones you can walk). The shorter part is on the right from the entrance to the cathedral. And it's not for the faint-hearted.
Although when you're already up on the walls, you can walk them safely (see the kids in the pic below? The path is wide and has walls on both sides), getting up there is not so easy. The stairs are steep, uneven and every step is quite high. Plus, the barriers there (I can't remember any, maybe they were there, but weren't really securing anyone?) we practically non existent and the stairs were very narrow (hardly possible to pass by someone else). The other part of the walls was much safer to get to, but actually it was this part that made a much bigger impression on me (and in my opinion, gave much better views).
Having walked the town walls, we went to have lunch and got back to the car. We still needed to get to our next stop. We even did a little bit more sightseeing that particular day!
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