Something MADRID!!!

That's right, we are a superbly lucky group of people.  Every three weeks we get to take a planned excursion to some of the bigger, more well-known places in Spain.  This past weekend was...Madrid, and Toledo, and Segovia!
We began our journey at 8am on Thursday morning and drove for 5 hours to Toledo.  We arrived around 2pm and went to a lookout across the river Tajo to get a view of the city and take lots of pictures.  From there we drove to the edge of the city and then walked to the Cathedral de Toledo.  Now, I don't know if any of you have ever been in a city that has been around since before 192 b.C. but just so you know, they are not built like cities in the USA.  First of all the streets: you could get lost because they wind around and around and around.

 This is just an example of what we had to walk through.  It was kinda fun though, all the buildings are very old.  If you are looking for it you can see influences of the Romans, Jews and Muslims in the architecture and artistry of the city.  The Catedral de Toledo is a very impressive building!  The building has 5 naves kinda like sections... with huge pillars dividing the sections.  They began construction on this building in 1227 and finished in 1493.  It has a lot of different styles incorporated in it because of the long time in construction.  Several kings of Spain are burried there.  I think my favorite part of this Cathedral was the room with pictures of the life of Christ and all the popes.  I think that this Cathedral is one of my favorites.    We next went to the Church of Santo Tome.  This is a teeny tiny church but it contains "El entierro del Conde Orgaz" by El Greco.  Next we went to the Church of El Salvador which used to be an antique mosque.  You could see the old pillars and the ruins under the floor of the church and the bell tower used to be what the arabs call a minaret.  Then we went to the Museo Sefardi which was a mosque, Synagogue and Christian temple.  It had a very cool mixture of the three cultures.  Finally we had a little free time so we just wandered around and took pictures because Toledo is SWEET!!!  Then we headed off to our hotel (which was very nice!) and just kinda hung out all night.

Friday we got up early and left around 8am.  We were going in the direction of Segovia!  Our first stop was El Valle de Los Caidos (The Valley of the Fallen)  This was an interesting stop.  The valley was created by Francisco Franco after the Civil War as a tribute to those who had died during the Civil War.  There is a monastery and a Basilica built into the hillside.  It is a very impressive place, but over all it held a shadow for me.  Those who built it were political prisoners of Franco and although it is a very grand place it is hard to focus on Christ because of the knowledge of all those who died and all the terrible things that Franco did.  Also Franco and the founder of the Falange are buried on either side of the altar, which takes away from the focus on Christ for me.  It was really cool, but a heavy place as well. 

Then we went to El Escorial, which was built by Felipe II and is currently a monestary and was where several kings lived.  We got to tour the library!!! and the rooms of the kings and finally the tombs underneath.  This is where all of the Kings and Queens of Spain are buried since Felipe II.  An interesting fact is that after the death of a king or queen they are placed in the pudreria (rotting room) for approximatly 25 years before they are entumbed!!  YUCK!!  After this we got back in the bus and drove for a little while longer until we reached Segovia!!  This is another ancient city and is most known for it's Roman Aqueduct.

It is approx. 10 miles long and is huge!!  They used this aqueduct up until the late 1800s!!  After looking like tourists at the aqueduct, we wandered around the streets a bit and took more pictures and then ended up at al Alcazar.  This is a fortress/castle in Segovia and it contains armour and really cool painted ceilings and more fun stuff.  It was a good trip.  After this we walked back to the bus and drove to our hotel in Madrid....Hotel Mediodia, it was perfect and really close to just about everything!!!  That night we went to a restaurante called Canas y Tapas (beers and appetizers) where we drank sangria and at wonderful food!!!  It was great!!
Sorry this is getting so long!!
Saturday was a restful day.  I got up early and walked to the Parque de Buen Retiro (Park of Good Retreat) and walked around for about an hour looking at statues and buildings in the park.  We left the hotel around 10:30 and went to the Palacio Real!!!

It was fantastic, big and exciting.  We weren't allowed to take pictures, but it was cool to see all of the rooms!  They were really ornate (some even had the walls embroidered...don't ask how they did that).  Then we had free time for most of the afternoon.  I went with a group of people to the Puerta del Sol and then back to the Parque for lunch and then we went to Museo Reina Sofia to look at the Guernica by Picasso.  It was huge...much bigger than I expected!  After that we walked around for a bit and then met at el Prado for our next visit.  Now, I am not one for art, but I was excited that we were going into the Prado!   So I went, and Hallie and I spent about 40 min looking for all the artists that our professor said we needed to look at and then left for the more exciting tourist traps!  :)  It was a good 40 min...much longer and I probably would have started mocking the art, so it was probably good that I left before I made someone mad. :P  That afternoon we shopped for a bit, had dinner and then headed back to our hotel.  We rested up our feet and legs, which were in a lot of pain from allll the walking and then headed out to a discoteca for a couple hours.  Over all it was a good and relaxing day.

On Sunday we left the hotel around 11am and drove to Segobriga which contains some ancient roman ruins...after wandering around that for an hour we headed home!  It was a great, superb and fantastic trip!!!  I apologize for making you read all of this, but I just couldn't leave anything out!!!  It was all so great! 

Something with my Parents...

Yeah, that's right, my parents love me enough to come visit me in Spain....or was it just that it was a good excuse to go to Europe....hmmmm, I'm gonna go with the first one!! :P  They arrived in Valencia on Friday night and had the wonderful experience of looking for their hotel, for 2 hours! (I'm thinking I should have gone and helped them.)  Saturday morning they got a late start, but finally made it to Denia, in 2 hours, which isn't to bad considering it normally takes 1.5 hours, but then they got lost in Denia for another hour or so until they succeeded in finding their hotel and contacting me!  Around 12pm Saturday we started on our walking tour of my life here in Spain.  We went to my school, walked past my apartment, and then went to the train station where we caught the next train to Calpe.  (I have already told you about Calpe so I will spare you the details.)  But, it was a fun experience of walking through what was left of the mercadillo (market) and then over to the supermercado where we bought them some lunch.  After our delicious lunch of fresh bread and cheese on the beach we proceeded to call the united states because dad's atm card wasn't working....yucky business.  After all of that we walked over to the Pinon of Ifach and climed to about the middle where we decided that it was probably time to head back.  After racing to the train station to catch the next train, we finally had a chance to rest our very sore feet.  We then headed to dinner with my host family with the only means of communication...me.  yeah.  Let me tell you, I will never ever be a translator!!  It was super fun having to figure out ways of saying things that are figures of speech in both languages.  There were times during the dinner where I would turn to my real parents and start "translating" to them in Spanish, only realizing when I had finished the sentence, that they were the ones I needed to talk to in English. (and vice versa, it made for a very confusing conversation at times!)

Sunday morning we woke up bright and early to have coffee with a couple who lives close to Denia.  They know my aunt and 1. are a connection for me, 2. had some great ideas for my parents trip south, and 3. were just really fun to talk to (English accents all the way!!)  After that it was off to church were I introduced my parents to a traditional Spanish Baptist service, and translated some of the songs and some of the sermon.  On the walk back we got to talk to some of my friends who are on the trip as well!!  :)  In the afternoon we sat in the sun in the 70 degree weather for a while before getting the "grand" tour of my apartment and then spending the rest of the afternoon on the beach.  Looking for ......beach glass and rocks!!!  (go figure, knowing my mom!!)  :)  For dinner we headed to a restaurant called Els Tomassets.  It had traditional tapas and just good food!!  Then it was time and they walked me back to my apartment and we said goodbye for the next several months.  I did cry, just a little, but it was so much fun having them here that it was worth the little bit of sadness to see them go.  I'm really glad that they were willing to come and spend time with me getting to know my town and a little picture into my life for the next several months.
(one thing I should mention at the end of this is that they don't know hardly any Spanish....so, if you all could pray for them as they are on their own now that would be wonderful!)

That's right...I ate calamarie....it had legs!

Mom's quote of the weekend....
"It's gonna be great...just watch out for dog poop"

 I Love my parents!!  :D

Something called Studying....

This post is dedicated to my mom, dad and Barb Boers who are all concerned about how much studying I am accomplishing here in Spain. I have decided to set their minds at ease with a collection of (2) pictures that all show just how studious I am...  :D

 

Although this looks as though we are just sitting around a fire talking, we all have book and stuff we are working on...at this point we were learning about Spain from Professor Slagter.  (very valuable information!) 

In reality, we do study a lot. (ok, well a lot is a relative term and must be considered loosely)  Classes here have very little busy work involved.  The only class that I have to write papers in is the one that is taught by our Calvin professor.  The others are all lecture-based with reading on the side.  It is great because we end up with a lot of free time to spend exploring and going on adventures!!!  (and those are the things you really want to hear about!!)  Yip, so these past two weeks have just been filled with studying, tests and exploring Denia!  

Something Steep...

 Random Cactus Plant!!!! 

Vall de Laguar,
Talk about one of the best weekends ever...ok, I've had a lot of those here, but this one was spectacular!  A group of 8 students and Profa Slagter took a bus on Friday afternoon up to this little pueblo called Benimaurrell.  It was about 1.5hours from Denia(using back roads).  We stayed in an albergue (hostel) that night. The first thing we did was go for a little walk, which included climbing a rather large rock that had cactus on it.  The cactus fruit is in season(apparently) and so we decided to try it.  Not knowing of course whether it was going to kill us or not.  So we all proceeded to partake in this unknown food and find out the next day that a.  it is edible, and b. there is a better way to eat it so you don't get spines in your hands, and face.   It was great to get to know professor Slagter better and spend some time studying and enjoying the company of a smaller group.  We woke up early Saturday morning for some fresh bread and olive oil...I love Spanish food!!!  Once breakfast was complete we began our journey, the reason we had come to this remote town was to walk the Vall de Laguar camino(walk).  It is a walk that normally takes about 4 hours (it ended up taking us around 5hours because our unofficial guide (who is also our bus driver Ricardo) stopped and talked to us about stuff every 10 minutes)  It goes around the valley and through the Barranco de Infierno (Hell's Ravine) and then up a very very long way!!!  It was soooo much fun, we walked and walked and talked and walked and drank from fresh water springs in the mountains and just had a wonderful time in general!!  That afternoon we came back and sat in a park for children in our t-shirts and shorts (rolled up jeans for most) and just sun-bathed.  Professor Slagter ended up leaving that night so we got to spend some time with just us...believe it or not all we did was study...and watch a movie.  We had a fire and good company with good food (tortilla espanola)!!!  yummy.  It was a fantastic night.  Sunday morning we woke up, had brunch at 10 and then set out to scale another mountain.  We ended up forging our own path to the top because we couldn't find the real path (oops).  It made it more fun though, although once we did find the path it was a little easier...a lot less scaling and lots more walking!  Then we reached the top where you could see all the way to the sea and back into the mountains.  We were so much in awe that we sat there for 1.5hours, just basking in the glory of God's creation!! (and the sun).  After we left we ended up back in the park in the sun (I know those people think we are weird) for a while before we left to clean up the albergue and head back to Denia.  I loved it...except for the legs that feel kinda like jelly right now....a painful jelly!!  That was a lot of mountain climbing in 2 days for me!  Iknow I can't describe it, but it was a very relaxing weekend and we were privileged to spend some time walking and enjoying God creativity!! 

 Above:  Barranco de Infierno
The one below is from the top of the mountain we climbed on Sunday.  The mountain you can see in the background is Montgo, I live on the other side of that...and the sea is waaaaayyy in the background.  :)