It's been an absolutely amazing week here in Spain.
To keep it short: I've been on the hunt for an apartment and have been attending what we're calling our "Curso intensivo," intensive course, chock-full of grammar, history, politics, and art of Spain. It runs from 9:00-13:30 each week day, and has been followed by orientations with the U.S. Embassy and the library (that has branches in each building on campus). I've seen some pisos already, and have a couple more to look at but I still have plenty of time to find an apartment that is to my liking.
Classes have been going great, and it's been an absolute pleasure getting to know my compañeros. Other than that, I don't have much to share about the past week. It's been exhausting but rewarding in so many ways.
Today we went to a town outside of Madrid called Segovia. It boasts the most complete remaining Roman aqueduct and a town full of splendor and maravilla, wonder. The "Acueducto de Segovia" is a really neat thing to see. You can even walk up to see where it initially comes out of the mountain, and follow it all the way down to where there are layers of rocks stacked to make this absolutely ingenious, impressive structure. Segovia is a beautiful place, and is also the home of the Alcàzar of Segovia, literally translated to "The Castle of Segovia," which is really neat because of its history. I don't want to make this too pedantic, so if you're interested in reading about it, here's a link to the Wikipedia article. Here's the gist: The àrabes, Arabs, built this fort on top of Roman ruins, and was eventually used as a jail, and ultimately became the castle for the Reyes Católicos, Catholic Kings Ferdinand II and Isabella I, you know, the ones who gave Christopher Columbus the money and boats to find the New World (even though Isabella was the one who really gave Columbus the chance...). Anyways, I digress. Here's the Wikipedia address: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcázar_of_Segovia But you can climb up the 132 stairs, all of different heights and depths, to marvel at the sight from the top of the castle. It's surreal.
We were able to enter the Segovia Cathedral as well. It's an absolute wonder-- it was one of the last gothic cathedrals built in Spain and it's absolutely gorgeous. I'm not kidding. Between the cathedral, the aqueduct and the castle, I'd say that Segovia is one of my new favorite places in Spain. I was wandering around like such a tourist today, with my mouth gaping and phone out, taking un montón of photos.
Below I've attached some pictures from today; I hope you all enjoy!
Here's the aqueduct:
Here are some pictures of people near the aqueduct so you can get an idea of how tall it actually is:
Next is the Segovia Cathedral in all its wonder:
And the castle!
We hiked up to the top and the view was TOTALLY worth it.
On our way to Segovia, we passed the cross that Franco had built for his burial and the Valley of the Fallen to commemorate those who died during the civil war.
Right by the aqueduct, there is a copy of the statue of Romulus and Remus, whose story is pretty interesting. It tells of two boys who were abandoned by their mother and found and raised by a wolf. They grew up and Romulus ended up killing Remus, and because of that, the city of Rome was named after him. This is also really interesting but I'm trying to keep it easy for the sake of brevity. Here's the wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romulus_and_Remus
Here's the view from just north of the aqueduct:
One thing that I absolutely love about Madrid is this nice juxtaposition between old and new: I feel like there is a limited amount of places in the world you can take a picture of two things that are from different periods right next to each other, and be able to enjoy what that means. Spain is a magical place, and every day I find something new to appreciate.
Thanks for looking! Besos from España :)
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