Madrid: Hotel Arosa

When I booked my trip to Morocco, I had just enough miles to fly to Europe but not enough to fly to North Africa. I found that the flight to Casablanca from Madrid was the least expensive, so I flew into Madrid. Then, I thought, if I was to be in Madrid, I would spend a couple of days here to see some sights I didn’t see when I was here in 2006. I booked a room at the Best Western Hotel Arosa on the Grand Via, the main street in Madrid. I had a small single room facing another building so I escaped the noise from the Grand Via. I liked the hotel, especially its location, except that the maid threw out the toiletries that I had left under the sink in two hard plastic containers which I couldn’t fit on the sink. I have done this many times and they were never mistaken for trash. I complained to the hotel staff but got nowhere, nor did Best Western think much of my complaint. But if this was the worst that happened on my whole trip, I was lucky.

Madrid: Hotel Arosa

Pans

This Pans was right across the street from my hotel and I ate there two nights.

Pans

Palazzo

And, conveniently, this ice cream store was on the way back to the crosswalk. When I saw all the people walking on the Grand Via, I felt like I was back to “the world as I knew it,” that is, after spending over a week in Morocco, a world that was so different from my own world. This surprised me as I had never thought of Madrid as being exactly the world as I knew it. The greatest difference, to me, between Morocco and our world is the public interaction of the sexes––men and women walking together and groups of both sexes walking together and showing enjoyment in doing so. Morocco would have seemed so different from what it did if Muslim men and women also had the cultural freedom to do this.

Palazzo

Tour Office

The next morning, I walked down the Grand Via, about a 20–minute walk, to meet a day tour group to Avila and Segovia, two medieval cities north of Madrid that I didn’t get to visit in 2006. Photo: Poster outside the tour office––now I know that I am in Spain.

Tour Office

Coffee Shop

I was early and had a cup of coffee in the cafe with this sign on its door. They let me use the rest room without having a costume on.

Coffee Shop

Avila

Avila is known for its medieval walls, the best–preserved ones in all of Europe. They date back to the 11th century and are over 1 mile long.

Avila

Avila

We visited the Cathedral of Avila, a Romanesque and Gothic structure, believed to be built between the 12th and 15th centuries. Its apse is actually part of the city wall.

Avila

Avila

Inside the Cathedral of Avila is the tomb of El Tostado (The Tanned One–– so–called because of his dark skin). He was a 15th–century bishop.

Avila

Avila

The Plaza de Santa Teresa with the Iglesia de San Vincente, started in 1100, just outside the city walls. We kept going out of the walls and then back through them. I really wonder who approved the modern building on the right of the photo. I say, tear it down and put something up that at least looks old.

Avila

Avila

The Convent of Santa Teresa, built on the site of her home. Santa Teresa of Jesus lived from 1515 to 1582. She was one of the Catholic Church’s greatest mystics and reformers. She founded the order of the Barefoof Carmelites. I have put my photos of Avila on a slide show. Go to  Slide Shows, Western Europe, Spain, “Avila.”

Avila

Segovia

We next visited Segovia. Photo: The Segovia Cathedral, which started being built in 1522 and was consecrated in 1678. It is the last great Gothic church in Spain.

Segovia

Segovia

We had an option of having a tourist lunch, a gourmet lunch, or going out for lunch on your own. I chose the gourmet lunch, but only two others on the tour did as well. My lunchmates were a couple from the Canary Islands––one didn’t speak any English and one spoke just a little. I speak muy poco Espanol. But we were able to converse some, but not much. The English speaker told me that this dish in the photo was young pork and a delicacy. I didn’t care for it much or for much of the rest of the meal, but it was an interesting experience. The couple didn’t want any of the salad, and since I hadn’t had a salad in over a week, I was very happy to eat it all.

Segovia

Segovia

One of the main sights in Segovia is its Roman aqueduct, dating back to the end of the first century. It was in use still in the 19th century. It is massive and quite a sight.

Segovia

Segovia

The facade on this and on other buildings is probably called Moorish or Mudejaran. The Mudejar were the Moors (Muslims) who didn’t leave Spain after the reconquest (when the Spanish drove out the North African Muslims, ending the Moorish empire in Spain). The Mudejar didn’t become Christians, but they seem to have had an architectural influence in Segovia and other Spanish cities which were not even part of the Moorish empire. Or the Spanish to the north just liked Moorish architecture of the southern Moorish Spain (Andulsia) and used it for their own buildings as well. You will see interlacing geometric facades such as this also in Morocco.

Segovia

Segovia

The Alcazar––an alcazar is a fortified structure, sometimes a fortified castle. The present Alcazar is a reconstruction of the original one which was damaged in a fire in 1862. The original Alcazar was built around 1120 and served as the residence of King Alfonso VIII and subsequent kings. I have put my photos of Segovia on a slide show: Go to  Slide Shows, Western Europe, Spain,  “Segovia.”

Segovia