Avila, Spain June 2007

Saturday Cass and I took a short road trip to Avila, Spain. It is about 1.5 hour drive northwest of Madrid. It is one of only 80 cities in the world that has been declared a World Heritage Site. Much of the city has ties to St. Teresa, who was born here in 1515. There are literally pieces of her body in different cathedrals within the city...the road to being recognized as a saint isn't pretty.

Visually speaking, it is most easily recognized by it's 11th-century walls that encircle the old city of Avila. The walls took 9 years to complete and are about 30 ft high with 88 semicircular towers.


Once inside of the walls, Avila was much like other older Spanish cities with cafes and cobblestone streets. Although there were several cathedrals, Cass and I decided not to tour them since we have seen our fair share of them since being in Europe. Instead, we decided to pay a small fee and walk around the old city on top of the walls. The views were really lovely because you could look inside the walls and outside of them and see the contrast of new city vs. old. The steps and pathways were steep at times and definitely not friendly to the less physically able. However, we managed fine and got a bit of a workout from it in the nearly 90 degree heat. Here are some views from the walls:


After our walk, we decided to head back. We were both hot and ready to seek shelter from the sun! On the way home, we opted to take a smaller highway that took us through the hills and the views were well worth the extra driving time. We were many miles away from Madrid, but could actually see it from the hills as we were driving along. Unfortunately, my camera could not capture what the naked eye could so I don't have a good picture of it. Afterwards, we arrived home and made a veggilicious meal together and shared a nice bottle of wine. All in all, a nice way to spend a Saturday!