Castilla Rodrigo

Sorry for the long break. My computer has been out of commission for a few days while I waited for a new cord to arrive to charge it.

Last week, my roommate and I heard about Castilla Rodrigo- a small little place somewhat near our university.

We ventured there with our cameras one day after class and came upon a patio with the creepiest and most morbid decoration we've seen in Spain. All of the decoration was "demonic" and "mythical".

I read something about the terrible figures actually being a way to ward off trouble and bad spirits, but I can only vaguely remember. I took a picture of the text, but I have to translate it later.

Below are the photos:











Creepy.... I would not want to be stuck there for the night.

Photo Break

Jumping at La Pena de Francia (in Spain- it's not actually near France)



Our professor from Seattle University came along for the trip to Alberca and La Pena de Francia



My roommate and I did not agree with the bus driver- The roads were terrible

Hanging out in Toledo and trying to avoid the heat

They'll Get You With The "Free" Gift

There is a trend here that I have found to be quite amusing.

When you buy a magazine here (about equal to the price in the US), you get some gift for "free". In my four weeks here I have seen magazines that come with:

Reusable Grocery Bag
Beach Bag
Beach Towel
Flip Flops
Deodorant
Gel Arm Weights
Eyemasks
Sunglasses
Spoon
Butter Knife
Hat
Mini Photo Album
Keychain
Perfume Sample
Spatula

But, no magazine beats Marie Claire Spain.

I found this precious item at the 24 Hora Supermercado a few blocks away from my house on a late night run with my roommate for chips and soda.

It comes with:
Bikini
Plastic Gladiator Sandals
Deodorant

How thoughtful!

My roommate and I were laughing so hard that I ended up crying while we were joking about the things that came with the magazine.

The shoes:
The shoes are a "one-size-fits-all" sort of deal. Everybody in Spain apparently wears a EU 39 (equivalent to US 8). As in 2 sizes too small for my feet. Since the plastic is pretty stretchy, I managed to get them on my feet, but I don´t know if I would dare to test them outside.

My roommate compared my foot to a Christmas ham.

She also had me try on the swimsuit. She compared me to a wrestler while laughing through her tears. She later clarified that the colors of the suit are what makes it "wrestlerish"- a flashy metallic gold with a purplish-pink.

Anyways, magazines in Spain have issues. It was worth the amusement to buy the magazine. And don't worry- my roommate is super nice, she was just teasing me.

Ciudad Rodgrigo

Finally, we made it to our last stop of the day on Saturday- Ciudad Rodrigo. The drive there was by far the worst, leaving me feeling very nauseous when we arrived. Stepping out of the nice air-conditioned bus made me want to run right back inside of it. The temperatures were at least above 100 and we were going to get to walk through the city without very much shade. :(

The city used to be surrounded by moat. Sadly, there is no longer any water in the moats (it would have been nice to go swimming in).

Our first stop was of course, the cathedral. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the sanctuary, but we were able to take some pictures of the outside and in the patio of the church.






There are apparently quite a few old mansions in Spain. The one below is the "Casa de La Marquesa de Cartago" or "House of the Marchioness of Carthage" which was constructed in the 19th century.

As we were walking, a priest pulled into the Palacio Episcopal. He invited all inside the doors (which led to an outside patio) for a few moments while he explained the history of the Palacio and what all the rooms were used for.

I caught sight of this interesting restaurant door as we were walking to the main plaza. Montana, anyone?

After getting to the plaza, we all decided to try and see the "Alcázar" (castle) of Ciudad Rodrigo.


We weren't able to see actually take a tour of the castle, but we were able to sit down and rest for a bit at their medieval restaurant. Their poor waitresses were even decked out in medieval clothing.


There were some very very comfortable chairs in the hallways there too. I was said that I had to get up to do some more sightseeing.

The city, of course, had walls too. The view of the River Águeda from above was really pretty- the bridges were very well designed. Sadly though, we could see and hear people playing in the river, making us very jealous. The temperatures were still ridiculously hot and there was no shade to be found.


We walked along the city wall for a bit. I couldn't help but be fascinated by this plant (I think my plant taxonomy class has forever made me intrigued).

I also saw a fire in the distance. Hopefully it won't be too bad. I haven't read about it in the news here yet, but Spain is as hot and as dry as Montana so fire is not a good thing during the summer months here.

Finally we went back to the city to wait for the rest of the group in the plaza. With the heat and everything, Lindsay, Luiza, and I decided to go to the ice cream shop. There were some interesting flavors such as Tutti Frutti and Lemon which Lindsay and Luiza got. I tried some but they weren't really for me. I tried the "straciatella" which is vanilla ice cream with chocolate flakes in it. When the time came, we walked back to the bus and headed home.

Alberca

After visiting La Peña de Francia on Saturday, we drove to Alberca, a nearby village. My host mother had told me she thought that the houses were very cute and that it was quite "lovely". Upon arriving, Alberca is very reminiscent of a German village- everybody in my group who has been to Leavenworth said it reminded them of that.

The temperatures were already starting to get pretty warm. Being at the top of a mountain had been a nice break from the hot weather, but Alberca seems to be back down on the plains. After wandering through some cobbled streets (and spying this old man), we finally found our way to the church.

This cathedral was very renaissance. There was a lot of detail and gold filigree everywhere.






By the time we finished looking at the inside of the cathedral, we were all very hungry, so we all pulled out our packed lunches and sat on the steps in the shade to eat.

After eating, we walked to the Plaza Mayor of Alberca. Their square had lots of German buildings with lots of flowers.



Iberian ham is a very popular thing in the Salamanca region. As we were walking around through the streets looking at tourist shops, we spotted this ham shop.

We also walked by a bakery that smelled amazing. I spied a pile of sweets stacked up as well as a glass case full of amazing things. I managed to resist the temptation though.


As the hot weather continued and we had seen almost everything to see, we headed back to wait for the bus to go to our last stop for the day- Ciudad de Rodrigo (next blog).