June 14, 2011

Last Tuesday, the group visited one of the most interesting towns I have ever seen. We hopped on a train to Segovia. First adventure of the day: we were all really tired (a common theme for these first days) and fell asleep in our train seats. The train was stopping in Segovia, not making it it's final destination there. We were all sleeping peacefully and we kind of noticed the train stop but we were comfortable and sleepy and didn't think much of it for a second. Then Andrea bolts up and asks the passenger next to us, where are we? Turns out we were in Segovia and we had almost slept through the stop. The four of us went from lethargic to running very quickly. Our passenger neighbors watched us run off the train with pity in their eyes. Those poor silly Americans.

We took a taxi from the station to the aqueduct. If you want to be humbled, take a trip to Segovia and stand next to the aqueduct. Built in 50CE, it is completely stone on stone architecture without a drop or mortar to hold the stones together. They are just cut perfectly and placed perfectly together to create just enough tension to keep the arches in place. The Romans might justly get a bad wrap, but they did built cool things. I couldn't stop thinking about how it existed during the New Testament! There were also tons of birds wheeling about. Their shadows on the city and aqueduct reminded me of disco lights. I had to laugh at the paradox of old and new in my head.

We took the stairs to the top of the aqueduct and soaked up the incredible view. The city is lovely and old. Not “vieja,” my Professor would say but “Antiqua.” Old, but still breathtakingly beautiful. We continued on the path that brought us above the aqueduct. The city is so hilly, we joked that Jillian Micheals would be proud of us as we walked everywhere. There were some fun stores that we stopped in including a Spanish equivalent of a dollar store. Here, they are £2 stores. We also found (wonder of wonders) DRINKING FOUNTAINS! We were so excited! We all took drinks and splashed in the water for a while. We even took pictures with the drinking fountains. I noticed a few more pitying glances at the crazy American women. There were also fresh fruit and vegetable stands, something we hadn't been able to find in Madrid.

One of the buildings we stubbled upon was a little cathedral that we were allowed to go in for free. Again, I marveled at the intricate art that was so old! This particular cathedral had a pipe organ which was interesting to me. There were two altars in the front of the cathedral, one to Jesus and one to Mary.

By this time, we were becoming a little hungry. When breakfast is at 8 and lunch isn't until 2 or 3, it is imperative that you eat a little snack in between. We stopped at a little bar and ordered drinks and gazpacho. Think of Spanish bars the same way you think of English pubs. They serve alcohol like American bars, but they are really more like restaurants. Anyway, the gazpacho was delightful – cool and fresh with a little tang from some type of pepper, I think.

After our “merienda” (snack) we made our way through the narrow streets to the Alcazar. It's impossible to approach the Alcazar and not feel like a medieval princess. Segovia's Alcazar was the castle that Walt Disney modeled Sleeping Beauty's castle after. (Picture the Disney logo with the shooting star over the castle – that castle) The Alcazar was an incredible building that had many uses over history: home of royals, prison, and soldier training headquarters. We purchased tickets to tour it and I wondered as I entered what it must have been like to walk past the moat and the impressive gates as a queen of Spain – it was a rather romantic thought.

We toured the castle with the help of a brochure that they gave us with the tickets. The castle was very expensive with linen walls, velvet carpets, inlayed ceilings, portraits and stained glass everywhere. I was beautiful! The most impressive parts of each room were the carved ceilings – they were amazing. Everyone in the group had lived in, visited, or at least studied Latin America, so we couldn't help but feel a little dirty walking through luxury gained through colonialism. When the Alcazar was in it's glory, the royalty of Spain was exploiting the natives in their Latin American colonies. Another thing that struck me were the bloody murals often lining the walls. For an age that is so glorified – the age of knights and princesses – it didn't seem all that great to me. Also, many of the murals were religious. There were depictions of saints doing horrible things to people or the grotesque bodies of martyrs.

To me, the Alcazar was like a mirror. Thinking about colonialism made me reflect on my own countries history of colonialism. Seeing the bloody religious history made me think about the things that we do now in the name of Christ. The contemporaries of the Alcazar thought their Christianity was true, and we think ours is too, but will future generations look back at us and shake their heads saying, like I did at the Alcazar, “What Christ did they follow?”

After our trip to the Alcazar, we stopped to rejuvenate with some churros (a delicacy I will miss when I have to go home) and then headed to the train station. We took the metro right from the train station to the house of Carmen and Carlos. Their family is such a complete blessing. When we arrived, Carlos was in the kitchen cooking up a storm. Baby Clara was on the floor giggling as she played with various unrelated household objects. Carmen was at the door to greet us and give us all cheek to cheek besitos. All the ladies (Carmen, the four of us, Clara, and their dog) took a walk in their lovely urban neighborhood while Carlos finished preparing dinner. Andrea and Carmen tried to catch up between the girl's questions – What is this? How do you say it in Spanish? How does that work?

When we got back to the apartment, I nearly cried. Carlos had laid a feast on the table with food intentionally chosen from each of Spain's regions. There were so many platters of tapas, they filled two tables – we had to switch out plates halfway through the meal. That kind of generosity is not something you encounter everyday. When we sat down to eat, the questions started again. “What is this? Where is it from? Why is it famous? It is a common food or only for special occasions? How do you say it, again?” As the four Americans ranted and raved about the fabulous roasted peppers and whitefish, anchovies, white asparagus, jamon iberica, olives, empanadas, and many cheeses, I caught Carmen mouthed over the table to her husband, “te quiero – I love you.”