El Escorial, Avila, Salamanca, Mombeltran
As you will have gathered, we spent our second “free” night at Camping El
Escorial… The plan was to visit El Escorial in the morning, find a place to
swap our empty 15kg gas bottle for a new one, then move on to Avila later in
the day, as it was only a little over an hour’s drive away.
First stop, El Escorial, both a monastery and a historical residence of the King of Spain. Phillip II inaugurated its construction in 1563, to celebrate the Spanish victory at the Battle of St. Quentin in Picardy (against the French!). Its quite large, and splendiferous. The visit starts in the Library which has a magnificent painted ceiling (vault) with the the take home message that Philosophy is subject to Theology (but all I could see were magnificent paintings)… and the books are arranged (to quote Wikipedia)… “from the profane subjects—such as history, geography, and botany, which are located in the part closest to the entrance. But as you advance towards the basilica, the subjects are the more abstract forms—such as poetry, grammar, and mathematics. The subjects closest to the basilica are those the King conceived as being the most abstract distillations of the others, and the closest to the origin, which was God in the Basilica: theology, geometry, and mathematics”. Got it?
But there is more… for example, the vault over the grand staircase is even more impressive!
There were paintings too, on the walls too. I liked the story about the large El Greco painting of The Martyrdom of Saint Maurice and the Theban Legion – which was painted in Toledo, but without knowledge of where it was to be hung. On arrival it was found to be too large, so it had to be “cut down”… Regardless o this small problem, the King was not pleased with the paining… as El Greco had focused less on the Martyrdom, and more on the role of the “Saint” convincing his companions to remain loyal to Christ.
And here are two others that you might find evocative. Christ Crowned with Thorns by a “follower” of Bosch (1530), and a Titian of Jesus praying in the Garden of Gethsemane.
As the Parking Warden was about to deliver a ticket, we carefully navigated to one of the few petrol stations that do not swap gas bottles! But the attendant gave us good directions to one that did. And the cost for 15kg – just €14.40 – cheaper than it cost for me to refill a 9kg bottle in Rangiora. Since this experience – we have discovered that nearly all petrol stations seem to have stacks of gas bottles ready for exchange – so this aspect of our travel is not going to be a challenge!
We departed for Avila on the N505 – another scenic route over the mountains. There seemed to be many motorcyclists and owners of sports cars out for a Sunday drive… and perhaps to test their skills on a windy road? The countryside was for the most part scrub covered with piles of granite boulders in places – a cross between the Desert Road and Castle Hill, with the mountains always in the background. As we got closer to Avila, the landscape became more green, and there was more evidence of farming (cattle).
We arrived at the ramparts of Avila early afternoon. The “camp site” was a motorhome parking area – but it came with a toilet and shower block (heated, and the best we have yet to encounter at any camp site thus far), and power, and waist and grey water dumping… and potable water at the pitch… and it was a 5 minute walk to get to the walls.
Avila’s walls are considered to be the best example of medieval walls in Europe, built between the 11th and 14th Centuries- and never breached by a sieging army. And just in case you were wondering, or unaware like us… they enclose an area of 31 hectares, are 2.5km long, 12m high, 3m wide, and there are 88 semicircular towers and there are 9 gates. We finally found an access point, paid the “senior’s reduced” entry cost and headed off along a 700m section of the wall.
All this was quite exhausting… so we had to stop in one of the plaza’s and take in some ice cream
. As Karilyn remarked… buying it in a cup is a lot more cost effective to paying the same amount for a cone. Guess who prefers a cup? While enjoying our treat – it was a joy to see so many people sitting at Café tables, out in the sun, just conversing (no phones in sight).
Afterwards, we walked back to the campsite as the day came
to an end. Which at that time found many families were out strolling along the
promenade outside the walls… with children playing on the rocky ground around
the base of the wall.
As the walls are lit at night… one more expedition was needed to complete our Avila experience – a night photo of the walls.
Next stop, Salamanca – home of one of that cluster of universities that were established in the 13th Century (e.g. Cambridge, Salamanca, Padua, Naples, Toulouse and Montpelier). Oxford started earlier… in 1096…. and the University of Bologna even earlier in 1088! Put’s NZ’s cultural history into perspective…
The landscape we experienced as we travelled to Salamanca was so different from the scrubby, boulder , small farm holdings that we have seen to date. Here, as we entered the Moseta, the landscape was filled with what looked like large, industrial scale agriculture – with large fields of newly sewen crops, and gentle rolling countryside. There were more belfries with storks too. The size of the nests, and the places they are found continue to surprise.
There were no open campsites near Salamanca – only park over places. Reading the reviews of those available narrowed the choice to just one site – which happened to be on the edge of the River Tomes, a few hundred metres from the 2nd Century Roman bridge across the river and a 10 minute walk from the Cathedrals which dominate the skyline of this student city (30,000 students, among a population of 145,000 for the city).
Google Maps got us to the parking area – but it was full, with three motorhomes and a lot of cars. But one of the locals suggested that we just park by one of the walls and wait… and sure enough perhaps 10 minutes later – one of the campervans left, and we backed into a perfect spot for our visit to the city. The cost: €0. We felt Blessed.
In Segovia, after asking if I could take a photograph of a group of women chatting around a statue of the Poet Antonia Machado, I ended up in a brief conversation that Karilyn captured on camera… Here in Salamanca, while out taking a brief look around our “campsite”, I encountered a group of “senior” men just sitting and talking.. so asked if I could take a photograph of them? They immediately lined up for me… and we had a brief conversation in Spanish, where the only thing that we managed to connect on was our ages… from 80 to 72! And Karilyn was no their to record the conversation.
A number of “things: were apparent to us in Salamanca… the very very old (the Roman Bridge across the Tormes -1st Century AD), the very old (it has two cathedrals joined together, one Romanesque (12th Century), and a newer one that was Gothic/Baroque (16th Century) both took a couple of hundred years to complete, as well as the many University buildings that occupy the city centre), as well as modern apartment buildings that fit relatively seamlessly into the silhouette of the city.
It also has a vast Plaza Mayor – which has also been used as a Bull Ring (square) in past days. As a result of our “colds” over the last two weeks, we have made a substantial dent in our medical supplies, both for our BF experience, and the Camino – so thought we would see what we could buy from a Pharmacy (of which there are many advertising their presence with a Green Cross. We tried one on the Plaza de Mayor… requesting: 2 x Ventolin inhalers, 100 x 100mg Aspiring (Cartia), Voltaren Gel (may help with sore feet, and Voltaren Tabs (50mg). No problem. Cost – just €25… and so we should now be fully equipped (medically, speaking) for the next three months… We trust… To complete the day’s experiences…. it was here that we (maybe me, mostly) – decided to sample the food at one of our favoured fast food “restaurants”… Burger King (which seem to be “everywhere”). The purpose of course was to compare this experience with that at Turangi – since we are missing the annual Easter Pilgrimage to Motutere. The prices are comparable to those in NZ, once you do the exchange rate conversion, the décor is pretty much the same… and the taste… well, IMO, the NZ “flame Grilled” meat seems a lot more tasty than what I experienced here in Salamanca! Not to miss the sweet treat, here, the standard “meal package” incudes a desert, along with the burger, chips, and drink… what more could one ask for??
We walked back to BF via the Roman Bridge in the fading evening light…
Our plan for the next day was to visit the cathedrals before departing. We also need to visit a motorhome repair shop to get our grey water release valve fixed, do some grocery shopping then head off toward Toledo – via another “scenic” route.
On the way back to the old town area we passed one of those convenience stores that you find in many cities, but this one had a wider range of products than we would normally expect to see… We didn’t check out the store to see what the options were!
Onwards… to the more sublime – the cathedrals, where entry gives you a two cathedrals for one price! The cupola in the new cathedral is, as one expects, magnificently decorated, with the symbol of the Holy Spirit at its centre. The Chapels are not dissimilar in there general decoration and themes to those we have seen elsewhere – we would call them “baroque”, and view them as explained previously. But here, there were also some very modern pieces of art reflecting on the reason why Christ came, and the Solution to the problem of Sin... .
The Old Cathedral’s Alterpiece, created between 1430 and 1450 includes 53 panels – and is said to present a cycle of life of the Mary and Jesus – from the birth of Mary onwards, all accompanied by scenes from the life of Jesus and topped off by a magnificent Last Judgement.
And just a small section to see the detail....
And for something altogether different… we now understand that there is a thriving market in Spain for paint spray cans. Graffiti is literally everywhere… on abandoned buildings, on commercial buildings, and in Salamanca, there is a focus on garage doors – which are invariably like square portholes in the facades of these beautiful olf buildings. “Interpreting” the content of these art forms is as difficult to us, as interpreting the content of much of the religious art we are seeing!
One
last view of the Roman Bridge in the morning light…
We made our rest at Camping Prados Abiertos, near the 15th century castle at Mombeltran
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