As I sit here, i'm imagining you all back home having breakfast or heading off on your day's adventures. I’m writing this from our hotel window in Cuenca. Ok, so it's not the greatest photo ever taken but would you look at that view! It's warm and sun bathed and fresh.
We’ve been in Spain for five full days now.
Our first five days on European soil. It feels good. It’s springtime too. Have
I ever told you that I love springtime? I love it. It’s so full of promise and
anticipation, excitement and good things. It’s also heading towards Easter and you can see why Easter is such a different northern hemisphere thing. The
promise, the newness, the fresh air and the chance to start again all make it
the perfect festival for the season. We’ll be celebrating Semana
Santa in Andalucía, which is the province with one of the biggest and brightest
Easter festivals in all of Spain. Watch this space.
I’m overwhelmed by the age of Europe, by
the length and breadth of its history. We walked through an old city gate today that
was built in the 13th century. The 13th
century! I’ve never seen anything so old before. And to think that it still stands and is used today.
For the last two days, in Toledo, we wandered around old
cobbled streets that make
Camagüey's labyrinth look orderly. Most of the old
town of Toledo was built before 1600, before the capital was moved to Madrid so
that the Spanish monarchy could get the post faster. I can relate to that,
not being gifted with great amounts of patience. The whole town of Toledo is made from huge stone
blocks, and I've been thinking about how people built these great monuments, perched up on hills and surrounded by rivers. I wonder what people's lives were like here hundreds of years ago. In Spain, I feel so close to the past it's like I could reach out and touch it. I can see Roman soldiers walking through banquet halls, priests in their ornate robes, and townsfolk in the plazas from hundreds of years ago. I've never been able to imagine history so vividly before.
Tomorrow we spend the day here in Cuenca, and then catch the train to Valencia for Las Fallas festival where there are fireworks and processions everyday. For more info, see
this link that seems to have a fairly snappy summary of events.
The photos below are mostly mine from Madrid and Toledo.
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