Friday, March 21, 2008

quick report

Here are a few pictures from our 4 short days in Spain with Alecia, (a friend from our home church who is currently studying in Spain) and with Alvaro, (a Spanish exchange student who spent the month of July with us in 2006 and 2007). I took about 150 pictures so there might be quite a few in this post about Spain :)









This is the first evening we were there. Alvaro and Fernando (Alvaro's father) were so great to pick us up at the airport and then show us around some of the area that night yet. We also got to meet up with Alecia!

















Alvaro wanted to take us out for jamon serrano. He had told us about this kind of meat back at home and now wanted us to experience the famous jamon serrano. Really pretty good stuff. I found it to be everywhere along with calamari! In one of pics below you can see the pig's legs hanging from the ceiling in the restaurant. Scary place for a vegetarian.


















The beautiful city of SEGOVIA.....




















Inside the cathedral in Segovia (I think in Segovia). We went to a few of them, all very beautiful. The pictures I have from the outside don't do it justice.














I believe these are from the grounds at the Palacio Real in Segovia.






There are statues and sculptures all over the grounds and in many places throughout Spain. Here's one that made me laugh.


Looks like someone was in trouble!















The aqueduct. A piece of history that amazes me. A king had this built to carry water from the mountains. It also has a statue in it. Look carefully below!























This picture is part of the moat at the castle in Segovia! Never thought I would actually see a real moat around a castle.















Here is Mercedes, Alvaro's mother. Now I know why Alvaro is such a great person to be around, his parents are too! They had us to their home one day and fed us this great seafood Paella. After a short and needed siesta, (it might be a national law to take a siesta) they took us around Valladolid, their home town. Again, a very beautiful place.



Sadly, I don't remember where this is. I have many pictures that are similar to this. You can be walking down many of the streets and look up to see a view like this.










Someone asked me if there were any modern type buildings in Spain......












That's all for now. I'll try to get just a little more about Spain before moving onto the most important part of our trip.
Oh, one more picture for now. I want to thank Alecia for being such a professional in knowing how to get around Madrid and use the subway. It was very helpful not to get lost :) Thank-you!!