Friday, December 12, 2014

Avila, Spain - October 2014



What a beautiful city to explore!  Avila is a small city with about 50,000 people living there some within the walls of the city and of course many on the outside.  The city sits about 3700 feet from the river Adaja and  I hear the winters are quite harsh.  It was early fall when we were there exploring and it was quite lovely.  It is an easy city to do on foot as it really isn’t very big and the main area you will want to explore is all within the walls.



The walls themselves are so interesting.  I have never seen so many walls around cities before!  It is like I am in a movie or something sometimes.  They were built in the 11th century to fend off the Moors.   You can walk the top of them for a great view or just wander beside them as we did for a surreal experience.  There are 88 towers and 9 gated entrances into the city through these walls.  They are definitely something to see.  There are many shops, restaurants and of course gorgeous churches and a huge cathedral inside the walls to explore.  There are a variety of foods I feel should be mentioned such as Indian and Asian not just your typical Spanish cuisine which is a nice change. 



If you are at all interested in history or religious saints than you would probably like to know that Santa Teresa was born here in Avila in 1515.  She was one of Spains patron saints, a mystic, rebel and writer. 


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teresa_of_%C3%81vila

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