Day 3 - Avila, Spain - June 13th

Today was a fantastic day, but exhausting too. We got up at 5:00 a.m. and met at the Espinoza’s for breakfast. We left their apartment at 7:20 for the strain station. Our train left at 8:00 for a city called Avila, which is a 1.5 hour train ride to the north of Madrid. Avila is an old walled city. The walls started being built in 1000 AD but took several hundred years to complete. The walls surround the old city, and there is still a lot of modern city outside the walls. The first thing we did when we arrived in Avila was stop for a chocolate/coffee break. Meg and I got a thick chocolate drink that you dip churros in. The rest ordered coffees. We then walked to the visitors center and got a map of the city and suggestions of things to see. When we left the visitor’s center, we walked along the outside of the walls, got some pictures, walked to a bridge over a stream, and then we went inside the walled portion of the city. We paid 5 Euro each to walk on top of the city walls. We walked all the way up one side of the city, climbed some towers and strolled along the walkway. After we got off the walls, we stopped for lunch in a park. After lunch we went to the big cathedral inside the old city that was built around 1200 AD. It was a gothic style architecture and had so many intricate details and fine things inside. There was also a museum of the cathedral at the end. We spent a lot of time at the cathedral and walking around the city and the group was ready for another coffee break. Megan and I ordered ice cream. We then went inside some shops and went to Saint Teresa’s monastery. aFter we left the monastery we had dinner part 1. A popular thing here is called tapas. You just order several dishes and everyone takes a little and passes it on. So that is what we did for our dinners today. We then walked back to the other side of town and got on the train to take us back to Madrid. We arrived around 9:30, then went to a restaurant for dinner part 2. We had more tapas and we went to bed full!