Ávila

Location 3: Ávila

Ávila is a little city in between Madrid and Salamanca. It takes about an hour by bus from Salamanca. It's a small place so you can walk around for a day and see it all. My friend & I did not have a map of the city, only of one that was plastered on the bus station..walked by memory, good thing we did not get lost. We met a very nice Mexican family that had an extra map from their hotel and willingly gave it to us. So yay! no chance of getting lost(yeah right). First place I went was the Basilica de San Vicente. Beautiful Romanesque church. No photos were allowed to be taken in the church, and me, being the good law-abiding tourist, obliged (plus, I didn't want to mess on Holy ground - could get smited!).

The main entrance

Main entrance

The back part - inside is the underground bit.

Roman-ish Side door

Fore-ground - tiny Round-about Background - Basilica San Vicente

This Beautiful round-about is taken from the entrance of 'San-Vicente's door' - we're about to enter a city that's surrounded by a Roman wall. The air is covered by birds(swifts?)! We walked in the maze of tiny roads aimlessly for a bit. Then we saw something - people were actually walking on those walls! How on earth did they do that? So we knew that there was a way..and we were sure it was gonna cost money. It took a while to find the ticket booth - it was REALLY hidden. It was a really hot day and I was just thankful we found it! Hallelujah for student cards!

North Walls =D

Paseo del Rastro - still trying to find the ticket booth!

Finally! We're on top!

The view is breathtaking from the top. We got to walk almost all around the city (one bit was being constructed - where the Cathedral was). GORGEOUS! Besides those itty bitty birdies, the storks are also seen here. They love to make their nests on top of the towers. These birds actually are ruining the walls -their bird poops' everywhere. Just be thankful you don't get a stork's one..man they are huge and they poop BIG.

Stork nests - El Carmen's entrance

It was surreal..seeing these beautiful creatures upclose..and it was a very hot day - but the wind was a great welcome then.

Spread your wings and prepare to fly..


What is the time, Mr.Wolf?

A sundial at the end of our wall-walk.

Church of San Pedro..it's situated at the Santa Teresa square. There was an exhibition about water and earth when we went at the square..ooh and it was the first time i felt rain in Spain..the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain..(very infrequently) !

Rosies!

Ávila's popular for their sweet pastries as well as jams. I was so silly that I did not take pics of the cute glazed fruits and sweets (regretting!) ..But I did buy gummies hehehe..The building above has a lot of shops that sells the sweet stuff.

We met a very nice lady at the ticket booth (yes the one that was hidden). She was for the Islas Canarias -Canary Islands - and she spoke very good English. We chatted a bit and she explained that there was a place called the 'Cuatro Postes' - the Four Posts. It's a high point of Ávila and you can see the whole city surrounded by the walls. So we decided to go look for it.

We were walking and walking along the walls and it started to pour again! We waited for a bit, and the view was magnificient! The mist and everything on the plain...=) beautiful. After the rain subsided we went to look for this 4 Posts..We walked a fair bit, and seemed like this 4 posts is no where in sight..so we approached a bunch of oldies having their chat..So I asked this lady yea, "Donde esta los cuatro postales?" She went, "Oh esta ahi..camina ahi..ves las palabras CORREO" she said OH it's there, walk there, you will see the words CORREO - CORREO?? I know that word - it means POST OFFICE!! Oh crap I said POSTALES instead of POSTES. Hahahaha! Then a younger man came and I asked again, and pointed at the map..then he explained that we were not far away! PHEW. We were supposed to cross a bridge to get to it. So off we went until we found the bridge.
Hallelujah we found the bridge!

The walls from the bridge area

Whee I'm on the bridge!

Under the bridge

So I reached the end of the bridge..where is this 4 posts thing?? I turned and looked at the wall..I do not see the whole wall surrounding the city from here..see how it looks like:

That's the pedestrian bridge that we just crossed.

Then I asked another local lady, and she said that we've to walked further up..so we did..blindly walked and found it!!

Los Cuatro Postes

Close-up

I just read online what the deal was with the 4 Posts. It apparently is a shrine -(hence the Cross there). A cross covered by a four-posted canopy marks the spot where, at age seven, St. Teresa's uncle stopped her from running off to seek martyrdom from the Moors. (click here for more info)

Ta-dah~

The view was awesome! Was worth it! It was getting-lost-and-almost-heading-to-the-post-office type of worth. Then we saw a couple taking their wedding photographs there..I think I might've deleted it from my camera, so no piccies of the happy couple. Actually the bride looked kinda grouchy..hahaha can't blame her..it was drizzling and she had to climb in heels!

And the final pic: