Avila

On Saturday, I took a daytrip with two other women to Avila, the provincial capitol of Castilla Leon, a province that boarders la Comunidad de Madrid to the northwest. The city was founded by the Vettones, 5th Century BC, pre-Roman time. They built one of their strongest fortresses there and called it Obila, High Mountain. Later, the Romans conquored Obila and called it Abela. After the fall of the Roman Empire, the Visigoths, who once held power over most of present-day Spain and France, took control of the area..and later the Arabs, who called it Abila. During the Christian reconquest of Spain, Christian warriors repeatedly attacked the town until it became virtually uninhabitated. It was repopulated in 1088 and soon afterward the wall that still stands was constructed under the orders of Raymund of Burgundy, the son of Alfonso VI of Castilla Leon.  

Avila is the highest capitol city in all of Spain, resting at 1132 meters (3714 feet) above sea level. The old city is not only surrounded by the aforementioned medieval wall but is also embraced by the river Adaja. Avila is the birthplace of the Catholic nun, Santa Teresa, famous for the poems she wrote in adoration of Jesus Christ and for the yemas which may or may not have been made by her first. The town is well known for the variety of artesan treats, like yemas, some following recipes maintained for centuries. We were pretty impressed by the sweet shops' window displays in the plaza. The town is small enough that we began to retrace our footsteps in it after just a few hours exploring.  The most impressive monument in Avila, and the main reason I felt compelled to visit, is its well intack wall, which you can pay an entry fee to walk atop and view the city and surroundings from. The wall clashes horrendously with recently constructed shops and pisos, particularly the structures you view outside the wall. It truly feels like two times being smushed together. Enjoy the photos of Avila...



Entry to the historic center of the city, still completely walled-in.

Liza, Johanna (from Germany) and Shayna, from Oregon

standing on top of Avila's wall.

The Cathedral, which we opted out of seeing. With so

many holy places and cathedrals in this country, I really don't

feel the impulse to see them all, at least not inside and out!



Las ciguenas construyen nidos encima de las catedrales siempre. This is
one of my favorite parts about cathedrals, the stork nests!

Johanna y Shana paradas en la murralla de Avila

The cities of Spain are stony and dense.

The town of Avila, protected for centuries by the same old wall.

Another puerta de la ciudad.



Liza y Leon, en Castilla Leon

Another church and in the distance, peaceful countryside.

Another perspective of the Catedral

I wonder how many people have walked this wall?



Liza y el oso...o es vaca o es cerdo?

Santa Teresa

There are countless sweetshops named Yemas de Avila. Yema is Spanish for

egg yolk and the sweets are just that, egg yolks combined with sugar, cinnamon and lemon.

We decided we'd try them before leaving the town and it was about the last thing we did.

We went from shop to shop trying to find someone who would sell us las yemas por unidad

(singles) and no one would. They are always sold packed in boxes because the yolks

get hard...but at the time, I didn't think that the yemas were truly egg yolks.

I thought they merely imitated egg yolks.

El rio Adaja. It looked very polluted, sadly, but we did see geese (gansos) and ducks (patos), including Mallards paddling along.

Fall in Spain is mainly yellow..those are Birch trees!

Viewing the wall from outside. You can't even see the town at this angle!

This is where we ended up settling on buying two-pack boxes.

We had been anticipating trying yemas for a couple of hours at this point...

I think yemas are the most disgusting thing I've eaten

in Spain. I do not consider myself to be a picky eater, but

these seriously made me gag. I couldn't finish even one.

The taste persisted long after the experience, even after

drinking water and eating other food. Still, I'm glad I

gave the yemas a try while I was in Avila. Otherwise,

I'd still be wondering what I'd missed out on.