Avila, Salamanca, Toro, Tordesailles

As you have probably noticed I am a fan of visual dialogues. These places are beautiful and I love the sagging doorways, crumbling colorful bricks, and mossy stones that overwhelm this country.

For those who don't speak Spanish ladrones means thieves. Appropriate I think.

This is outside the Cathedral of Salamanca. There are actually two Cathedrals connected to each other; the new and the old, with the new one being over 600 years old. Definitely a different sense of time here. Anyway we toured them the day before and started in the new Cathedral. It was beautiful and impressive as they all are, but my favorite part was the track of opera music soaring quietly through the air. It gave me chills and I was excited that I recognized the song. I feel like we never have enough time in these places.

The old Cathedral did not have the same overwhelming presence and was much simpler dating from Roman times, but that made it almost more special. There were amazing carvings and paintings on the stone walls that just amazed me. How did they do that? And, how has is lasted all this time?
Anywho, we decided to wander out early in the morning before the city woke up to explore and here are the findings. I love those quiet hours.

Yes, breakfast of Champions! Hot chocolate is a normal breakfast food here and it is amazing. Their version is called ColaCao and is a little more bitter but made with fresher, creamy milk. I know it can't be healthy but I am going to enjoy it while I can. Luckily, that is not what we eat with the Padres Espanoles.

Doesn't this just make you want to cry and be inspired? Everywhere we go really is a religious experience.

....and then there's the bat wings. Sweater Stories take two outside the amazing medieval walled city of Avila that has been perfectly preserved since the Christian reconquest of Spain.

We were walking on the top of the walls and I saw this man patching up crack and smoking his cigarette just begging to be photographed.

I just can't get enough of these colors, it is the stuff of dreams

yup! The gang's all here!


Also, welcome to the coldest day in the life of my feet. I eventually had to locate a store with wool socks.

Mitten Love

So, cool thing about these Lions: These little fellas surround the Cathedral and anyone seeking sanctuary could be outside the power of the local police once they were inside the domain marked by these lions. Then the local religious authority could protect them or, if they really were criminals, return them to the law.