Avila

Pretty view of Avila from at the top of the medieval wall.

View of the cathedral from on top of the wall.

 Last week was one of the many crazy Spanish holiday weeks. We went to school on Monday and Wednesday, and had Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday off. On Thursday I went to Lisbon for the weekend with a couple of friends, and Tuesday we also had off, so I went to a city that I've been meaning to visit for a while now called Avila. It's famous mainly for the medieval wall that surrounds it (built between the 11th and 14th centuries); it's one of the most complete, still standing medieval walls surrounding a city. (They're also really cool because you can climb up them and walk around them almost the entire way around the city, which gives you not only a nice view of the city but also of the surrounding countryside.) The old town is a UNESCO World Heritage site. There's also a nice cathedral, but I didn't go inside because it cost something stupid like 7 euros, and it was pretty enough from the outside. I'm not really one to say, "if you've seen one cathedral, you've seen them all"; I think all cathedrals are pretty unique even when they're the same architectural style. But I do draw the line at the Catholic Church charging me 7 euros just to go in and take a look around.

Hopefully I'll get around to posting about Portugal soon, but this week at school has been crazy and next week will be no different, between Christmas things and packing to go home on Thursday.