Valencia: La Ciudad de Artes y Ciencias

This past weekend I went to Valencia to see La Ciudad de Artes y Ciencias. We took a train into the city from Madrid, something I had never done before. It was definitely a good experience to have, but wasn't anything too special. La Ciudad de Artes y Ciencias was an impressive combination of buildings. The structure was built by Santiago Calatrava and was started in the late 1990's. The city itself has five main structures. One houses a garden and is completely open and free to walk through. The round building in the center is called the Hemesferic and was designed to look like an eyeball. Inside there is an IMAX theater where we saw a film about deep sea creatures. L'Oceanografic is Europe's largest Aquarium. There we saw sharks, a beluga whale, and several species of fish. We also went to the Museo de las Ciencias Príncipe Felipe. There we saw several exhibits from superheros to Nobel Prize winners. We were unable to enter one of the largest buidlings in the city, the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia. This impressive building is an opera house and looks almost like a helmet. Overall, the architecture of the city was very impressive and the lighting was beautiful at night.

Segovia's Cathedral

Last week, I finally entered Segovia's giant cathedral with Elena, my art and architecture professor. On the outside of the cathedral over the doorway is a statue of Saint Frutus, one of the patrons of Segovia. He is holding an open book in his hand with a page flipping. In culture, we learned that as you walk past the Saint, it looks like the page is turning by itself. The cathedral itself is the last Gothic cathedral built in Spain. The construction began under Carlos V and took over 200 years to complete. The cathedral is know as "la dama de las catedrales" because of it's elegant interior and exterior. The cathedral was designed by Juan Gil de Hontañón, a famous Spanish architect who also built the cathedral of Salamanca. You can find his tomb inside. Also inside there are around twenty small chapels and a museum of religious art. I thought the cathedral was very small in comparison to some I had seen, but still impressive. Some of the walls of the chapels were painted with intricate designs, almost like wall paper. Inside, I was also to see a detailed sculpture of Jesus that is brought outside during Samana Santa. Unfortunately, I won't be able to see it because I will be in Italy.

El Rastro

A couple weeks ago, Ashley and I ventured to Madrid on Sunday morning to brave El Rastro. El Rastro is a giant market in the streets of Madrid, selling everything from scarves to tools to bird cages. It is held every Sunday from nine in the morning to three in the afternoon and can have up to 3,500 stalls. I knew it was a giant market, but I had no idea how packed the streets would be with people. Ashley and I had to shove between walls of people to even look at most of the stands. Many of the people running the stalls were screaming their prices to everyone to attract customers. I bought way more than I should have, but everything was SO cheap that I couldn't help it. Throughout the market, there are several streets with their own specialties. There is a street of parrots, covered with animal shops and every type of bird cage you can think of. There is also a street of painters selling all types of paintings and picture frames. I am planning on returning before I leave the country to buy even more incredibly cheap souvenirs for myself and my family.

My First Bullfight

This past Sunday Lauren, both Ashley's and I went to a bull fight in Madrid. I have to admit, I was a but nervous about going. I did not really know what to expect from the spectacle when it came to goriness. It ended up to not be as bad as I had expected. Bullfighting can be traced back to prehistoric times with animal worship and sacrifice, but is many times associated with Rome. At the beginning of the fight, a bull is sent out and evaluated by the bullfighter for its aggressiveness and determination. After the bull is chosen, a “picador” comes out on horseback with a huge sort of sphere. The “picador” stabs the bull in the neck muscles a couple times in order to weaken the bull. Sometimes, the bull would charge the horse to the point of knocking it over. At this point, I felt worse for the horse than the bull. After the “picador” left, other matadors would try to stab the bull with two “banderillas” in order to further weaken the bulls neck muscles. The main matador then takes the stage to fight and attempt to kill the bull. The point of the fight is to show the man's control of the bull, and he shows his control by sometimes turning his back on the bull. If the matador is good, he can kill it with one stab in the neck, right to the heart. Unfortunately, many of these bulls needed several stabs to be killed, a sight I could have done without.

University of Salamanca

While in Salamanca, we also saw the University. University of Salamanca is actually one of the four oldest Universities in the world. Oxford and Cambridge are two of the other four included in the list. It was founded by Alfonso IX in the early 1200's. We were able to see the symbol of the University, which is a painting showing all of the astrological symbols in the stars and was created for Queen Isabella. We learned that in the old classrooms, students use to sit on the floor to listen to lectures. Students learning Latin did not take notes, but learned the language only through memorization. We saw the famous building covered in carvings where the toad of Salamanca is hidden. They say that if you find the toad in the carvings you will have good luck. I found the toad sitting on the top of a skull in a corner of the building. In all the souvenir shops in Salamanca, you could find a University shirt of every color. I made sure to get one to remember my visit to the old University.

Old and New Cathedral of Salamanca

This past Friday our group ventured to Salamanca for our last excursion. As we neared the city, I could see the giant Cathedral towering over the city. It was so much larger than any other cathedral I had seen in Spain so far. Our tour guide taught us that there are actually two cathedrals in Salamanca, Catedral Nueva and Catedral Vieja. The new cathedral was constructed when it was decided in the 15th century that Salamanca needed a bigger cathedral. The tower of the new cathedral is actually slightly tilted because of an earthquake in Lisbon in the 1750's. The earthquake caused major damage to the cathedral and caused some of the statues on the sides of the structure to fall off. On one side of the cathedral, a small portion around one of the doorways was reconstructed in the 1960's. In this newly built area, you can find a small astronaut floating around. The old cathedral is much smaller than the new one. The most interesting part of the old are the graves in the floor. There are hundreds of graves where many of those who died during the Black Death in Salamanca are buried. I found it a little creepy to be walking on top of hundreds of graves, especially of those killed from such a terrible disease.

Sagrada Família

These are pictures of the Sagrada Família in Barcelona. This building was, by far, Gaudí's most ambitious project. This was his last project and was left incomplete after his death in 1926. I actually learned that he died from being run over by a tram on the Gran Vía. Gaudí was very proud of the region in which he lived and only built in Barcelona. His death was considered a Catalan national disaster. Construction ceased after his death, but restarted in the 1950's. Unfortunately, many of Gaudí's models were destroyed in the Civil War by anarchists, but construction continues today. The projected finishing date is 2017, but will probably take longer. The structure is such a weird site to see. It almost looks as if it is melting because of all of the detail and curves in the design. In the museum, I learned a lot about the inspiration behind Gaudí's work. Most of the forms and shapes in his architecture are taken straight from nature. Inside the Sagrada Família, the columns are meant to look like tree trunks, and the ceiling, a canopy of leaves. He also studied the crystallization of minerals, which can be seen in some of the wall structures. On the outside of one side of the building, he built a structure resembling a cave with the story of the Crucifixion of Christ carved in the walls.

Park Guell

These are pictures of Park Güell in Barcelona. The park itself was built by Antonio Gaudí in the early 1900's. It was actually meant to be a private estate of sixty houses with paths, recreational areas, and monuments. Unfortunately, only two of the sixty estates were built. Walking through the park was almost like walking through a movie set for Alice in Wonderland. The park area itself was in a gorgeous area covered with palm trees. It was built on a hill, giving a beautiful view of the city. There was a pavilion covered in monuments, including a fountain and a giant mosaic lizard. Behind the fountain and lizard was the Hall of Columns. This area was actually meant to be the market place for Gaudí's giant, sixty house estate. The ceiling of the Hall of Columns was covered with mosaics as well. The only two houses built on the land were bright and colorful. Not one wall or window had a straight line, only curves. The buildings almost looked as if they were melting. Another house was built on the estate by one of Gaudí's collaborators, where Gaudí actually lived until he moved to live near the Sagrada Família during its construction.

BARCELONA!

This past weekend I traveled with a group of friends to Barcelona. After our trip, I decided that Barcelona is now one of my favorite cities in Spain. We have discussed in class how there has been a great amount of tension between Barcelona and Madrid in the past. Madrid is the capital of Spain, however it has no natural resources and is seen as an “artificial city”. I did not understand this idea until I saw Barcelona for myself. It is a HUGE city right on the coast of Spain. It has a great harbor for trade and plenty of access to natural resources. After seeing the city, I am slightly confused as to how Madrid is the capital of the country. While in Barcelona I heard Catalan for the first time. Catalan is a mix of Spanish and French. You can definitely see the strong influence of French in the spellings of some of the words. For instance, some words contain a “c” with some sort of tail (Ç). Barcelona seemed to be more modern and eccentric than any other city I have seen in Spain so far as well. You could find a little bit of everything there.

Toledo!

This past Friday we took a group excursion to Toledo. I knew that Toledo has played a very important role in the history of Spain. It was the Visigothic capital until the Moors took over. Toledo was also the late home of El Greco and contains many of his paintings. The picture I posted is actually a view of Toledo that El Greco painted many times, however in his paintings he would sometimes move around the location of the cathedral or add famous sites from other city's into the painting. On our excursion we got to see two very famous paintings by El Greco. "Ël Espoilo" was housed inside of Toledo's Gothic cathedral. The other titled "The Burial of the Count of Orgaz" was housed in La Iglesia de Santo Tomé. We had learned a lot about El Greco in my Art and Architecture class, so I was very excited to actually see two of his most famous works up close. I was so proud of myself as I picked out the defining characteristics of El Greco's work in each of the paintings. I saw the specific placement of the hand, the use of acidic colors, the division between heaven and earth, and the spine of some of the characters.

Alcazar

This past Saturday I finally entered the Alcázar. I have learned so much about the Alcázar in my culture class that I really could not wait to go inside. When we first arrived, we headed downstairs to see the ancient foundations of the castle. Many experts believe that these foundations date back to the Romans. The castle has a very long and complicated past with various kings and queens moving in and out, the most well known being Ferdinand and Isabella. I got to see thrones built for the king and queen in one of the rooms. I learned that Isabella, in reality, did not stay in the castle all too often and preferred the palace of San Martín. Philip II fully restored the castle inside and out and completely changed its outside appearance. He was also married to Anne of Austria in the castle. We walked through the military museum, as well, where I learned that Charles III turned the Alcázar into a military academy to train military officers. My favorite part of the visit was our trip up the torre. The view of the city from the tower was amazing on such a beautiful day. We had a great view of the giant cathedral with the snow-capped mountains in the background.

La Granja

Last weekend, my Señora pretty much forced my roommate and I out of the house to see La Granja. At dinner on Friday, after we told her that we had nothing planned for the weekend, she stated that she was going to make bocadillos for us on Sunday and we were going. Sunday morning started out as a pretty gloomy day, but under our Señora's orders, we went. The day was cloudy, but the fog covering the mountains was gorgeous. The gardens were gigantic with random statues and fountains placed throughout. In art and architecture, we learned that La Granja was built by Philip V and was modeled after Versailles were he grew up. The palace and gardens were built during the Baroque period, a period of economic trouble for Spain. Because of this, in the palace many of the “marble” pillars and table tops are only wood treated to look like marble. Also, the doorways were placed directly across from each other in each room to where when a person looked down the hall, it looked like the rooms went on infinitely. This gave the palace the illusion that it was bigger than it actually was. The gardens were, unfortunately, not in bloom and the giant fountains were not running, but even so, La Granja was still a beautiful site.