Spain Travelogue–Central Regions (Segovia, Avila, Toledo, Madrid)
Segovia, Avilla, and Toledo are three towns that prospered as leading townships in Spain’s historical development. All of these beautiful towns are segmented into the new town and the old town nowadays, with the old town as the main tourist attraction with winding cobblestoned paths and historical monuments. The new town is built outside the old town, with contemporary residential buildings and commercial centers and a faster pace.
Segovia is famous for the Roman aqua-duct (輸水道), two monumental arches one on top of the other standing solidly in balancing forces. 28.1 meters high with 167 arches, they are just a fragment of the monumental construction since the Roman times dating back to 50AD. We visited Segovia around evening time with the sunset lighting up the old town in a magical orange glow with the aqua-duct pasting long dark shadows on the cobblestoned paths and reflecting the warm glow on its orange stone surface.

Avilla captured my imagination of medieval times with its old city stone walls, with the durable and towering walls surrounding the whole city center as a medieval fortress. The stone walls are a blend of Roman and Moorish culture, with sharp and triangular arches on top of the defense walls spanning 2 kilometers long. The town was built around the 11th Century after Alfonso 6th retrieved the town from the Moors, and the defense wall was built to prevent the Moors from seizing back the town. Walking along the cobblestoned paths of the old town, I see decorative and colorful Spanish plates on the walls of residential walls, a contrast to the towering defense walls. As one of the best-preserved city walls of Spanish history, Avilla vividly captures the vibrancy and rich historical context of the medieval times and stood durably throughout turbulent times in history. *Had a dip in the old town taking pictures of the beautiful city walls, yet never had the chance to actually walk atop the walls and glimpsing the city with a bird eye’s view, which is something I’d like to try next time.
Toledo was Castilla’s capital for Charlemagne 5th with its crucial location in the center of Spain. Taking the tour bus and glimpsing the old town from the distance, we could see that the beautiful town is perched on a hill and segmented from the plains and surrounded by River Targus, making it a crucial township of military defense. Shiny blue Jewish tiles on cobblestoned paths, Roman cathedrals with huge religious paintings, and Moorish mosques using bricks as construction manifest another cultural tapestry folded by the coexistence of Arabs, Christian, and Jews-blending a complex mosaic of cultures and religions.
Madrid has been Spain’s capital since 1562. We stayed in Madrid for 2 days, and Madrid’s impression for me had been a city of opposites–chilly and windy of 18 degrees during morning walks with Mom and Dad, and a burning 35 degrees in late afternoon. From a morning walk POV, Madrid is an orderly, convenient, and breathing city, with spacious and spread out pedestrian “sidewalks” built in the middle of the street and another lane for bicycles too. The city is one designed for people not for cars, with an abundance of trees, huge green park spaces, convenient transportation, and ample benches spread along the streets. In my morning walks with Mom and Dad, Madrid is a city not yet awake around 7–8am, as the city starts buzzing a bit later around 9 in the morning.

Similar to many European capitals, Madrid’s city center is captured by cosmopolitan institutions such as banks, government municipalities, and hotels built inside historical buildings with classic exteriors and modern interiors. A blend of historical beauty and contemporary architecture, it is a vibrant and beautiful city with much to see and do, as we visited the Prado museum, the Royal Palace, and Puerta Del Sol (Mayor Plaza for Madrid), and the Madrid Plaza de Toreros (bull-fighting arena).

I really appreciate Arthur explaining the historical and cultural contexts of the royal palace, the paintings in Prado, and Madrid’s city development–an appreciation of art and beauty enriches our soul as every new city offer abundant learning opportunities with rich and diverse development background.
I might have stayed in museums for half a day max and walked out with a mere impression of the exterior, yet a more in depths explanation from the guide of the comprehensive holdings of Velazquez, Goya, and El Greco in Prado made the museum trip extremely pleasant. Understanding the livelihoods of painters, the religious background, and historical developments of different moments in time is a bliss, and I look forward to visiting again with a renewed view of appreciating what museums have to offer.
The Plaza De toreros in Madrid left a beautiful impression of Moorish influence. As the biggest bull-fighting ring in Spain (biggest in the world in Columbia), Plaza De toreros had huge horse-shoe entrances manifesting Islamic architectural influence, and with the dark red bricks and vibrantly colored tiles, it’s a blend of simplicity and vibrancy. Bullfighting is typically held from May to October annually, with parts of Norther Spain banning bullfighting while still popular in the south. Despite the beauty and historical origins of bullfighting, I might not want to witness such a brutal and savage act carried out live, with 6 bulls slaughtered in one bullfighting session, which varies in length depending on the skill of respective bullfighters.
