Cena de Despedida (Farewell Dinner)

In the morning on Monday, May 20, we had two speakers come in to class to speak to us about the economic crisis in Europe, specifically in Spain.  The speakers gave us two different perspectives on the crisis.  The first speaker was from the political party Izquierda Unida (United Left) and he discussed the economic crisis from a political perspective.  Our second speaker was spoke about the crisis from a business perspective.  The different views on the economic crisis helped us to better understand the situation here in Spain. 

Monday afternoon we had some free time.  Many of us spent it studying for our final the following day on Tuesday, as well as spending time with our host families since we do not have much time left!

Monday evening we all headed to Candido with one member of our host families for our cena de despedida (farewell dinner).  This restaurant is one of the best in Segovia to try the Spanish delicacy cochinillo (baby pig) - many of us took advantage of the opportunity!  While it was sad to think of our trip coming to a close, we all had a great time enjoying the company of our host families and delicious food!

Cochinillo being prepared!

Our group, with our professor Ricardo in the middle

First Day of Our Mountain Trek!

On Friday, May 17, we gathered our trekking gear and headed to class in the morning.  Having covered a large part of the history of Spain, we had a discussion on the economic crisis in Europe, particularly here in Spain.  It has been really interesting to work our way through Spain’s history right up to the current economic crisis – we have covered so much material and learned a lot!!

Instead of heading home after class to have comida (lunch) with our families, we gathered at the aqueduct to meet our mountain guides for the weekend, Gabriel and Vincente.  We piled into a couple of vehicles and were off to where we would start our trek!  We stopped along the way to eat our lunch, but then it was down to business!

We hiked for about four hours as we worked our way up and over the mountain.  We reached heights of 2,100 meters – that is almost 7,000 feet above sea level!  The hike was a challenge, but was it ever worth it!  We saw incredible views that we could never see any other way, and we all grew a little closer as we sang and laughed to pass the time on our trek into the mountains.

This is where we parked the cars and started our trek up the mountain!

The view from partway up the mountain - it was incredible to turn around and see this!

Beautiful Views!

Our first view of our shelter - way down on the other side of the lake!

More Titirimundi!

On Tuesday, May 14^th, we had class in the morning covering the Law of Historical Memory, a controversial piece of Spain’s recent history having to do with the Spanish Civil War and the recovery necessary after Franco’s dictatorship.

After comida (lunch) with our families, the rest of the day was for us to enjoy more of the many live performances of Titirimundi around Segovia.  There were scheduled performances at stages set up around the city, as well as little performances happening on the streets and plazas.

One of the many little shows happening on the streets of Segovia – this one is a dog marionette!

A man juggling swords and a chainsaw in the Plaza Mayor during Titirimundi

El Escorial and El Valle de Los Caídos

Saturday, May 11 turned out to be bright and sunny for us as we traveled to El Escorial and El Valle de Los Caídos (Valley of the Fallen). 

Having won a battle against the French on August 10, 1557, the day of Saint Lorenzo, King Felipe II had el Escorial constructed in honor of the Saint, as well as a projection of royal power.  The building is 207 meters long and 161 meters wide.  It has 9 towers, 88 fountains, 16 patios, 2,673 windows, and 1,200 doors.  El Escorial serves as a monastery, basilica, palace, library, school, museum, and pantheon.  I think you can begin to imagine how immense this building is!!  In fact, El Escorial is so impressive that it was considered the 8^th wonder of the world during the 16^th and 17^th centuries!

El Escorial is also the resting place of all of the Spanish Monarchs from Carlos I through Alfonso XIII (with the exception of Felipe V and Fernando VI).  The Mausoleum is located beneath el Escorial and is an incredible sight to see.  There are numerous rooms serving as the resting areas of not only the Spanish Monarchs, but for their families as well that did not serve as King or Queen, including a special area for infants.  

El Escorial - this is only part of the masssive building!

Patio de los Reyes

The gardens of El Escorial

The basilica of El Escorial

After our time visiting El Escorial, we climbed back on our bus to head to el Valle de los Caidos.  El Valle de los Caidos was built at the end of the Spanish Civil War, during Franco's dictatorship.  At the end of the Civil War, Franco wanted to build a monument to commemorate the victory of the nationalists over the republicans, as well as in memory of the nationalists that lost their lives during the war.  He used republican slaves to build el Valle de los Caidos, forcing them to partake in creating a monument to honor those that they had spent the entire Civil War fighting against.

El Valle de los Caidos is also the tomb of José Antonio Primo de Rivera, the founder of the Spanish fascist party, and Francisco Franco, the dictator of Spain from the end of the Civil War in 1939 until his death in 1975.  Originally, there were only soldiers from the nationalist (Franco's) army buried here along with Franco and Primo de Rivera, but after plenty of controversy regarding how the horrific period of time under Franco's rule should be remembered (which still continues today), soldiers from the republican party were buried here as well.  It certainly was an eerie experience visiting a place with such a strong connection to a horrible time in Spain's history, but it was very relevant to what we have been learning about Franco and his dictatorship.

El Valle de los Caidos

Inside Valle do los Caidos

The view from Valle de los Caidos

The group!