I’ll discuss St. Teresa of Avila in detail later, but in the meantime, let me expound on the Carmelite convent where we were privileged to have our mass, visit the tomb of St. Teresa and have photos with her relics.
The Discalced Carmelite Monastery of the Annunciation was founded on January 25, 1571 by Saint Teresa of Ávila. The restless Teresa spent her last 15 days of her life in a small cell of the ground floor of the monastery where she experienced solemn encounters with God before dying on October 4, 1582. Although Teresa's holiness was recognized throughout Spain during her lifetime, it is through her beautiful death where her glorious story begins. Here, her incorrupt body is kept, along with two of her most renowned relics - her left arm and her heart. For this reason, this Carmelite Monastery is known throughout the entire world and it is a renowned route for pilgrims and tourists.
Thereafter, we proceeded to Salamanca and checked in into our hotel, Hotel Catalonia Salamanca, for the night.
As a backgrounder, Salamanca is a city large enough to be able to offer the advantages of a real city but at the same time it keeps the intimacy of a village. Its inhabitants speak the "purest" Spanish in Spain - Castilian. For this reason, Salamanca is enormously popular with people all over the world who want to learn Spanish. It is probably best known for having the oldest university in Spain and one of the oldest in Europe. This university is still what gives ambiance to the town. You can see hundreds of students passing through the streets and enjoying numerous and beautifully decorated bars until late at night (perhaps you may wonder when they have time to study). It is therefore a very attractive place to visit if you are looking for cultural values, want to enjoy night life and learn a bit of Spanish.
Anyhow, we walked around town to browse through the shops, but since it has been drizzling the whole day, we returned to the hotel, had dinner, and called it a night.
The following day, I woke up to a cloudy and nippy day, around 9 degrees (C), and had continental breakfast (finally!). Yes, I missed bacon! Didn’t I say I love Spain? haha
I was excited because I was looking forward to explore Avila and Segovia. The dreary weather didn’t dampen my excitement one bit, and by noon, we were blessed with a bright and sunny weather with temps up to a comfortable 25 degrees (C).
Upon checking out of our hotel, we motored to Avila, the best preserved walled city in the world and home of St. Teresa of Avila.
As a backgrounder, Saint Teresa was born into a noble family of Ávila on March 28, 1515. Religiously inclined from a young age, Teresa was fascinated by the lives of the saints and ran away several times to seek martyrdom at the hands of the Moors. The "Four Posts" monument on the hill above Ávila marks the spot where her father brought her back at the age of 7.
At the age of 19, Teresa left home to join the Carmelite Monastery of the Incarnation in Ávila. In the cloister, Teresa practiced severe asceticism and mystical contemplation. However, Teresa found the Carmelite order to be too worldly, so she worked as a reformer of the order for much of her life. In 1562, she founded a new convent in Ávila called St. Joseph's, and moved there in 1563 where she wrote a "Constitution" enforcing strict asceticism.
For the first 5 years in her new convent, Teresa devoted herself entirely to spiritual contemplation and mysticism whereby she experienced many visions and mystical ecstasies, the most famous of which is the "transverberation of the heart," which she described in her Autobiography: “The angel appeared to me to be thrusting the spear of fire into my heart and piercing my very entrails; when he drew it out, he seemed to draw them out also, and left me all on fire with a great love of God.” This event inspired one of Bernini's most famous sculptures, “The Ecstasy of St. Teresa”, located in Rome.
In 1567, Teresa was granted permission by the Carmelite general to establish more Carmelite convents. Shortly thereafter, she began making long journeys throughout Spain, reforming old convents and founding new ones. She founded 16 new convents during her 20 years of reform activity.
During one of her journeys, Teresa met St. John of the Cross, who became her spiritual advisor. He joined her in her reforming efforts and paralleled her work with Carmelite nuns among Carmelite monks. More about St. John of the Cross later.
St. Teresa died from illness on one of her journeys from Burgos to Alba de Tormes on October 4, 1582. Many miracles and legends have been associated with St. Teresa since her death. The night she died, her monastic cell back in Ávila was said to fill with a pleasant fragrance. When her body was exhumed 330 years later, her coffin emitted the same heavenly fragrance. This miracle is known in Catholicism as the "odor of sanctity." It is also said that when Teresa's body was examined upon her death, she was found to have a perforation of the heart, reflecting her most famous mystical experience. According to another legend, a hand severed from St. Teresa's body could perform miracles.
St. Teresa has been highly revered within Catholicism ever since. In 1622, she was canonized by Pope Gregory XV at the same time as Ignatius of Loyola and Francis Xavier. In 1817, the Cortes declared St. Teresa the patron saint of Spain. In 1970, Pope Paul VI gave St. Teresa the honorific title "Doctor of the Church." She was the first woman in Catholic history to receive that title.
The Convent of St. Teresa, which belongs to the Order of Carmelitas Descalzos (Barefoot Carmelites), is the primary shrine of St. Teresa in Ávila. Located on the Plaza de la Santa, it stands over the site of Teresa's birth. It is an active convent and much of it remains closed to visitors, but pilgrims can visit the site of Teresa's birthplace, now an elaborate chapel within the Baroque church. The chapel is decorated with scenes of the saint demonstrating her powers of levitation.
Anyhow, our first stop outside the medieval walls of Ávila was the Monastery of the Incarnation, an important stop on the pilgrimage to St. Teresa of Ávila. This is where Teresa lived for 30 years, received the advice of St. John of the Cross, began to reform the Carmelite order, wrote, and had many of her mystical experiences.
The courtyard of the monastery is paved with a visual representation of the Interior Castle, written by St. Teresa, which compares the contemplative soul to a castle with seven successive interior courts, or chambers, analogous to the seven heavens.
After mass, we had a tour of the monastery which not only remains as an active convent today but also houses a public Museum of St. Teresa where you can visit her monastic cell, tour other rooms associated with the saint, and see a variety of items used by her. A display provides an introduction to Teresa's life, with maps showing the convents she founded and a selection of her sayings. It was actually very interesting, to say the least.
Thereafter, we had a walking tour of the walled city, with our local guide pointing out places of interest.
As a backgrounder, Ávila is a medieval city in the province of Castile-Léon in western Spain, about 70 miles northwest of Madrid. Founded in the 11th century to protect the Spanish territories from the Moors, Ávila has a magnificently well-preserved city wall, a historic cathedral, a number of Romanesque churches, and an authentic medieval atmosphere. For all these reasons, the entire Old Town of Ávila has been designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. For pilgrims, however, the city of Ávila is important because of its association with the great mystic and reformer, St. Teresa de Jesus, better known as St. Teresa of Ávila.
Avila is noted for its tall city wall which encircles the entire old city. As you travel from the south to Avila, the first thing you’ll notice is the drop in temperature as Avila is 1130 meters above sea level. The shape of the current wall is due, primarily, to construction done in the 11th and 12th centuries. Today the wall is considered one of the best preserved in the world. They are a couple miles long and average 40 feet in height. The walls are partitioned by over 80 towers that reach as high as 65 feet, the equivalent of a six-story building. There are nine gates allowing you to enter and exit the town. The amazing thing about the walls is their condition. They are in a near-perfect state. If you did not know better, you would swear they were built last week. Happily, you can tromp up and down the towers and walk across the top of the walls. Looking out over the area surrounding Avila, you get a definite feel for what it must have been like for a soldier to defend the city.
The fantastic medieval fortified walls of Avila are a sight to behold
Were you addicted to the Lord of the Rings’ movies? Do you enjoy reading about Camelot? Do you have a thing for castles? If you do, then you are going to love Avila. As I did. Indeed, the Avila walls are a sight to behold. However, keep in mind that Avila is at a high elevation and, therefore, it can be cold in the winter and blazing hot in the summer.
After the guided tour, we had some free time to ourselves. First item in the agenda was FOOD! Marilyn took Grace and me out for lunch, after which we took the opportunity to have some shots of the stunning fortified city.
Thereafter, we motored towards Segovia, famous for its world renowned Roman Aqueduct, the largest and best preserved of its kind anywhere in the world. The Aqueduct of Segovia is a Roman aqueduct and one of the most significant and best-preserved ancient monuments left on the Iberian Peninsula. It is the foremost symbol of Segovia, as evidenced by its presence on the city's coat of arms. The aqueduct is the city's most important architectural landmark. It had been kept functioning throughout the centuries and preserved in excellent condition. It provided water to Segovia, mainly to the Segovia Alcázar, until recently. Because of differential decay of stone blocks, water leakage from the upper viaduct, and pollution that caused the granite ashlar masonry to deteriorate and crack, the site was listed in the 2006 World Monuments Watch by the World Monuments Fund. Contrary to popular belief, vibrations caused by traffic that used to pass under the arches did not affect the aqueduct due to its great mass.
In the olden times, the aqueduct transports waters from Fuente Fría River, situated in the nearby mountains, some 17 km (11 mi) from the city in a region known as La Acebeda. It runs another 15 km (9.3 mi) before arriving in the city. The water is first gathered in a tank known as El Caserón (or Big House), and is then led through a channel to a second tower known as the Casa de Aguas (or Waterhouse). There it is naturally decanted and sand settles out before the water continues its route. Next the water travels 728m (796 yd) on a 1% grade until it is high upon the Postigo, a rocky outcropping on which the old city center, the Segovia Alcázar, was built. Then, at Plaza de Díaz Sanz, the structure makes an abrupt turn and heads toward Plaza Azoguejo. It is there the monument begins to display its full splendor.
At its tallest, the aqueduct reaches a height of 28.5m (93 ft 6 in), including nearly 6m (19 ft 8 in) of foundation. There are both single and double arches supported by pillars. From the point the aqueduct enters the city until it reaches Plaza de Díaz Sanz, it boasts 75 single arches and 44 double arches (or 88 arches when counted individually), followed by 4 single arches, totaling 167 arches in all. The aqueduct is built of unmortared, brick-like granite blocks. During the Roman era, each of the three tallest arches displayed a sign in bronze letters, indicating the name of its builder along with the date of construction. Today, two niches are still visible, one on each side of the aqueduct. One of them is known to have held the image of Hercules, who according to legend was founder of the city. The other niche now contains the images of the Virgen de la Fuencisla (the Patroness of Segovia) and Saint Stephen.
By way of introduction, Segovia is Spain and Castile at its best - twisting alleyways, the highest concentration of Romanesque churches in all of Europe, pedestrian streets where no cars are allowed, the aroma of roast suckling pig around every corner (yum – my arteries are quivering just thinking about it), all surrounded by the city's medieval wall, which itself is bordered by two rivers and an extensive green-belt park with miles of shaded walks. The tallest building in Segovia is still the 16th-century Cathedral, a prominent landmark as one approaches from any direction.
A city of great importance in Roman and medieval times, Segovia's population has remained relatively stable over the centuries and today hovers at around 50,000. Famous in the 15th century for its wool production, today's activities are based on agriculture and tourism. The tourist sector was greatly assisted in 1985 when UNESCO declared Segovia "Heritage of Mankind". The future of Segovia is closely linked to the protection and promotion of the city's monumental complex, in which the Mint is given a unique distinction as the world's oldest, still standing, industrial manufacturing plant (1583).
Visiting all these attractions in Segovia is particularly easy due to the city's close proximity to Madrid and its international airport. The 54-mile drive is done in less than an hour via a twin-bore tunnel going under the Guadarrama Mountains, which totally and quite effectively separate this sleepy Castillan town from the over 3 million people in Spain's capital city. The mountains also provide a dramatic backdrop to Segovia's monumental skyline, particularly in winter and spring when covered with snow. The city's elevation of 3,280 ft. provides a refreshing atmosphere during the long summer evenings for enjoying the dozens of sidewalk cafes and terraces, especially on the streets and plazas where no cars are permitted.
Upon entering the city, we had to wait for the hotel’s van because our big bus couldn’t navigate the narrow streets leading up to our hotel. So we had to walk a few blocks while our pieces of luggage were transported by the hotel’s van. We then checked in into our hotel, Hotel Infanta Isabel, a very elegant hotel wherein our hotel balcony opens up onto the square (see photos below). I am quite impressed (and happy) with Bennie’s choice of hotels since they are close to everything and everywhere.
Soon thereafter, Marilyn, Grace and I set out for some retail therapy. Yes! I was finally able to buy a top made in Spain! Most of the shops I’ve sauntered into have clothes made in China. Grrr - how frustrating! Why would I buy clothes made in China when I was in Spain? It simply doesn’t make sense. Anyhow, happy with our purchases, we returned to the hotel for dinner, after which we went to the aqueduct for some photo ops. The photos below speak for themselves – Segovia is simply stunning!
Exhausted from the events of the day, we finally trotted back to our hotel for the night.
To Be Continued......
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