Amanda's Blog for Spain!: Flashback!

Due to the lack of availability for internet in Madrid, I was not able to update my blog on some our fun adventures! There were many different things we did that I wish to share. So I hope this blog helps to fill in and inform everyone about some cool things we did already :)

Madrid:

We arrived in Spain bright and early. Almost immediately we began our adventures. The first part of the trip began in Madrid. I was surprised to see that Madrid has a very urban environment that is similar to cities in the U.S. Ima, our FABOULOUS tour guide, took us on a walking tour of Madrid. We arrived at Plaza de Sol. She told us that the city was preparing for the 3 Kings holiday. It is a great celebration in Spain where the citizens celebrate when the 3 kings came with gifts and visited Jesus. Kids in Spain receive their gifts. She also mentioned the great sales that go on during the holiday. Woot woot! I love sales! :)

Later that day, we went to the Palacio Royal (Royal Palace). This white palace is extremely large and grand. From the outside, it looks as if it were just made for a movie and it could not be real! Our tour guide led us through the palace and to the different rooms. Each room was different and usually had different themes. One room was asian themed while another was focused on floral decor. We went through many, many rooms. What amazed me though was that we went through many rooms but the whole palace itself has 2800 rooms! That's insane! I guess the royal family is grand, so they have the most lavish lifestyle :) I love palaces and to see this palace with so much history, made me excited.

One of the best things I did in Madrid was watching the 3 Kings Parade. It was so cool! There was a LOT of people there. We saw acrobats and the 3 Kings themselves :) They had fantastic fireworks at the end too!

Segovia:

This city is probably one of my favorite places by far! From the moment we entered the city, I was in awe. We got off the bus to see the amazing aqueducts. These aqueducts were ENORMOUS! Bigger than I could ever imagine. It was so neat. We also heard the legend of the aqueducts and how a young girl almost sold her soul to the devil if he was able to finish the aqueduct in the day.

My favorite part of the day had to be the castle called Alcazar. One word for it: WOW. WOW WOW WOW and WOW. It honestly reminded me of a castle I would see in Disney movies when I was little. It was so elegant and magicallooking. As we

walked through, we saw armor, swords, cannons, and much more. I saw portraits of Isabella, Ferdinand, Philip and other royals. The best part though was definitely climbing to the top of the tower.

Getting to the top of the tower was a struggle! There were small stairs and it was very tight. It was tough climbing up while others were climbing down. However, we made it up all 150 steps! YAY us! Once we caught our breath from the steep staircase, we look out at the view. The view from the top of the tower look all over Segovia. It was breath taking. There was not one single area on the top of the tower that looked bad. It was fantastic and I loved it!

Toledo:

Although sad to leave Madrid and Segovia, our last stop before Granada was Toledo. Similarly to Segovia, Toledo had large aqueducts and had a great view of the city at certain areas. I really enjoyed our walk through the monastery. In the middle, there was a beautiful garden. When walking up to the higher levels, it was gorgeous. I thought it was neat knowing that only nine monks remained there. 9 monks living in that enormous monastery!? Crazy! I liked looking into the key hole too and seeing the library :)