May 3, 2010 -- Avila

Avila has the oldest, most complete, and best preserved city wall in Spain, within which rests the old city with cathedrals, monasteries, castles, etc. It is really quite impressive. Outside of the walls is a small but vibrant city with a fair amount of new construction and infrastructure.

It was very cold in Avila (in fact we experienced a blistering hail) and the hike around the walls was not available (because it was Monday), but we did some exploring of the city.

The cathedral is very old and interesting from that perspective alone. Avila was one of the first Spanish cities to fall in the reconquista and the cathedral's architecture is early Gothic. The Gothic columns do not begin at the floor and sweep up to the ceiling -- they begin atop Roman columns instead and the Gothic arches are not consistent at the ceiling but are interspersed with round Roman arches. This is an interesting transitional church in terms of architecture. Unfortunately, we could not take photos inside the cathedral.

Just outside the city walls, in a lovely plaza, Carol relaxed in the arms of Santa Teresa, who was born in Avila. We then enjoyed some wonderful tapas in a cafe in the plaza and returned to the Parador. The weather did not improve so we welcomed the opportunity to snuggle down for the evening, do some blogging and photo labelling and go to bed.

We read an article in the Parodor magazine which is quite instructive regarding the Spanish daily timetable, which has, and continues to, intrigue us. It is by Santiago Petschen, PhD in Political Science, Chair of International Relations and Jean Monnet Professor of the European Union -- quite a qualified fellow. He is explaining Spanish attitudes to the European Union, which range from refusal to acceptance of elements of Europeanism. He writes:

There is one everyday and highly transparent issue on which Spaniards refuse to accommodate Europe: timetables. We Spaniards have not changed our timetables and therefore continue to be a lonely exception within Europe, despite being aware of their inefficiency. There is now a school of thought that suggests that we should copy the Portuguese timetable, a more European one than our own, but our customs are so deep-rooted that it is hard to imagine that ever happening. Paradigmatically, timetables have a great influence on a variety of other aspects of life, such as eating, sleeping, working, and entertainment.