Friday, September 25th

Getting to Avila (a small walled city nothwest of Madrid) was almost a disaster, but we had a fun time once we got there. If you don’t want to read my detailed account of getting to Avila, feel free to skip down to the part labeled ¡Ávila!

We planned to take the 11:30 train and met at 11:10. However by the time we found each other and the ticket office it was after 11:15 and there was a long line. We waited about 10 minutes and then decided we would try the bus instead.

We got to the bus station at 11:40 and saw there was a bus to Avila at 12. We got in line and after waiting for a few minutes I realized there was a machine where you could buy tickets with a credit card. After making sure that our bus was there, the other two girls got out of line. But when I swiped my card, nothing happened. It didn’t tell me something was wrong, it just sat there. The same with Cassie’s card and another machine.

So we got back in line and got to the window with five minutes left. In a hurry to get to the train I didn’t think to ask for the number, but the bus number was on the ticket. So we ran downstairs and across the station to find number 21, but there was no bus. Then after some more running around we figured out bus number 21 leaves from station number 49. So… we went to 49, and there was no bus. It was 12:01.

We went back up to the ticket window to see what we could do. She said (at least I understood) that we could use the tickets on the 2:30 bus. So we hung out for a couple of hours and ate our lunches, and returned at 2:15. But when the bus came, the bus driver told us we had to get tickets for 2:30 (of course). So we ran back upstairs and talked with a different guy, who told us we had to buy different tickets. So… we did. (Also the guy tried to tell me I needed my original passport and not just a copy, which was ridiculous).

Then, finally, we got on the bus. Naturally, the bus went a different way that the Spanish guy sitting next to me who often travels to Ávila said it never goes. But once we got there, all was well.

¡Ávila!

We got to Ávila with four hours to travel and such. We went to the Covenant of Saint Teresa, and also saw her finger. Apparently it’s a Catholic tradition I wasn’t aware of to save relics of various saints. They also had some bone splinters from another saint.

Then we bought yemas! Yemas are a specialty of Ávila; a soft boiled egg yolk coated in sugar. It wasn’t as gross as it sounds, but I probably wouldn’t buy it again. But worth trying. After that we went up the wall that surrounds the city. We made the mistake of using our two tickets on the smaller sections of the wall (there are three). But a great view!

After those activities we realized there wasn’t really much else to do, and we’d only been there two hours. So we went outside the wall and sat in the grass for a while, and then went to the main plaza. There we sat down and had some sangria and yummy free tapas. I’m a really big fan of sangria… I don’t really like many alcoholic drinks but sangria is very refreshing and it isn’t all that strong as far as wine and alcohol goes and very fruity and sweet.

Fortunately we made it home without a problem! It was quite an adventure, hopefully big enough of one that we won’t have another one of this sort.