Spring Break Part 2

My brothers and a sister-in-law came over for a visit during the "Semana Santa" Holy Week.  They spent the first days on their own in Madrid and the middle of their trip in France so we did not get to see them their entire trip. 

Pedraza

The first thing we did together was go to an old walled village named Pedraza.  (This is taken as we were driving away with Brent and "Ruff" following)

 

 

Pedraza is a small village of less than 500 residents.  (Kamree, Ben & Bridget)

 

Plaza Mayor: This is a simple medieval town square where bullfights historically took place. 

 

The edge of the village!

 

 The Church of San Juan Bautista:  a Romanesque church originally built in the 12th century. Most of the current building was constructed in the 16th century. Of interest in the church is a Romanesque baptismal font from the 13th century.  (the kids)

Pedraza Castle: The original fortress dates back to the Thirteenth Century. The current castle was rebuilt in the Fifteenth Century.

 

The Royal Palace of Aranjuez

The Royal Palace of Aranjuez is a residence of the King of Spain, located in the town of Aranjuez, just south of Madrid.  For centuries, the kings and queens of Spain have chosen to spend the spring months in the Palace of Aranjuez, situated in a low-lying meadow. The palace is open to the public as one of the Spanish royal sites.
 

 

The Palace was commissioned by Philip II and was completed during the reign of Ferdinand VI by the mid-18th century; Charles III had two wings added to it. This picture is taken on the opposite side from the previous photo. 

 

There are huge gardens nearly surrounding the palace.  Apparently the gardens were built to relieve its royal residents from the dust and drought of the area.  The kids got lost in this hedge maze for about half a second.

 

 

 Within the endless gardens, was a river and several fountains.

 

Toledo-(same day)

 

Deja vu? This is my third time here so naturally many things were familiar:

 

 

Shopping:  We know all the best shops!  I'm not sure how this bull got into this shop, but I'm sure glad it was friendly.

 We walked the old streets, the old buildings and again saw this beautiful church.

 

 

  Unlike the other times,  we  this museum "the army before there were armies museum".   Although you couldn't guess it from this picture, Mason was the most interested in this.

 

 

We planned to go to Toledo to see a Holy Week procession and scheduled our time around it.  We weren't aware we would have to wait 2 hours for it to begin.   There were a few rows of seats for 7 Euros each that I had doubted would sell out.  Instead we were crammed in behind the chairs.  You can see Mason's hand and hair on the chair in front of us with two oldies on either side of him ready to move over with the slightest opportunity. 

 

 By the time it started the sun was down and as you can see all the seats are sold out, perhaps that was what they were waiting for, or the procession just ran on Spanish time. 

   The wait was long enough to nearly drive our kids and us crazy!

Spain celebrates Easter Week much more than most European countries. During the Semana Santa, (Holy Week), street processions are organized in most Spanish towns each evening/day, from Palm Sunday to Easter Sunday. 

 

It is a little spooky if you don't know what to expect.  The atmosphere is quite depressing and sometimes seems oppressive as people carry their churches' religious statues of Mary and Christ around on floats or wooden platforms, and often participants/ the penitents wear clothes reminiscent of the ku klux klan.   In fact their clothes are meant to depict the Nazareños, people from Nazareth.

 

The Easter week processions end with Easter Sunday, being a day full of light and color when church and cathedral bells are heard ringing throughout the country.

The procession was extremely slow moving and after a few hours of waiting and watching we had had enough and braved the thick crowd of people and reverently sneak through the resting marchers.

 It was a late night!!!

 

 

 Segobriga Archaeological Park

 

 

Less than an hour away from Madrid is Segobriga, a Roman Archaeological Park that we only just found out about by chance, since many Spanish people have never heard of it.  The city of Segobriga (Sego-briga) was founded before the Roman invasion by Celtiberians, "sego" meaning victory and "briga" city fortress.  The development of the Roman city of Segobriga started sometime during the first century B.C.  Under Roman rule, Segobriga became an important urban and commercial center.  

 

 

 

 

Unlike the Roman city of "Merida", Segobriga is not surrounded by signs of modern life, but instead is surrounded by the same natural rolling hills as it would have had back when it was populated.  It dates to the days when Jesus walked the earth, and is still in the process of being excavated and restored. 

 

 

 

There were several of these stone caskets along our walk from the visitors center to the city ruins.  The Roman's initially cremated their dead and then ultimately, with the rise of Christianity among the Romans and changes in attitudes to the afterlife,  inhumation/burials began to replace cremation.  Many of the dead were buried outside the city limits near the roads. 

 

We were relieved to find some available, perfectly sized caskets for these two. 

 

In the book History of Christianity by "Walker" and the book by Everett Ferguson, Backgrounds

of Early Christianity it states the following about the Greco-Roman views of the after life.

"Roman belief held that the human soul was immortal, and that when a person died their soul was judged before a court, with those who had done good being sent to the Elysian Fields, and those who did bad were sent to the Tartarus."

 

"The abode of souls transferred to the celestial regions to enjoy immortality in the regions of the moon, sun, or stars, where the celestial world became the home of the virtuous, whose spirits arose through the planetary spheres to the Supreme Being to dwell in luminous bliss, and the nether world became the abode of the wicked, who were cast down to subterranean darkness in order to suffer eternal chastisement. The bliss of the righteous was commonly depicted under one of three images: repose or rest, a celestial banquet, or the vision of God."  Fascinating, right?

 

 

 

 

Kamree is performing backwards in the theatre of Segobriga. 

The theatre could seat 2,000 people,with lavishly decorated columns and statues.  

 

 

(Picture from up above the theatre) Here we got yelled at by another tourist for trying to walk up these ancient stone steps/seats although there are no signs stating that we can't, and they currently perform plays here.

 

This picture was taken just before we went up the hill behind us to the site of the old celtiberian fortress and the remains of an old Muslim tower. 

 

 

We wandered around what is left of the Muslim Tower for several minutes and then went down the other side to then realize Kamree was not with us.  I'm sure she was smart enough to stay put, in the theatre but likely cried until someone else found her and walked her the half a mile back to the entrance to wait for us. 

 

 

After Brent, Morgan and I searched the ruins as fast as possible, Morgan offered to run the 1/2 mile back to the visitor's center to see if someone had taken her there.  I was extremely grateful since I was already sore from going on a lengthy early morning run with Ben.  After letting Morgan run off, I thought if she were there, they might not allow her to go with just Morgan thus I followed after him.

 

 

 

Sure enough by the time I got within a few meters of the visitors' center Morgan came walking out with her.  After the initial, "I'm found, crying" stopped she then cried that her belly hurt too bad to walk, consequently, I got to carry her back the half mile to the ruins. 

           

 

This picture was taken after we had just met up in the amphitheater after returning with Kamree. 

 

 

 

The excavated amphitheater in which 5,500 people could sit and view the contests, was quite impressive. Typically, the gladiatorial battles included individual combatants, fights between men and animals, and other public spectacles.  

 

 

 Above the amphitheater (down below on the right) and next to the theatre were the well preserved public baths built in the late first or early second century AD. These baths included a dry circular sauna with a basin in the center to be cooled with cold water and a sauna with a swimming pool or bath with a furnace in the lower level.                                                                                                                                                   

 

 

 Brent is strolling through the changing rooms of the baths with the pigeon holes or niches for bathers clothing and other possessions. 

 

   In the center of this picture you can see what is called the "Forum" or square of the city.  The construction of the Forum began in Augustan times and was surrounded by a colonnade supported by big columns.  

 

 

As the Roman Empire began to decline, the Visigoths rose up and conquered the region, including the city of Segobriga.  These Visigoths built a Christian church, and left many grave markers.  Segobriga was ultimately abandoned in the 4th century due to the Islamic conquest of Spain. 

 

 

Ucles- near Segobriga

 Beyond these walls lies a small village, and inside the walls are a huge Monastery and a small Arab Fortress.  Ucles is only a few kilometers from Segobriga and sadly the Segobrigan buildings were used as an inexhaustible quarry to build this beautiful monastery etc.

This "Gigantic" town has a huge population of 287 inhabitants. 
Due to the the deep conversations Morgan initiates,  I sometimes forget how little he is. 









The gates to the monastery located within the fortress of Uclés.

This monastery is known as the Escorial of la Mancha or the "Escorial Manchego"  for its magnitude and similarity.  This monastery replaced a former Gothic church  from the 12th century in the year 1529 by the Order of Santiago. 

 

 

 The new building was built in the Renaissance style although the south façade (as pictured above), the best known of the monastery, is Baroque.

 

 

 In the church, built by Francisco de Mora, there is a nave with a transept and several side chapels.  This pictures shows the extent of what we saw inside unless you count the "treat" shop with several interesting food samples.

 Here is "Benny" strolling along the perimeter.

  

"Bridget Idget" was adorned with wild flowers picked by Kamree with love.

 

From the fortress walls, we enjoyed peeping into the Ucles residents' back yards.

 

 

 Across from the Monastery you can see this old Arab fortress unless you are Morgan then

you will only see something to climb.  As always, the other three follow just behind. 

 Here they are inspecting part of the fortress walls.  Can't tell you what they were inspecting, but apparently it was quite fascinating! 

Segovia

My family flew to Southern France Easter Sunday and returned a couple of days later, they went to Segovia the next day and then flew home the day after that.  I tagged along to Segovia, but since this is my 4th time here, I didn't even bring a camera.  This amazing photo was taken by me from Ben's facebook page, thanks!

As always with visitors, we were all exhausted by the time they left.

 

 

 

 

It is a little spooky if you don't know what to expect.  The atmosphere is quite depressing and sometimes seems oppressive as people carry their churches' religious statues of Mary and Christ around on floats or wooden platforms, and often participants/ the penitents wear clothes reminiscent of the ku klux klan.   In fact their clothes are meant to depict the Nazareños, people from Nazareth.

 

The Easter week processions end with Easter Sunday, being a day full of light and color when church and cathedral bells are heard ringing throughout the country.