Spain 2010 part 4

Last Friday we had the opportunity to travel north of Madrid to visit two castles; the Alcázar de Segovia and the Manzanares el Real. We met at 0900 from the main plaza in Alcalá and traveled by bus first to Segovia and then to Manzanares. Although it was raining, everyone was cheerful and we enjoyed thoroughly the experience. You will also notice in some of the pictures an aqueduct. This is in Segovia near the castle and was built by the Romans in the 1st century. No mortar or cement was used of any kind and is only held together by the weight of the stone. Its an engineering marvel and was even in use up to about fifteen years ago as an aqueduct. The following is a more detailed description of both castles taken from the internet:

The Alcázar of Segovia (literally, Segovia Castle) is a stone fortification, located in the old city of Segovia, Spain. Rising out on a rocky crag above the confluence of the rivers Eresma and Clamores near the Guadarrama mountains, it is one of the most distinctive castle-palaces in Spain by virtue of its shape - like the bow of a ship. The Alcázar was originally built as a fortress but has served as a royal palace, a state prison, a Royal Artillery College and a military academy since then. The Alcázar of Segovia, like many fortifications in Spain, started off as an Arab fort, but little of that structure remains. The first reference to this particular Alcázar was in 1120, around 32 years after the city of Segovia returned to Christian hands (during the time when Alfonso VI of Castile reconquered lands to the south of the Duero river down to Toledo and beyond). However, archaeological evidence suggests that the site of this Alcázar was once used in Roman times as a fortification. This theory is further substantiated by the presence of Segovia's famous Roman Aqueduct.

Manzanares el Real Castle lies 50 kilometers from Madrid on the southern slope of the Guadarrama mountain range, between Santillana reservoir and the crags of La Pedriza. Construction commencing in 1475, it has been used in several motion pictures, most notably El Cid. The Castle is an impressive example of fifteenth century Castilian military architecture, and one of the last of its kind in Spain. In fact, after initially being user as a fortress, it became a residential Palace of one of the noblest families in Castilla since the Middle Ages: the Mendozas. The Mendoza family, whose lineage goes back to the XI century and who were linked to the Spanish monarchy, received titles of nobility and considerable inheritances for their services to the Crown. The connection between the Mendoza's and the territory of Real de Manzanares dates from the XIV century when Pedro Gonzalez de Mendoza (1340-1385), faithful servant of Enrique II of Trastamara, was granted extensive estates in the Somosierra mountain range from Buitrago to Colmenar. (taken from castles.org)

Spain 2010 part 3

This series of photographs covers three different small excursions: Madrid's Rastro, the art museum Reina Sofia and a visit to the Naval Museum. The Rastro is the most popular open-air flee market in Madrid. It is held every Sunday morning and is located along a series of streets that are blocked off to accommodate hundreds of booths. Most of the streets are shaded so the morning hours provide a pleasant temperature to shop around the streets. However, given the popularity of the Rastro it is also common to have pick pockets "shopping" as well.

The museum Reina Sofia, named after the current queen of Spain, is a modern art museum and contains such artists as Picasso, Joan Miró and Salvador Dalí among many others. The visit was enjoyable, particularly as we tried to decipher some of the works of Salvador Dalí. Its exciting to be able to get right up close to some of the world's greatest masterpieces, however, there was also a security guard present to make sure you didn't touch the painting. Spain's most prized modern art possession is a piece by Picasso called Guernica. The painting is enormous and depicts the suffering of the town of Guernica after being bombed by Adolf Hitler during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). You're not allowed to take pictures so I took one looking in from another room. The other paintings have a yellow tint because you're not allowed to use flash when taking pictures...Enjoy!

In the Naval Museum you experience the history of the navy as told through paintings, weapons and charts. Each room details a different era in history, and you start with the 15th century and pass through different rooms until you reach the present day. It also includes a room dedicated to the Spanish-American War of 1898. Perhaps the most prized possession of the museum is the oldest map of the Americas made by Juan de la Cosa in 1500.

Spain 2010 part 2

On Friday, we went to Madrid to attend a bullfight. This was also a great opportunity to familiarize the cadets with the subway system in Madrid, which at first glance appears to be quite daunting to say the least. However, armed with maps and an idea of where you would like to go its actually not too difficult.

After taking a train from Alcalá to the Atocha station (the same station that was bombed by Al Qaeda after 9/11 and killed hundreds), we took another train to "Puerta del Sol," the heart of downtown Madrid. From there we got onto line 2 of the subway and that took us right to the bullfight stadium.

The bullfight stadium, known in Spanish as "La Plaza de Toros," was built in 1931 by famed architect Espeliú and reflects Spain's Moorish past in its architecture. The stadium's capacity is 25,000, yet every seat has a great perspective of the bullring. You will notice in the pictures the staple keyhole arches that adorn the facade of the stadium and together with the ornamental brickwork it would appear as if we stepped out of the subway and into Andalusia in Southern Spain.

Spain 2010 part 1

We are coming up on our first week in Alcalá de Henares, Spain. The students survived the long plane trip and the tasty morsels offered on board as well as a swift exit through customs. They were taken to the Plaza Cervantes in the middle of old town Alcalá where their families were waiting to take them to their new homes. The next day was orientation, which took the entire day and included tours around Alcalá as well as downtown Madrid. I have added a slide show to the left of this blog that corresponds to the posts.

The following is a description from the Instituto Franklin's website, which describes where the students are studying for the next four weeks:

The Instituto Franklin offices and classrooms are located in the historical downtown of Alcalá de Henares, in the Trinitarios building, built in the first half of the 17^th Century as a convent and University College for the Trinitarios Descalzos religious order.

In 1839 the Trinitarios College passed to the Spanish armed forces and became an Artillery Headquarters serving as a military command post. Finally in 1994 the University of Alcalá recovered it and restored it to its actual academic activities.

Today, Trinitarios College is completely renovated and surrounded by gardens and patios , conserving its original monastic structure with modern amenities. The building is spacious and full of natural light with its original structure.

This exclusive building offers students all the facilities and modern technology necessary for study abroad programs.

There are eight fully equipped classrooms, a computer lab, study posts, meeting rooms for professors and researchers. There are also two libraries ; The American Studies library, unique to Spain, located in the basement, and the Cervantina Library located on the ground floor.