Sorry I've been slow to update! I've been pretty sick this past week ever since we returned from our day trip to Astorga and Las Médulas. I really haven't been THAT sick, but being sick always feels ten times worse when you are far from home and don't want to speak Spanish with a stuffed up nose. As if my accent wasn't terrible enough already, being congested makes me sound completely lame.
About two minutes after our group stepped off the bus we happened upon this beautiful view of the city Cathedral. Unfortunately we did not get to tour the inside of the building but I was content with just "ooing" and "awwing" over the outside. By the way, our excursion consisted of a group of about 50 people, over half of whom were Japanese exchange students studying in León. It was quite interesting traveling with them considering we all speak completely different languages and our Spanish is still fairly rough. Our first stop in Astorga was to the famous Chocolate Museum. It is well-known throughout Spain, according to my host mom, and had the yummiest tasting chocolate I've had in a while. I was only able to buy a few bars to take home with me seeing as each chocolate bar was nearly 4€. This made me equally upset when I realized that I could buy the same chocolate bar down the street for half the price. Such a tourist mistake I know! The experience was great though and we were able to learn about the chocolate making process right there in Astorga.
As we left the Chocolate Museum for La Plaza Mayor, we stumbled upon a few different sights. It still amazes me how everything in Spain has so much more history attached to it compared to anywhere in the United States. I live in a town that was inhabited by the Romans as was Las Médulas (the historic landmark that we visited later in the day)
Equivalent to a city hall in the U.S.
After grabbing a quick coffee in Plaza Mayor we headed to El Palacio Episcopal de Astorga. Another amazing work of art produced by the architect Antoni Gaudí. We had the opportunity to tour the inside of the palace, which is now a museum, however we were not allowed to take pictures inside.
Following our lunch break we headed up to Las Médulas which turned into a 3 mile hike. The view was breathtaking and the sweatiness and grumpiness of an uphill hike was worth it.
Quick history lesson: Las Médulas was actually created from the aqueduct system created by the Romans that helped the pueblos below these mountains get water. The formations from these pictures were made from the water flowing down from the mountains. The Romans also mined gold from this mountainous region.
Do you see the little hole cut into the wall of the mountain above? We were actually able to hike down into the caves underneath the mountains where the Romans went gold digging. That hole was the end of the cave and we hiked down into it and took pictures from the divot in the mountain. What an amazing view!
This is Santos, our program coordinator in León. I thought this picture was blog worthy because Santos never failed to "photo bomb" at least one photographer at a time during this trip.
Tomorrow we are heading to wine country on an excursion! However, first we are going to the city Burgos to tour an old monastery because last year the group toured the wineries of Rioja first and were drunk the rest of the day. Rest assured, Santos said he would not make the same mistake twice. Especially with 13 crazy "Americanas" who dance and blast rap music in the back of our tour busses. Miss you all!
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