Day in Ávila

I decided to spend Sunday in Ávila, a town to the northwest of Madrid (about 50 miles away). As I have mentioned before, generally I have enjoyed my time outside the city greatly. Moreover, I hoped to find more interesting churches, architecture, or historical details which might augment my research. Unfortunately, I did not really find anything of the sort. I did, however, have a relatively pleasant day in a very quaint town.

Getting to Ávila was a bit of a pain. Where Toledo and Segovia are served by the high-speed AVE trains, Ávila (and the entire NW) are served by regional commuter trains. They are not nearly as nice as the 120mph electric miracles from my earlier journeys. Some of these trains are slow electric trains that look like the subways. Others are weird little diesel trains that seem to have an engine in each car (rather than a single engine at the head of the train). They are bumpy, and they stop at small stations along the way. So while Ávila is no further away than Toledo, it takes a solid hour and forty minutes to get their from Madrid.

Once I arrived, I was lucky enough to stumble into the middle of their Corpus Christi Sunday procession, which I filmed and photographed.