Ávila

Last week, I took a break and took a drive with some friends to Ávila.

We took the scenic route--through the mountains, with some winding roads, but zero traffic--and ended up in Ávila just in time for lunch.

I ordered the ham and melon that you see to the left, and my friend Á ordered the fried potatoes with ham and eggs to the right. There were then second courses to the meal + dessert, so we ate a lot of food.

So did that wasp! He was a little stinker, flying around our meal and trying to chow down on all my ham. We definitely did succeed in extracting him from the ham and enjoying the rest of our meal in relatively wasp-free peace. 

Ávila dates back to Roman times, and was hugely important during the Reconquest and the Empire. It even boasts the birthplace and baptismal chapel of Santa Teresa de Jesús, a nun and mystic who was also a prolific author and poet. 

It has a pretty plaza (where we ate that massive, wasp-filled lunch)

 and took an awesome photo

And a massive cathedral (that we didn't enter)

But most notably, Ávila has some AMAZINGLY well-preserved medieval walls. 

I really wanted to walk around the ramparts, but there wasn't time. Looks like I'll have to go back!