Weekend walking tours in Madrid
Three weekend, morning Madrid walking tours are offered early each semester led by language and art history faculty. Participation is voluntary and groups of no more than 10 are introduced to the city, its layout, transportation systems, history, monuments, and important social and civic services.
Ávila and Segovia
This one-day trip takes students across the Guadarrama Mountains into Old Castile to visit two of Spain’s most important and historical cities and their monuments, accompanied by SU Madrid professors of art and history.
Ávila de los Caballeros is a stunning example of a medieval walled-city dating back to Roman times. Students walk the crenelated ramparts of its mile-long walls with their 88 turrets to gaze down upon the high Castilian plains and Roman structures. A visit to Santa Teresa’s birthplace, converted to a convent in the 17th century, provides the backdrop for the religious history and legends of this early Christian community.
Segovia, once the traveling throne of Spanish kings, was built at the confluence of two Roman roads. A grand 2,000-year-old Roman aqueduct soars 100 feet above street level and was still in use until 25 years ago The model for Disney’s castle in Sleeping Beauty, the Alcázar, perches high above the Castilian countryside. Once a fortress, then a state prison and later a military school, students climb the 235 steps to claim the view.
El Escorial and the Valley of the Fallen
Built in the 16th century, El Escorial is at once a monastery, royal residence, mausoleum, and library nestled in the foothills of the Guadarrama mountains north of Madrid. SU art and history professors lead students through the royal chambers and collections. Students complete the one-day trip with a visit to the Valley of the Fallen monument, built as a memorial to those who died in Spain’s Civil War. The overwhelming size, the setting, and what the monument represents in terms of lost human life and the futility of the struggle to live in peace, sobers all who venture here.
Barcelona:
This four-day trip is led by SU Madrid art history professors who lecture in both English and Spanish and integrate the content of art history classes in Madrid with works seen in Barcelona. A full day is dedicated to Picasso, Miró, and the architect Mies van der Rohe. Another day is given to Antonio Gaudí and a third to the modern and contemporary architectural design of the famous "Discordant City Block" in downtown Barcelona, contrasted with the somber Gothic section built centuries earlier over Roman Barcino. Attendance at the symphony caps the Barcelona experience.
Note: An alternative trip to Andalucía is planned for Mare Nostrum and Eurovision students who have already visited Barcelona. (See below.)
Córdoba-Sevilla-Grenada:
Mare Nostrum and Eurovision seminar students travel to Southern Spain for a four-day introduction to historic Andalucía and al-Andalus. Students visit the Great Mosque and Cathedral of Córdoba, the sites of Sevilla, and the Nassrid Emirate in Granada with Madrid faculty Paul Moran and Ramón Buckley. Eurovision students also tour the Coca Cola plant in Sevilla. (During this period, Azahar students visit Barcelona or Lisbon.)