TOLEDO
“. . .rocky gravity, glory of Spain and light of her cities.” - Cervantes
“…the most brilliant and evocative summary of Spain’s history.” - Cossío

Hello Domers,

This past week in Spain was Semana Santa, “Holy Week,” and all of the students in Toledo had the week off to travel and see new sites. I traveled to the Canary Islands , which are part of Spain . They are basically the Bahamas of Spain. We went to the several beaches and enjoyed the beautiful atmosphere. The islands were made by a huge beautiful volcano located in the center of Tenerife were we went.

Many students including myself returned to Toledo in time to see the famous processions or parades that go through the streets each night of the week during Semana Santa. The last few nights had the best processions. All of the people in the procession were costumes with hats that cover their faces. There were groups of men that would carry the huge statues of Christ and of Mary as well. It was definitely unlike anything I have ever seen in my life.

The people from Toledo demonstrate a great respect for their religion and the events during Semana Santa. They also play music, and there are little kids that carry lanterns wearing costumes that walk with the others in the procession as well. Overall, it was very exciting to see, a once in a lifetime event. Many other students returned from their traveling with many stories to tell about the cities they visited such as Rome , Paris , Sevilla, Venice , Barcelona , and many others.

In general, all is well here, and I hope it is the same at ND. Our semester will be over is 2 weeks, and no one can believe how fast in flew by.

-Dan Robinette drobinet@nd.edu

You never know what you'll find in Spain!