Segovia

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Arrived after a long drive across countryside in Segovia. This rural house is in a small town just outside the town of Segovia. The house is very nice, with a lovely courtyard equipped with tables, lounge chairs and covered porch. The owners are a bit more formal than in Casa Tila in Clavijo, but very nice. We previewed Segovia and discovered an old Alcazar, very old majestic Spanish cathedral, and an aqueduct built during roman times. The aqueduct is simply amazing, as it is so tall, and it was put together WITHOUT mortar. How is it still standing? Why is it that our buildings get demolished after 100 years?

We spent our second day in Segovia strolling around the city walls. Since it is built on the ridgeline at the confluence of two small rivers, this involved walking in the shade of trees and steep limestone cliffs that formed a natural moat around two sides of the city. We also had to pick up Ann and Zerian in Madrid that afternoon, and though the airport looks more like a spaceport because it is so modern and huge, we ended up waiting for them to come from the baggage claim for so long that one of us went to British Airway desk to check if they had actually gotten on the flight.

The next day we played tour guide, taking Ann and Z on the same walk, before going on a tour of the Alcazar, which means castle in Arabic. As this suggests, there were lots of moorish influences in the design. All in all though, despite being the summer residence of Castillian kings, it was interesting for its simple elegance as determined by its original defensive design. Then after a picnic in the park we headed off to Salamanca through a landscape that could be taken from Central California or Eastern Washington.

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Photos

View from the Alcazar
Thatºs a Knightºs Templar Temple down there. It has a twelve sided nave.