Segovia

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Jasmine came to get me because we had decided yesterday that we could take the 8am bus to Segovia, but she could tell how tired I was, so I did get to sleep for almost another hour or so, and we still made it in time to catch the 9am. The bus wasn’t too bad, but I couldn’t sleep on it like I was hoping, but the trip to Segovia was only 1.5 hours. When we got there, we had no idea where to go to find the “touristy” area, but we knew we both desperately needed coffee before anything, so we walked around looking for a pasteleria. We found a cute little place and all the little desserts looked so good! I finally decided on a napolitian créma (the spelling is probably off, oh well) and of course, café con leche. They were both really good. The napolitian was so flakey and the cream was some kind of cream cheese filling…yummy. During breakfast, we pulled out my handy, “Spain for Dummies” to look at the map and find out where to go and what we should do first. The main 3 things to see in Segovia happen to be spread out pretty evenly in the old part of the city. So we started on one end to look at the Roman Aqueduct. It’s huge and is actually the remains from 2000 years ago! No reconstruction. And, they didn’t use any mortar or anything, it’s just the rocks holding themselves together! Pretty amazing! After that, we weren’t sure how to get into the city (there’s a wall surrounding the oldest part of the city…where everything “touristy” is. So we started climbing these stairs…very tiring. When we got to the top, we got a better look at the aqueduct and how long it is. It stretches 1km and now has 166 arches, reaching 95ft. high. Next, we walked down some narrow streets and saw a bunch of tourists, so we just followed. This town is so cute. We passed some interesting buildings and peeked inside a few, but I’m no so sure we were allowed to…but if we ever get caught…just play the dumb tourist card! We found Plaza Mayor and the Cathedral. Massive, like all the ones I’ve seen, and only 2€ to enter…and we can actually take pictures in this one! When we went inside, it looked very similar to the other cathedrals I’ve visited, but still amazing and leaves me in awe. We walked around looking at all the side chapels, and the inner area where the pipe organ is and the choir sits. Then we walked out to a courtyard which was nice. But really, I’d have to say, the things I like most about these cathedrals are the incredible ceilings and the stained glass. After about an hour, we left and headed to the other end of the city to find the Alcázar - a castle. It was 3€ to enter, so we got inside, and it was very medieval. There were knights on horses everywhere. It was pretty neat. And the outside looks like a fairytale castle! But to get a better look, we’ll have to go down and look from a different angle. Inside the castle, we took a lot of pictures and walked around. Unfortunately, our ticket didn’t allow us to go up into the tower, which I read is the best place to see the whole city. We decided to take a break and get some lunch, but places here are so expensive! We finally found a reasonable “Plato del día” at this place that looked pretty good. We sat outside, which Jasmine wasn’t too thrilled about, but in my opinion, it’s so much better being outside. We couldn’t understand much on the menu, but I always to try order things that I don’t get anywhere else. Finally, I decided on the Ensalada Rusa (no idea what “rusa” means), some kind of squid dish, and red wine (it’s supposed to be the best here). My salad came out and it was very good. It was some kind of tuna salad. Then my main dish came out. The squid was interesting. I’ve never had it cooked quite like that. It literally looked like a squid was on my plate, but it didn’t taste bad, but the texture was so gummy. Then, for dessert, I ordered something that I didn’t understand… something about creamy. When I got it, it was kind of a mix between yogurt and pudding. It was OK, but I definitely don’t want it again. During lunch, I got my book out again (I’m so glad I bought this book! It’s very useful!). It said that a good place to go is El Parque del Alcázar. This is outside the city walls, and a pretty long trek, but we weren’t exactly sure how to get there. We kept asking people, but it seemed like nobody even knew what we were talking about. Finally we ended up back at the aqueducts and I saw a tourism place. I stopped in and got a map and talked to the guy. He said it was at least a 45 min. walk, but that it was very beautiful. We decided to cut through the city again…all the way back to the castle where apparently there are stairs leading down the cliff. Sure enough we found them…not just any stairs, earthy-natural stairs! Ha. It was very difficult. Each step was different and most were very steep. And before we started, I decided to buy this little tea set which is a pitcher and 6 little cups…all ceramic…probably not the best choice! So climbing down these stairs with this heavy tea set in just a flimsy plastic sack…ugh (but, the whole set was only 5€!) We finally got to the bottom, and all we could think about was eventually, we’ll have to go back up those things…eek. We walked down the street and yes, there were very beautiful views of the castle. I also read in my book about Iglesia de la Vera Cruz. So we found that. It’s a very interesting shape, polygonal with a tower to the side. I went in while Jasmine rested outside. It was 1.75€, and I have to say…not worth that. It was very disappointing inside. Some claim that this was the place of secret rites of the Knights Templar, but no one knows. Now, Jasmine and I had to trek up those dreaded stairs. Although we were sweaty and very out of breath by the time we reached the top, it wasn’t all that bad, it actually seemed longer going down. We decided we had probably seen all there is to see in Segovia, so we were shooting for the 7:30 bus back to Madrid. We started walking, but we really had no idea where the bus station was…but some how, we came right up to it. We stopped at a little grocery store to get some desperately needed water and headed to the bus station…I think we’ll actually make the 7 bus. So we got in line and handed the driver our ticket and he said something to us that we couldn’t understand, but he was obviously telling us that we couldn’t use the tickets that we had. Very confused, but this guy that spoke English told us that our tickets are still good, but we have to go exchange them for a different one at the ticket office…where there was a very long line! Ugh. Now, it was like 2 min. until 7…but luckily, the line went fast and we made the bus. I slept for a whole 30 min on the bus, and when we got in town, we decided we’d go see a movie. It took us awhile to find the theater that shows movies in English (with Spanish subtitles). Finally, we had to call Virginia for directions, we finally found it and decided to see Vicky, Christina, Barcelona. But it didn’t start for another hour or so, so we took the Metro to Sol and got us some café con churros (well, Jasmine got chocolate). They are so good. The movie was OK. It was entertaining, but not one of my favorites. By the end of the movie, I was ready to sleep…especially since I have work in the morning and I didn’t sleep last night…at all.

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Photos

Breakfast
Here's Jasmine and me at our Pasteleria...yumyum

Roman Aqueduct
So here's those arches

Standing under an arch...
...with the countryside behind me

Catedral de Segovia
here's the cathedral...the inside is even more impressive!

Near the courtyard in the Cathedral
you know this could be a postcard!

Jasmine
Here's Jasmine standing in El Alcázarde Segovia

El Alcázar de Segovia
so this looks pretty much like a fairy tale castle!

Lunch
Here's me with my lunch and Castilian red wine.

Iglesia de la Vera Cruz
This is that polygonal church I went into...pretty small.

Stairs
These are those earth-stairs we had to walk down...trust me, it was worse than it looks!