As you probably gathered from my last post, the hike through the Sierra de Guadarrama was a bit taxing, and as you could imagine, my touring of Segovia was done slowly and tenderly. That said, Segovia is a beautiful city. It reminds me a great deal of Sienna, Italy only better because I actually had time to explore it! Unfortunately, the cold, wind, and rain continues to follow me around and was exceptionally evident in Segovia. I must be the Johnny Appleseed of spring in Spain. Everywhere I go I take the cold and replace it with sunshine!
Anyway, Segovia is a tremendous little town. One thing I really wanted to do on this trip is seek out some less-traveled destinations. Everyone I've met traveling in Spain so far says the same things "I'm going to Madrid, Barcelona, Grenada, Sevilla..." It's rather annoying. When I responded that I was hiking the Sierra de Guadarrama to Segovia the most common response I get is a blank stare. The second most common response is "Where? Is that in Spain?" Come on people! Americans are supposed to be the ones bad at geography!
But if you find yourself in Segovia, and for your sake I hope you find yourself there when it's warm, the main attraction is of course the aqueduct. Built by the Romans over 2000 years ago, this monolith towers over one the main squares in the city, reaching a peak height of 28 meters (91 feet). My tour guide in Madrid jokingly stated that the Romans built it just to remind the Spanish who was in charge. In reality it fed filtered water into the walled old city which was fortified by the castle on the far western end (we'll get to that).
If you walk west from the aqueduct you'll notice several things. One, beautiful winding streets with charming shops and restaurants as well as sweeping views of the city below when you approach the walled edges of the cliff. Second, the massive cathedral just off the Plaza Mayor. This big-guy was started in the 1500's when the old cathedral burned down, and in typical Spanish fashion, took around 200 years to complete. Can you imagine if you were in a family of stone masons and you, your father, grandfather, great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather, and great-great-great-grandfather all cut and laid stone for the same building... and it still wasn't done?!
Finally, you have the castle which sits imposingly on the edge of a massive rock outcropping on the west end of the city. They claim this castle was the inspiration for the Walt Disney Castle. But I heard that same spiel when visiting Neuschwanstein and I imagine I'll hear it a few more times as I check out the castles of Romania. So take that with a grain of salt.
Inside the castle is a museum of arms from all ages including some full scale mock-ups of knights in armor on horseback. I was expecting Angela Lansbury to come storming in at any moment animating everything with the substitutiary locomotion spell and wage war on the Germans (Bedknobs and Broomsticks reference, bam!). To get to the top of the tower required a climb of 152 steps, which, albeit not very fun for my sore feet, was well worth it for the view of the city.
After doing the walking tour of the city, I was starving and I had seen pizzerias everywhere. So as the American Pizza Ambassador to the world, it was my duty to sample some Spanish pizza. And where better than a small town? So I ducked into a little place and ordered up a pie and a beer while I uploaded photos and messed around on the computer. In summary, the pizza was ok, the beer was cold. Nothing special but not terrible either. In Spain I'd say stick with the cured meats, cheeses, and seafood unless you can find a Neapolitan transplant operating an authentic pie joint. For the sake of sample size, I'm sure I'll have to try at least one more though... ha.
As night rolled around I walked around to check out the scene. Sad to say that there didn't appear to be much going on. Perhaps it was because it was a Tuesday night, and it was early April, and it was cold and rainy, and it was only 8:30, but there didn't seem to be much bar or restaurant happenings on my side of town (despite a large number of venues). That said, I really wanted to try the roast suckling pig, however, after consulting with my hosts at the hostel, I determined that: (1) I had no idea how to eat it properly (do I eat the face? how embarrassing!); (2) there was no way I could eat a whole one and I hate wasting food; and (3) they are expensive! So, not very hungry after my pizza snack, I swung by the supermarket only to discover... the cheapest booze prices in the universe!
Ok, maybe that's an exaggeration, but they had liters of vodka for 4 euro and whole bottles of red wine for 1 euro or less. The most expensive bottle of wine I could find was 4 euro! What in the heck was I paying 2.50 euro for a beer for?? I had wanted to try some local red wine anyway, so for 2.50 euro I acquired a nice bottle and retired to the hotel for the evening. In all it was probably for the best as I had a 7:30am bus to Avila then Salamanca then a 1:30 bus to Ledesma where my volunteering adventure shall begin. Olé!
Anyway, Segovia is a tremendous little town. One thing I really wanted to do on this trip is seek out some less-traveled destinations. Everyone I've met traveling in Spain so far says the same things "I'm going to Madrid, Barcelona, Grenada, Sevilla..." It's rather annoying. When I responded that I was hiking the Sierra de Guadarrama to Segovia the most common response I get is a blank stare. The second most common response is "Where? Is that in Spain?" Come on people! Americans are supposed to be the ones bad at geography!
But if you find yourself in Segovia, and for your sake I hope you find yourself there when it's warm, the main attraction is of course the aqueduct. Built by the Romans over 2000 years ago, this monolith towers over one the main squares in the city, reaching a peak height of 28 meters (91 feet). My tour guide in Madrid jokingly stated that the Romans built it just to remind the Spanish who was in charge. In reality it fed filtered water into the walled old city which was fortified by the castle on the far western end (we'll get to that).
If you walk west from the aqueduct you'll notice several things. One, beautiful winding streets with charming shops and restaurants as well as sweeping views of the city below when you approach the walled edges of the cliff. Second, the massive cathedral just off the Plaza Mayor. This big-guy was started in the 1500's when the old cathedral burned down, and in typical Spanish fashion, took around 200 years to complete. Can you imagine if you were in a family of stone masons and you, your father, grandfather, great-grandfather, great-great-grandfather, and great-great-great-grandfather all cut and laid stone for the same building... and it still wasn't done?!Finally, you have the castle which sits imposingly on the edge of a massive rock outcropping on the west end of the city. They claim this castle was the inspiration for the Walt Disney Castle. But I heard that same spiel when visiting Neuschwanstein and I imagine I'll hear it a few more times as I check out the castles of Romania. So take that with a grain of salt.Inside the castle is a museum of arms from all ages including some full scale mock-ups of knights in armor on horseback. I was expecting Angela Lansbury to come storming in at any moment animating everything with the substitutiary locomotion spell and wage war on the Germans (Bedknobs and Broomsticks reference, bam!). To get to the top of the tower required a climb of 152 steps, which, albeit not very fun for my sore feet, was well worth it for the view of the city.After doing the walking tour of the city, I was starving and I had seen pizzerias everywhere. So as the American Pizza Ambassador to the world, it was my duty to sample some Spanish pizza. And where better than a small town? So I ducked into a little place and ordered up a pie and a beer while I uploaded photos and messed around on the computer. In summary, the pizza was ok, the beer was cold. Nothing special but not terrible either. In Spain I'd say stick with the cured meats, cheeses, and seafood unless you can find a Neapolitan transplant operating an authentic pie joint. For the sake of sample size, I'm sure I'll have to try at least one more though... ha.As night rolled around I walked around to check out the scene. Sad to say that there didn't appear to be much going on. Perhaps it was because it was a Tuesday night, and it was early April, and it was cold and rainy, and it was only 8:30, but there didn't seem to be much bar or restaurant happenings on my side of town (despite a large number of venues). That said, I really wanted to try the roast suckling pig, however, after consulting with my hosts at the hostel, I determined that: (1) I had no idea how to eat it properly (do I eat the face? how embarrassing!); (2) there was no way I could eat a whole one and I hate wasting food; and (3) they are expensive! So, not very hungry after my pizza snack, I swung by the supermarket only to discover... the cheapest booze prices in the universe!
Ok, maybe that's an exaggeration, but they had liters of vodka for 4 euro and whole bottles of red wine for 1 euro or less. The most expensive bottle of wine I could find was 4 euro! What in the heck was I paying 2.50 euro for a beer for?? I had wanted to try some local red wine anyway, so for 2.50 euro I acquired a nice bottle and retired to the hotel for the evening. In all it was probably for the best as I had a 7:30am bus to Avila then Salamanca then a 1:30 bus to Ledesma where my volunteering adventure shall begin. Olé!
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