Thursday, December 11, 2014

Segovia, Spain - September 2014



Another wonderful adventure took us to Segovia.  We took the train as per usual and it was around a half hour trip for maybe 5 euros each.  Segovia, like Burgos, has the train station outside of town so you must catch a bus from the station to be taken to the city center.  I think the bus was maybe 1.40 euros each and the ride was maybe 20 minutes.

What a gorgeous and interesting city.  The most spectacular sight for us was the Roman Aqueduct which at its tallest stands at 95 feet high in the Plaza Azoguejo.  It is truly a reminder of the Romans superior engineering abilities.  Segovia became its most prominent in 1088 after the Moors and Visigoths were dominant and the Castilian King Alfonso VI installed his court there.  There was a very prosperous period then and there were over 40 churches erected.





There is so much to see that I do not recommend venturing into the city without a map.  I feel we missed a lot because we did not think to grab one from the tourist office which is basically right across the street from the bus stop.  We just did our own thing though and wandered the streets as we always do trying to take in as much as possible.  There are so many winding streets and narrow alleys you could definitely get turned around fairly easily. We also missed the castle and I do not know how this was even possible because it is huge.  We will have to go back and do some more exploring.



This is another city which is surrounded by walls and we spent some time wandering on top of them and just taking in the amazing views from around the outsides of the city.  We spent hours just marveling at the architecture of the buildings and enjoyed all the music pouring out of the cafes into the streets.  We found a café which served vegetarian paella which is always a lovely treat and is not often found.  It is traditionally made with meats so we do not get to enjoy it nearly as much as we would like to.  There are many cafes and restaurants that will suit anyones appetites as there is excellent variety.  Whenever you are in a touristy place you will usually find more international cuisine.

City Walls 

Ross and I usually bring snacks with us when we go on trips because for one we cant always find things we can eat and two I need to always have food with me because I get cranky when I my blood pressure drops and poor Ross has learned to just give me a granola bar when I get bitchy and I will be fine.  Anyhow because of this I had a kitchen knife in my bag for cutting cheese and bread.  It was much bigger then necessary but it is our only knife that has a cover for the blade.  So as we are getting on the train back to Valladolid I had to put my bag through the scanner.  Now they do not always do this at the stations, usually only if you are taking the high speed trains, so it never occurred to me I would have to do this so I was walking past the machine without putting my bag through.  The guys stops me and instructs me to do this and I felt stupid of course and I couldn't understand what he was saying, only that he needed to check my bag.  Then of course of the scanner it shows up that I have this huge knife in my bag and his eyes bulge and he is staring at me like ‘What the hell lady!?’  Then I have to try and explain it is only for eating lunch. That was interesting.  He eventually just let me go through which was great but at the same time really worried me about safety on the trains.  I mean it was a pretty big knife and all I said was ‘no, no, its not for killing its for eating’ and that seemed to be good enough.

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