I went to Segovia for a day trip from Madrid, it was about a fiver
return on the bus which takes around an hour and a half. Having visited Toledo the previous day
I found that Segovia was not altogether much different but nonetheless was a nice place to see.
My main reason for going was to see the Roman Aqueduct, one of the most complete and well
preserved in existence.
This is the main touristy shopping street outside of the old
city walls, which runs from the church of San Millan up to the aqueduct.
The Roman Aqueduct was just as good as I had hoped it would
be, two tiers, about half a mile long and 30 metres high where the ground is lowest. It has been dated
to around the first century AD, and was built very cleverly and effectively without any mortar (except
in the water channel which of course had to be waterproof).
The Cathedral stands in the Plaza Mayor in the centre of the old
city. It cost two Euros to get in and had a very large gold organ inside. There is also a couple of
rooms with paintings to look at and a garden.
At the back of the cathedral was a little secluded garden from
where this picture was taken. I just thought it was an interesting shot, so I added it to the page.
Segovia's Alcázar is built on a small corner of rock on the edge
of the cliff which most of the town sits on top of. It is said that it was the inspiration for the Fairytale
Castle at Disneyland, but that honour is also claimed by Craigievar Castle in Scotland, so there's
a bit of dispute about it. Nonetheless it was well worth the walk down the side of the cliff out the
town to see the Alcázar from its best side.
Just a quick shot of the snow capped mountains in the distance,
recently dusted which was the reason Madrid was so baltic when I arrived. Segovia sits at an
altitude of one kilometre (around 3300 feet) so it has lovely fresh mountain air but can get jolly
parky during winter.
I liked the aqueduct so much I had to put in another picture of
it, just for good measure. Here I tried to line up the top line of the structure with the top of the
picture frame. You can see a couple of churchy things through the arches.
