Saturday, October 8, 2011

Day Trip to Segovia

Hello again so soon!

I have finally started doing some traveling so I have pictures to show you!  Today we took a day trip to Segovia.  When I found out I would be working in Castilla y Leon and not the south of Spain I was kind of bummed--but now I wouldn't change it for the world.  Castilla y Leon is where Spain began and if you envision Spain in your head then you are envisioning my region.  Basically every town is a world heritage site and there are so many beautiful little ancient towns with centuries of history behind them!  Today we made a day trip to one of those little towns called Segovia.

Situated about an hour north of Madrid, Segovia was once a military and religious powerhouse in Spain.  The city's power waned in 1520 after the Castilian revolt against the crown failed. (Geeze, that's old!)  The main tourist attractions now are the ancient Roman aqueduct, the cathedral and the old fortress.  From Arevalo, Segovia is about an hour and a half by bus.  Unfortunately, the only bus that goes there leaves at 7:15am on Saturdays.  What a pity!  But, being the determined tourists that we are, we woke up bright and early to be on that bus!  When we boarded the bus we were the only people on it so my first thought was, "Yay I can fall back asleep!"  Little did I know the driver had quite the penchant for blasting American Top 40 hits before the sun rose.  Dios mio!

We arrived in Segovia around 9am and promptly searched for the nearest place serving coffee!  Afterward, we wandered around the town and stumbled upon the extremely impressive Roman aqueducts!

Built 2,100 years ago, the aqueduct remained Segovia's main water source until the 19th century!







I'm bringing the sorority girl pose to Spain! It is about time they knew!

The sidekicks!


This is Ben our British friend we discovered is also teaching in our town!

Next on the Frommer's list of things to do in Segovia was to see the Catedral.  It is pretty hard to miss and quite impressive.  Now, this is the first European cathedral I have ever been to and I was pretty overwhelmed.  When I first walked in I experienced a range of emotions.  Initially I almost started crying because it was so beautiful and then I was promptly TERRIFIED!  The gigantic organ was playing the most intense dirge I've ever heard and combined with the huge scale of graphic crucifixion scenes, it was pretty scary.  I suddenly understood the power that Catholicism had over Europe back in the day...I would have been too scared to not be Catholic if I were them!  Here are some pictures from the beautifully scary cathedral!

How beautiful!





Ahhhhhhhh!




That is one trippy triptych!




There were several other churches that I took pictures of just because they are so stinkin' ancient and I felt like they deserved a spot on my blog for the sheer fact that they still exist.

This Iglesia de San Millan dates back to the 11th-13th century!

This Iglesia de San Andres dates back to the 12th century!

Finally, the last tourist spot we hit was the Alcazar.  This was the old military fortress of Segovia.  The original 13th century fortress burned down in 1862 (I'd say it had a pretty good run).  The burning of the old fortress gave the crown a good excuse to rebuild a more idealized structure of what people envision a medieval fortress to look like.  I have to admit, they convinced me!


Certainly looks like a medieval fortress to me!

Just take a look at that beautiful Spanish countryside!


This is a mural of what invading armies must have seen upon approaching Segovia.  Pretty cool!

All those pictures were taken within a 4 hour time period and we were back on a bus to Arevalo by 1pm!  A successful day trip, I'd say.  The south of Spain can keep its touristy beaches.  I'll keep my castles where the Knights of the Templar held initiation rites...no big deal. (JK that is SO cool!)  We were back in time to eat a big old Spanish lunch.  I got gazpacho and Spanish tortilla.  Yummo!

I'll keep postin' if you keep readin'!  Adios!

4 comments:

  1. Wow! Segovia is so pretty! Loved all the pics! So glad for the history lesson too! (And SO relieved you changed your shirt for this photo opp....LOL......J/K!!) Hugs!!!!

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  2. Sounds like a great trip. I see you got my photog gene. Those Romans and their aqueducts. I still can't figure out how they worked. Can't wait to see some sights with you.

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  3. Beautiful pics Missy! You look like you are having a wonderful time! I am soooo envious! Keep these terrific blog postings coming and don't work too hard!!

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