Segovia

On top of a Roman Wall with the Roman Aqueducts behind me.

In Segovia with the cathedral.

some adorable child in Segovia that I was totally creeping on

Segovia

On top of the castle in Segovia.

The Castle in Segovia.

The drive to Segovia was about 1.5 hrs, this time over the mountains to the other side. Unfortunately, the weather was not nearly as nice as it had been the day before. The clouds looked dark and ominous from the beginning. When we arrived, it was drizzling (but luckily I’d checked the weather and brought a rain jacket and worn long pants). Even though I told Enrique it was going to be cold, he still wore shorts (and brought a sweatshirt). Stephen wore shorts and short sleeves. Needless to say, they were both cold most of the day. Lol

La Granja (the French-style palace)

Segovia was very beautiful. (Though would have been prettier if it had not been such gross weather). For starters, it has a 2000 yr old Roman aqueduct going through it that was built without mortar (just really big stones lain on top of each other), and is still standing! This allowed water to run from a lake into the town without electricity. There are also many parts of an old Roman wall still standing.

We also saw the Cathedral of Segovia and the castle (or Alcazar de Segovia). The castle was most impressive – especially the views. You can see why they built it there. It’s on top of a mountain with sprawling views over the rolling hills and plains below. We got to go up to the top of the tower too, which was really neat, but as soon as we got up there, it started raining harder, so we didn’t have much time. Luckily, the very hardest rain was while we were inside.

Stephen and Enrique  at Castillo de Manzanares el Real.

After that, we’d planned to walk around Segovia a bit more, but it was just so wet and cold, so we went back to the car. Enrique drove us to La Granja – another palace where the first Bolognan king of Spain lived. Because he was from France, he wanted a palace that reminded him of France. We only walked around the outside of it, but it was very impressive. The gardens, though, are apparently the most impressive. If it had been nice weather, I would have really liked to see them, but since they cost money, we didn’t want to go in the rain.

In front of the view from Castillo de Manzanares el Real.

From there, we drove to another castle on the way home – Castillo de Manzanares El Real. We didn’t get to go inside, as they’d just closed when we arrived, but it proffered magnificent views from its grounds. After getting ice cream, we drove back to Madrid.

That night, Enrique and I made baked ziti for dinner.