5/26 & 27 - Segovia and the surrounding area

On 5/26 Rita, Randy and I stopped at Segovia on our way to Madrid. We wouldn't stop for dinner until we got to Segovia, despite Randy's state of near starvation. And then when we arrived after 11 pm, we found that most of the restaurants were closed! We finally found a nice restaurant, which had a whole cooked/dried pig displayed in it's front window. We got the fastest service we ever had in Spain and wondered why until we realized we were the last customers and everyone wanted to go home. 

That night we stayed at the Hotel Aqueduct. The next day we walked up the hill to the edge of the aqueduct. This thing was built in the 1st or 2nd century. It's fantastic!

It runs through the center of the town,and traffic drives through the ancient arches. 

I could not get enough of this thing!

Eventually Randy and Rita got me off it, and we went to see the gorgeous cathedral. No pictures allowed inside, of course. And the cathedral was nestled in between the buildings so close that I couldn't get a good picture of the outside, either. But it was lovely.

We walked around town, looking at the building facades. At one time it was important to a family's status to have a unique design pattern on their outside walls and to have their family crest displayed. So there are some very interesting buildings here.

This is where we saw storks building their big nests on the high rooftops. And there is a statue that celebrates the town's Roman roots. It's a statue of Romulus and Remus being suckled by a wolf, and the inscription translates roughly to "Rome in the two thousandth anniversary of the Segovia aqueduct 1974".

Next we went through the Castle Alcazar of Isabel and Ferdinand. This is a story-book pretty castle on the outside, in the clear Spanish sunshine.

Inside the rooms were well kept, but with surprisingly few pieces of furniture. The Throne Room holds two thrones - tall wooden chairs, beautifully carved, although they do not look comfortable. The opulence of Windsor or Buckingham palace is missing here, but that is in keeping with Queen Isabel's personality. She spent most of her queen years in battle and had little time or money for extravagances. Still, there is beauty everywhere, even in the lamp posts.

There is a very narrow, steep stairway to the roof of the castle, but the view was absolutely worth the walk. This is one of my favorite views in Spain.

Later in the afternoon we drove out of Segovia to see some of the surrounding area, and found a little town called Sepulveda. It seemed like a nice place, perhaps a little tired and old. But picturesque, like so much of Spain.

One area gave a fine view of the valley below.

We got back in the car and kept driving, and discovered an old but very beautiful manor. It was huge and grand, and much later I learned it was an 18th century palace, the Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso, and it used to be the summer residence of several Spanish kings. The front view was breath-taking,

the magnificent back view looked totally different,

while the graceful side view looked like an entirely different building.

If it is ever open to the public, this wasn't the day. It actually seemed like it could be abandoned, except for the lovely gardens behind the building, which were still perfectly maintained.

On the back terrace was a pretty little sphinx, the only one I saw in Spain.

The garden area was huge (later I learned it was about 1,500 acres). Every time we turned a corner, there was another fountain or statue in a pond. They ranged from large

to enormous.