A Day in Segovia

Hello Blog! I quite missed you last weekend, sorry to keep you waiting. Last week I had the opportunity to go to the beautiful city of Segovia, Spain which is located just an hour away from Madrid by bus. During the week I had no intention of going outside of Madrid, however my roommates convinced me that it would be worth the while. When we got to Segovia I got chills and knew they were right. Segovia was absolutely amazing and it is one of the oldest cities in Spain and has a rich history as most cities in Europe do. However, my roommates and I had some road blocks along the way to get to our destination, but at the end of the day it made it all the more memorable.

Our first action of business was to get to the Alcazar castle of Segovia which is the town’s most prized gem. Once we got dropped off from the bus, we set off in that direction. We bought some tickets for the Castle and Tower tour at 10:30, and at the time we were so convinced we didn’t need to take a taxi to get to the castle on time. Halfway through our walk, my roommate from France suggests we take a shortcut through a trail to get there much faster. That’s where all our troubles started. We happily walked the trail and were in awe about how beautiful it was. At some point, we saw the castle peeking through the trees and began to feel excitement. However, when we asked a local passing through the trails how much further we had to go before reaching the castle our little happy bubble burst. The local explained that the trail did not lead to the entrance of Alcazar, but it just gave you a pretty view from the bottom and the castle was still 25 minutes away. At this point it was 10:15 and we knew that we were going to get to the entrance late. The only way to get to the castle was to walk through a neighborhood that connected through some long stairs that was practically a hike to the castle. The climb to the top was so long, I never thought I was going to stop seeing so many stairs. However, once we got to the top it was all worth it. Huffing and puffing we marched ourselves to the entrance and explained our situation to security who luckily pitied us and let us through despite being late.

After that little mishap, it was smooth sailing from there. The castle was like something straight out of a fairy tale, which I later learned that there was some truth to. One of the guides explained that Disney was inspired by the Alcazar castle and used it in the animation for Snow White castle. Additionally, I learned that the castle dated back to the twelfth century and many Kings used it to plan and hold political meetings. Each of the rooms’ ceilings was decorated and inspired by islamic art which was breathtaking. After the castle tour we went to the tower which had more long stairs that also took the wind out of us. However, the view of the entire town at the top was all worth the sweat. After we finished seeing the castle, we walked to the town’s church which was just as beautiful as Toledo’s and it was interesting comparing and contrasting both. The last major thing we saw on our trip was the aqueduct of the town which so far has been the oldest historical landmark I have ever visited in my entire life. It was built during the Roman empire somewhere after the first century, and was intended to be able to send water along the city. It was a magnificent sight to see and I’m glad it was the last. I really enjoyed my trip to Segovia despite getting lost because it made the experience so much richer, and I can’t wait to get lost in some more cities in Spain !