Segovia was amazing. I found the place I was looking for in Europe—something much more different and unique from America and it was so refreshing. Until Spain, nothing had really excited me as much as I’d hoped in a sense of seeing something completely different. There were beautiful places, and I’ll admit, Edinburgh was completely one of a kind to me, but Segoiva felt right. I think that the sunny warm weather probably made a huge difference as well…until then, it was ALWAYS COLD. I don’t always feel myself in boots and a coat. Today, I was able to finally not wear my coat and sit in the sun in a tank top, attempting to get a bit of color.
Anywho, thanks Austen for the recommendation J Because as soon as the bus drove over that last hill from Valladolid, I felt I went back into time in some Disney movie. I saw a huge hill, which the locals call a boat or something because that’s what it’s shaped like, emerge from afar. Atop the hill was an amazingly unique architectural maze of buildings. At the stern (the front), was the Alcazar, or in English terms, the Castle. IT looked like the castle from Cinderella. I know I mentioned earlier that something else reminded me of that, but I lied before. This was it. This had the pillars with upside-down ice cream cone tops. It actually maybe looked more like the Disneyland castle in Anaheim, but in any case, I was in awe when I first saw it. I had heard from Austen that I could see this city in about 3 hours or less, so I was sort of worried at first that I wouldn’t see it all because it looked quite big.
Once my bus docked, I found my way to the Tourist Office by a map nearby. I walked along a pedestrian street, winding it’s way through beautiful old-looking buildings. Don’t know how to describe them in architecture terms because I suck at knowing terms like that. But let’s just say they were old and majestic looking. Think stone and quaint balconies and burnt orangeish-tan-cream buildings. Then, imagine beyond the stone street, majestic mountains of snow and just below those peaks, funny-looking but very green trees dotting the hills. Just plain quaint.
I couldn’t help but think about food because first, I smelled it. Second, I’ve decided to replace my lonely feelings with food. Sounds extremely unhealthy, but I find it a practical way to spend my day because just sitting around really isn’t my thing. But so aren’t museums after museums after museums and too much building-watching. So I figure food is a great way to learn a culture. And I think Spain is a great place to indulge. I even treated myself to a terrace seat outside in the sun while I ate. It’s a bit more expensive to eat away from the bar in Spain, whether inside at a table or outside on the patio, but here it’s worth it. There’s so much people watching to do, and on this particular street, I found it absolutely necessary.
So I ordered a bocadilla—a sandwich—with chorizo, ham, cheese and tortilla (that’s egg, not a Mexican tortilla), and a hot chocolate. The hot chocolate came out like a dessert. It was as if they melted a bunch of chocolate chips and put it in a cute teacup. But it was delish. My palette has completely changed, or I guess you can say, it’s been enhanced, because now I’m always craving sweets, unlike before. I tried to eat slow and spoon-fed myself my beverage. I had taken off my coat, 2 sweaters and scarf and was down to a tank-top, my pants and my boots, and of course, my sunglasses. It was amazing. I forgot how much I love the sun and how it feels to get a little crispy on my skin. I couldn’t get enough. I people watched and spotted plenty of American girls in their chatty flat-out “I love speaking English” manner. Then, I finally headed to the tourist office.
Pretty Snow on Mountains.
Liked these tall people.
Cute Streets.
I ran into some pillars immediately and found out they were once a part of some aquaducts. [Okay, bad news. I threw away my map so I can’t remember all that I learned today due to my short-term learning capability for historical things. I apologize now for all the butchering I am to do in the next few paragraphs.] They were very very cool. The lady at the tourist office was very helpful and even gave me an English map and guide to all the sights. It made great sense and all I had to do was follow it and read along to what I was seeing. Plus, all the streets were small and easy to navigate and there were no cars and I didn’t have to take any stupid buses or metros or even deal with lots of people bc there really weren’t that many!!! AH, it was awesome.
I window shopped as I walked to the sights because it was 2pm, and every shop owner went on their siesta. That was probably a good thing because all this warmth was tempting me to buy a new wardrobe. I first stopped at the Cathedral, which was the last major Gothic building constructed in Spain (thank-you Europe guidebook!). It was huge and amazing. I walked inside, found out you had to pay, took a big long glance at every corner inside within the 2 seconds I stood there in front of the ticket kiosk, then walked out. Smooth.
Walked slowly today because I could and because there was no one to have to walk around to prove that they were walking too slow in front of me and blocking my view of my surroundings. Went through a Jewish quarter and a former Jewish slaughterhouse. Luckily, the outside just looked like an old building but still, it was very sad to read the little info on my map.
Finally, I made it to the Disney castle, aka the Alacazar. I paid the 3 euro to walk inside and took my sweet time. It was empty of tourists which was so amazingly refreshing and yet almost scary because in every room, it seemed there were former military artillery and stuffed knights in shining armor. Looking at me. All of them. All the former furniture was still there too. According to my “Tourist Guide” paper, the Alcazar of Segovia dates back to the 12th century. It was a favorite residence of the monarchs of Castile and was a key fortress for control over Castile. Isabella the Catholic came from here to be proclaimed Queen in 1474. Once the Court moved to Madrid, the new capital, it became a state prison for over 2 centuries. (! Yay prisons!) In 1762, it became the Royal Artillery School until a fire 100 years later destroyed most of it.
Fernando II's Throne. I think.
Yee!
Isabella doing her thing. Getting crowned Queen.
All the former kings are on the ceiling around the room. It was cool.
Creepy.
It was pretty much completely restored to be exactly as it used to be and was finished in about 1896. Think they did a pretty good job….so I sat outside afterward and drew a picture of it because it was sunny and because I could.
I headed back toward the bulk of the “ship” where food was because I felt like some ice cream or something sweet. Kind of got a little lost but was happy to waste time in such a beautiful place. Plus, there was still minimal tourists/people in general and it was really nice to be in my own huge bubble. Saw some joggers along a path that winded around this massive hill with castles and a town that I was on, and I was kind of jealous. Haven’t run much at all and have relied on my walking to keep me in shape.
Found an expensive ice-cream place, but got some Dulce de Leche ice cream, something I wouldn’t get in the states because I’d probs choose cake batter flavor instead. But it was still very good. Carmel-Vanilla ish flavor. I sat on a bench and took in some more people watching to sum up my very pleasant day. It was the perfect amount of sightseeing in a very not overwhelmingly huge city. I felt like I didn’t have to do that much and besides the lack of tourists and people, that’s probably a very big reason why I liked the city. The beauty of the buildings and small winding streets was enough to embrace.
I was really tempted to buy one of those “I <3 Segovia” coffee mugs to add to my “I <3 Cape Town” mug, but again, the lack of space in that stupid huge backpack I lug around reminded me of the burden that would create for the next 2 weeks I’m in Spain.
Sitting now on my first overnight train of my journey. Whoopie, I get to sleep on a reclining chair. However, there’s no one sitting next to me and I have a right side window (which I looove), so I will try to stretch out as much as possible without allowing this seat divider to drive me crazy. Buenas noches. Hasta luego en Lisbon!
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