Departed Madrid, picked up the car and drove an hour to Segovia. We had been going to do this as a day trip from Madrid on the train, but as we had to go near here anyway on the way to San Sebastian w decided to make it an overnight stop. Very glad we did. This has to be on the MUST Do list from Madrid. It is lovely. Excited by the warmth of Toledo we were optimistic and hopeful that the beautiful sunshine held some warmth...even though the car temp indicated that it was around 0 degrees. Well, it was sunny and clear skies...BUT the win d chill factor was a killer. The car did not lie. It was freezing... Anyway...the first thing you notice from afar and then as you drive into the town are the huge Aqueducts. These were built by the Romans to deliver water to the town. They are amazing, as yopu can see by the photos. Our hotel was right out front of these. As you pass through the aqueducts you enter the town. The main street has that quaintness that has been typical of many towns. Lovely shops, cobble stones, narrow etc. Again we explored all the key sites. One of these was the castle. It is rumoured that Walt Disney based the Sleeping Beauty castle on this. You can see why in the photos. The turrets are very similar. (The Fussen Castle was another inspiration for Walk Disney). Note how rugged up we are...it was freezing, we had to stop and buy designer beanies...not really...no such thing and we didn’t care. Big Rick even offered to buy the shop keepers blanket she had wrapped around her shoulders and she just laughed...I actually think Big Rick may have been serious. 4 layers of clothes, beanie, gloves, scarf and only just warm..we continued our walk. The Cathedral of Segovia is amazing. No photo could ever do justice to the sight you see as you emerge from a narrow shopping street into a fairly plain square. Then, as you look over...boy it is the most beautiful and grand sight. Our lovely concierge (and all three we have had in Spain are ranked in our top 3 for all of Europe...interesting. Spanish people are soooo friendly) recommended a few restaurants that featured the local dish of either lamb or “suckling pig”. Decided we would go for suckling pig. Gorgeous restaurant...lucky to get a table...was packed. Ordered our “suckling pig” and some potatoes (you only order meat and get meat...no vege). After a while our slow roasted suckling pig arrived...whole...on a plate. Little gruesome. We shared it with two others...they got shown it as well before the poor pig was literally cut in 4. Big Rick and I were then proudly given our plate of “suckling pig”. It was delicious...melted in the mouth. But I must say...a whole plate of pork was a little overwhelming (even with our home made chips), AND staring at the trotter of the pig still attached to Big Rick’s lump of meat was a little off putting. Full on a plate of pork and $75.00 later, we headed out into the zero degrees for home, satisfied we had sampled the local dish...thank god it wasn’t offle or something as hideous. Found this quaint, roughly made, simple statue of an elephant in a little Jewish shop in the Jewish section of town. Very happy that the shopkeeper sold it to me as it was his last one.
I LOVE SPAIN...More than I think anywhere else. It is nothing like I imagined. I thought it would not be as developed and beautiful as say Italy. I would rate it more cosmopolitan, without being over done, than any other country we went to. Sorry Italy...you just got beaten.
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