Segovia

One of the first day trips I took here in Spain was to Segovia, which was half an hour northwest of Madrid. There was a solid group of fellow study abroad students going, about ten of us, and we took the high speed train. I was extremely impressed by the train, it was clean, comfortable and fairly cheap, about 18 euros roundtrip. Below is a photo of the train and mis amigos de la universidad.

Segovia is a typical medival town, narrow winding streets. The main things it is known for is its aquaduct, cathedral and castle. These kind of things excite both the engineer and history lover in me so this was going to be quite the trip. The bus for the airport took us directly to the aquaduct built by the Romans tens of hundreds of years ago.

When first saw the aqueduct I couldn't help remember what my uncle told me when I left Belgrade to visit Italy for the first time during my youth. "Take off your shoes and walk barefoot on cobble stones princes and paupers have walked on centuries before" Very loose translation. Though I never have done this, whenever I see something that men built centuries before and I realize how many people over these centuries have admired the same structure it always reminds me of that little speech. Also it really helps put in perspective how small and insignificant my life and works are in the grand scheme of things.

After taking a healthy amount of photos we ventured toward the Cathedral. Of course we had to ask for directions more than once but we ended up stumbling in the square directly in front of it. There the cathedral was in all its architectural glory. One thing that always gets me thinking is how long it took to build these monuments to god. I couldn't image working on something my entire life and knowing that I would never see it completed. Maybe thinking is just a result of the instant gratification lifestyles of today.

We proceeded to enter the cathedral to see what it held within. The craftmenship of these structures always fascinates me with all of the small detail work in the pillars and the tiles. Not to mention the sheer height of the ceiling and the engineering behind the structure. It was really have been something to see when it was completed. I can't image coming from your dirt floored, straw roofed home and attending mass in something like this. Also inside was typical religious sculptures and paintings. It was all pretty typical scenes from the bible and very graphic and dark. To be honest they all kind of creep me out.

With our tour of the Cathedral completed we headed for the castle, getting lost a few more times. Once again we stumbled out of a narrow residential street and the castle appeared before us. It was quite the sight to see. Before purchasing our tickets to enter, a few of us began to converse with an older gentleman who told us we had to go down to hill to drink in a view of the entire castle in its medieval glory. Also he claimed that that Cinderalla's castle in Disneyland was modeled off of this one. I was extremely skeptical of this, after all I sincerely doubt this man had ever been to Disneyland, let alone seen pictures of the castle. Anyway his comment amused me.

With tickets in hand we ventured into the castle. They had typical castle stuff inside, suits of armor, dusty tapestries, swords and other things. I being the skeptic that I am, doubted the authenticity of all of it, especially the stuff not behind glass. Luckily we had opted to pay extra to scale the stairs to the top of the castle for a view of the city. The view was absolutely breathtaking.

With all the major sites conquered, we had backed to Madrid. Overall it was, for me at least, the definition of a perfect day trip.