Princesses in Segovia

Last weekend I needed a little traveling break, so I decided to stay in Madrid and take a day trip to Segovia.  Segovia is a little old town about a 45-minute bus ride to the northwest of Madrid.  I’ve included a map here so you can see where I was!

Map of Segovia: http://www.rb3entrenaranjos.info/images/spain_rail_map_new.gif

Segovia was absolutely beautiful.  We were lucky enough to arrive and see the sites before the torrential rain started – thank you weather gods!  I was also given a detailed map with lots of pencil marks and highlighted places to go by my tour-guide host mom.  She had basically designed a walking tour for us, which was so so cute.  Our first stop in Segovia was a tiny church with a foundation that was begun in the 8^th century (again, facts courtesy of our host mom). 

Oldddd church: 

We then headed to the ancient aqueducts, which were absolutely enormous and really interesting to see.  I’m always amazing by early Europe’s sophisticated engineering.

Aqueducts: 

Next, we headed to the Segovia Cathedral.  It is an huge 16th century Gothic cathedral, with awesome stained glass and tons of beautiful art.  Mom, you would’ve loved the enormous organ and choir “room,” for lack of a better term.  Each choir member got their own individual wood seat, and I’m pretty sure the acuestics would have been AMAZING.

Cathedral:

Same cathedral, different view

View from the inside!

The next stop was my personal favorite: the Alcázar (Castle) of Segovia.  Built in the 12^th century, this was apparently the castle on which Walt Disney based his designs.  So cool!  I have since decided that I could easily live in a castle.  The cellar was a little creepy and some of the rooms had a chilly draft, but I think this could be easily handled :)

Fairy princess castle!

We obviously have to jump in front of all important buildings.  (I’m in the middle if you can’t tell – for some reason my 12 years of ballet didn’t really pay off in the jumping here).

My new friend: 

We also climbed the tower.  Here’s the view from the top.

We ended our day huddled in a pasteleria (bakery) that was recommended, eating sweets while avoiding the rain.  One of my friend’s host mom’s told her that she had to try the traditional Ponche de Segovia…which we all did and then had a nice sugar coma for the ride home.  I’m still unsure of what it was exactly, but I do know that it was a cake-type dessert contained in a thin layer of marzipan.  If you know me – and my fondness of marzipan – I’m sure you can already tell I was a fan.  Inside, it basically consisted of layers of cake, cream, and some sort of caramelized sugar concoction.  And now I’m hungry again.  Yum.  

Ponche de Segovia:  

So that was my brief Segovian love affair.  It is fun to visit castles and eat cakes like a princess, by I do like my laptop, voting, and deodorant a lot, so it probably wouldn’t have worked out for me to live in the 12th century anyway. 

Oh, I almost forgot my most important non-Madrid update!  I found out my Stanford campus housing for next year: my seven girlfriends and I got the best housing on campus!!!  I will be living in Xanadu, a big house on the Row, and my roommate and I will most likely share 2 bedrooms.  (I am very excited to have my own bedroom for the first time since I've been at Stanford).  Our draw number was #13 – pretty sweet when you consider there are more than 6,000 undergraduates.    

Again, I'd love to hear from you too!  I'm a bit sick this week (my host mom has officially put me on a 3-day bed rest which she is taking VERY seriously), so I will have some extra time to read your comments from my bed.

Annie