Two Days in Segovia

I finally woke Ginny and Katie up at about 10:45 yesterday. We decided to take a bus to Segovia and find a hostel when we got there. We'd looked on the Web, but couldn't find anything satisfactory nor under 60 Euros. So we went to the bus station by Metro then bought bus tickets for about 6 Euros each. As we waited for the bus, we ate some ham and cheese boccadillos
for lunch. We boarded the bus and rode for about 1 1/2 hours northwest to Segovia.
I've honestly never seen a town that was as lovely as that one is. Actually, we had to stroll through the new part before we reached the old section which was where all the beauty was. When you think of old Spanish houses, what do you picture? Tiled roofs, stucco walls, iron work balconies, flowers...right? Well, that's what we saw times about 200. We were awed at our first sight of the ancient Roman aqueduct that runs right through town. It is huge! And the city wall is attached to the aqueduct. We didn't notice the wall at first, but when we did a little more exploring we were able to see it. Houses were built next to it and it ran all the way around the old part of the city.
We decided to find a hostel first of all so we could get rid of the one small bag that we brought. Yes, three women can travel very lightly. We walked a little and found El Hidalgo Hostel and Restaurant. As we went in the door, we decided we wouldn't pay more than 60 Euros for the room. They offered us one that would sleep three for 55 Euros so we took it. Turns out, the Hidalgo is a restored 13th century palace and was fantastic! In the dining room is a wood-covered arch behind which is supposed to be the remains of Juan Bravo who was somebody special because there is a statue of him outside the San Martin Romanesque Church that is in front of El Hidalgo. Our room looked out (after opening old wooden shutters) onto a garden (Katie likes to think is was the palace courtyard). The passageways were narrow and furnished with old benches. The room was cold, but the lady who took us there turned on a heater. We're not convinced the heater worked all that well, because we were cold all night long. The tiny bathroom had a tiny tub. Katie liked that most of all! But we didn't complain about the cold, although it was hard to get Katie and Ginny to get out of the warm beds this morning.
Last night, we walked around old Segovia and found the places we wanted to visit today: the cathedral and the castle. We also found a small restaurant where we split a potato tortilla, a serrano ham sandwich with tomato and asparagus, and a ham and cheese boccadillo. Afterward, we had churros and chocolate again!
This morning, after I finally got the girls going, we found a restaurant that served breakfast. There, Katie and I had eggs, potatoes, and sausage and bread. Ginny had a bonita sandwich and discovered that it was made with canned fish. Not too yummy. We all had fresh-squeezed orange juice. (I'm giving all this detail for myself mostly. I just don't want to forget anything.)
Then we went to tour the Cathedral of Segovia. It was built in the 1500s. I've never seen such a collection of religious paintings, statues, tapestries, and mantles. That's right, each small chapel in the cathedral had a huge, carved mantle holding images of whoever the chapel was for.
Then we walked down several narrow streets and arrived at the castle which Walt Disney used as a model for Cinderella's castle at Disney World (at least that's the story we keep hearing). It is called Alcazar of Segovia. We saw everything that would be in a castle, armored knights, cannons, even a sundial clock high on the courtyard wall. Then we went up in the tower (152 steps up a narrow spiral staircase!) and came out on top. You should see our pictures. Just ask me, I'll be glad to share them! I said the streets are narrow, but that doesn't seem to bother the drivers around there. The speed limit is 20 kph but we didn't see anyone driving slower than 40 at least. Walkers have to be very careful because when sidewalks run out, you have to run across the street and keep walkin'! All the cars are tiny. You couldn't get a SUV through that town. And people park wherever they can...there is no such thing as a no-parking zone. They park in the street, too.
Before we left Segovia, we stopped at another restaurant and had lunch. Ginny and I had traditional Spanish paella (rice and meat) and Katie had patatas ali-oli (potatoes in a white sauce). It was all so good!
We caught the bus back to Madrid, went to the ATM to get more Euros, and came back to Gin's apartment to bake brownies and watch a movie. Tomorrow, we plan to go to the rostro (flea market) and the Prado Museum. I'll let you know about that later.

Katie and my observations about Spain:
*cooking is different (Celcius and the oven is hard to work)
*people come out at night and walk the streets late
*all those people walking the streets are crowded together but no one seems to mind.
*dogs are everywhere...on leashes and not on leashes. We saw a doggie poo park in Segovia. There was a special trash can for the doggie poo. But the dogs are all very well behaved.
*People here are not rude, but they don't go out of their way to be nice either. It's more of a "watch out for yourself" attitude.
*the cars are funny-looking but you don't even need a car because you can travel anywhere in the city on the metro. Speaking of the metro, there are musicians there (in the halls and on the metro) who play for any change you will give them. We've heard a pan pipe, an electric keyboard, a violin, and a horn. The metro sanitation workers are on strike right now, so the halls in the stations are covered in trash. Sometimes it smells, too. And there is graffiti everywhere.

That said, hasta manana!