Spectacular Segovia, part 1

I saw this yesterday. Me, in person. I took this photograph of Segovia's stunning Iglesia de San Miguel from the top of Segovia's fairy tale castle. Ah, Segovia! Nothing I could say would do the town justice, but I will attempt to share a bit of my experience anyway.

Yesterday, I went on a day trip out to Segovia, about an hour outside of Madrid by bus. Segovia is a gem of a town, loaded with monuments, an aqueduct, cathedrals, a castle... The city center and the aqueduct were recently named Unesco World Heritage Sites, and I can't imagine it wasn't a unanimous decision!

I went on a guided tour conducted entirely in Spanish for students like me. The guide, Sonia, was fascinating, and I was able to understand most of what she said. I sat by her on the bus and was even able to carry on a decent conversation. So fun! I could have just gone to Segovia alone, but I learned so much more by going with Sonia and the four other students (from a different school).

I have dozens of photographs to share, so I am going to write about Segovia over the next three days. I'll start with the aqueduct and the cathedrals.

the AQUEDUCT
Our first stop was the aqueduct, Segovia's most recognizable symbol. I’m feeling lazy, so, uh, here’s what my guidebook has to say about it:

“[The aqueduct] is an extraordinary feat of engineering, made even more remarkable by the fact that it was first raised here by the Romans in the 1st century AD. The 728m granite block bridge you see today is made up of 163 arches and, remarkably, not a drop of mortar was used to hold the whole thing together. The aqueduct was part of a complex system of aqueducts and underground canals which once brought water from the mountains 9 miles away to where the castle now stands.” (Lonely Planet)


The guide took us around a hidden corner to a spot where we could see the actual width of the top portion that carries the water.

It was surprisingly narrow, and quite a reminder that large projects built by the Romans were often massively more grandiose they needed to be. After all, who’d be impressed with a trench dug into the ground?


the CATHEDRAL
At the heart of the city is the beautiful 'Iglesia de San Miguel', embellished to the hilt with pinnacles and flying buttresses. I absolutely love this cathedral. When I first saw it, I think I took 20 photos of the exact same shot because I just didn't know what to do with myself.

This Gothic cathedral was built in the "Flamboyant Gothic" style (the overripe, final stages of Gothic) and took over 200 years to complete. Once completed, it was the scene of Isabel's coronation as Queen of Castile.

The architecture and artwork on the interior was quite impressive, and the guide provided fascinating details about its creation, but sorry…photography was not allowed inside so I have no photos to share.

One of my favorite parts, however, was the cloistered garden—so peaceful and majestic—and I was able to photograph that part:

There are many, many other cathedrals and monasteries in Segovia (as with virtually any other Spanish town!) but none as spectacular as the Iglesia de San Miguel. Most of the other churches are Romanesque in style, and are much less grandiose but still quite striking. I especially liked the many figured capitals on one of the churches. Here are just four of the 12 or so different capitals:

Segovia even has a church built by the Knights Templar! Called “La Iglesia de la Vera Cruz”, it long housed what was claimed to be a piece of the True Cross ('vera cruz'), and the knights stood vigil over the holy relic 24 hours a day. Unfortunately I couldn't visit this church due to time constraints, but I saw it from afar. I got closer than I've ever been before. (See, my medieval goblet is half full.)

TOMORROW...
I'm going to sign off for now, but tomorrow I will share a bit about Segovia's historic city center, and on Tuesday I will write about the piece de resistance--Segovia's spectacular castle!