Segovia

And this one is from Friday. Since I don't have internet in my house I just wrote them then and post them when i can! Oh life!

Well, today we went to Segovia, a town about an hour northwest of Madrid that is very famous because it has one of the oldest and the best preserved aqueduct in the world. There are bigger ones in Rome and other places but they aren’t preserved as well. This one is over 2,000 years old and still works. The Segovians don’t use it but it would work if they needed it to. It’s incredible!

First, though we saw La Iglesia Vera Cruz which is a church that is unique for two reasons. First, it is not the usual shape of a cross that Catholic churches are usually laid out in. Instead it is an octagon. There are only 4 churches in the world like this and two of them are in Spain. It is very small but very old. It is on the periphery of Segovia and was built by the monks of war that fought for Christianity. The other reason it is famous is because Vera Cruz means “true cross”. It is called this because when the monks made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, they fought for a piece of the cross Jesus was crucified on, won and brought a piece of it back to the church. So, it is called the church of the true/real cross. There is a part of the church in which there is a box on the wall that contains the bit of cross but you can’t see it. There were lots of interesting places in the church but you wouldn’t find them interesting unless you could see them.

Next, we climbed up this huge mountain/cliff thing to Al Caza (pronounced: Catha), which is a gorgeous castle. I thought my legs were going to die and fall off but luckily they didn’t and I made it! This castle was the home of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel, the monarchs who joined most of Spain together and who sent Christopher Columbus to the Americas. There were of course other kings that lived there before and after them but they are the most famous. Also, it was the home of King Felipe, another famous king, and Queen Juana la Loca (crazy). It is one of those places that was built over hundreds of years because each king kept adding on things that he liked or wanted. Also the roof burned up in a fire so a lot of what is there now are exact reconstructions of what was there before. They could make exact replications because there are pictures and drawings of how it was before. Anyway, the ceilings are amazing and the view is fantastic b/c of course it was built on a high place for protection and close to water. There are 2 rivers that run around it. I will put some pictures below.

Next we walked down to La Plaza Mayor which is the main plaza in Segovia. We saw the Cathedral that is beautiful and then we walked down the Calle Principal (Main Street) which has all the shops and important buildings on it. We saw the mountain that is called La Mujer Muerta (the Dead Woman) with which go 2 legends, one of a mother’s love for her sons and the other of love and jealousy. They are a bit extraño (silly or exaggerated) but cultural. We kept walking and saw the amazing aqueduct! It is small in some places and huge, with two tiers in others. It is 2,000 years old and still standing and has never fallen or broken into ruins! The coolest thing about it though is that there is nothing in between the rocks, no cement or paste or nothing! They only set the rocks on top of each other! It’s incredible to think that the Romans were so smart without all this technology that we have! It’s absolutely amazing! There is a legend though that says that the Romans didn’t build it but the devil did because a girl had to carry water from the mountains by hand every day and she was so tired that she sold her soul to the devil so he would build her something to carry the water for her. But after she realized what she did, she cried and cried and prayed to the Virgin to help her. Then the devil built the aqueduct but he forgot one rock and so it wasn’t complete and the girl didn’t have to sell her soul to him. How lucky for her!

Everything I know about all of this was told to our small group but our guide, Carmen. She works for IES taking us on trips and doing things like that for them. She is so petite and cute and talks very rapidly but I never have a problem understanding her and she knows so much about everything. She tells of these little details that most people don’t know and things that I would definitely never know unless she told me. For example, there is a house (I wish I had taken a picture) but it has on the outside walls large points all over it. They aren’t sharp but they stick out a bit. She said they are there because during the time when Jews were persecuted a lot, a Jew lived there and it was called the House of the Jew. Of course, the Jew didn’t like people referring to his house like that b/c it was dangerous so he put these points on it so people started to call it La Casa de los Picos (House of Points). Little things like that, Carmen told us. I love knowing random facts like that.

We also saw several churches that were built in the roman style and were pretty. Then we ate in this amazing restaurant that was so good!!! But they fed us so much food, I was stuffed! Lunch is the big meal here and so they always eat a lot and have a small dinner. So, then we came back and rested at the house with Pilar! It was an amazing day!