Segovia day 1 (Wednesday, October 8th)

Segovia is another town that has been around since pre-roman times, and which has been rebuilt several times over previous edifices, making an archeological dream.  The big attractions are the Roman Aqueduct from the 1st century, the Cathedral from the 14th century, and the Alcazar (castle) from the 12th century.  The photo below is a photo of a photo, but shows the old walled town - we are staying in the area at the bottom left of the photo, and the attractions are all in the old walled town.  

The weather was good today, so we planned to do outdoor activities today, and inside activities tomorrow when rain is forecast.

We started the day with a visit to a medical centre so Marty could have a rash looked at (nothing an antihistamine won't fix), and then set off walking through the old town. Our route took us up to Plaza Mayor (main plaza) which every town is Spain seems to have, and which is adjacent to the cathedral.

The cathedral is impressive from the outside, was built between 1515 and 1558, and was the last Gothic cathedral built in Spain.  Perhaps tomorrow we will look inside.

Continuing away from the aqueduct we came to the Alcazar, which is claimed to be the most spectacular on the Iberian peninsular, and which was built in 12th century.  It had a huge fire in the 19th century but has been restored.  It is built at the blunt end of a ridge, with steep cliffs on three sides, so very easy to defend.  We will definitely be going inside tomorrow.

From the Alcazar we climbed down a series of steps to the river valley, and we headed to the Aqueduct Interpretive Centre to learn more about the aqueduct. In the 1st century AD the Romans brought running water to Segovia. They built a dam in the mountains, and a 14 Km canal to get the water close to town, then they built the aqueduct to get the water across a valley. The aqueduct is 720 metres long and up to 29 metres high in the middle. It is comprised of 118 arches with no mortar holding the stones together. The Moors knocked down 36 arches in 1072, but these were rebuilt in 1484 under King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. Once the water was across the valley, the Romans then built an underground canal to distribute the water to the residents. An amazing fear of architecture and engineering from almost 2000 years ago. 

In the evening we wandered the back streets of Segovia and followed the route of the underground canal, which is marked with brass plaques in the pavement. 

Randy thought that one of the low sections of the aqueduct was about to fall, but he managed to hold it up until help arrived.