Saturday, September 11th - Segovia

on the street in Segovia

Today was our excursion to Segovia. We had to meet at 9:45 in the bus station at Principe Pio. Naturally I was running late, but Sonya (our guide for the day, who will also be Katy, Mikaela and I's Art and Architecture teacher) had anticipated us being late and given us a 15 minute cushion.


The bus ride was about an hour from Madrid to Segovia. The country side was absolutely beautiful. The skies were such a bright blue and looked like the clouds and been painted on them. The mountains were gorgeous too. Basically I was like drooling looking out the window the entire bus ride :)


Once we got to Segovia, Sonya gave us a summary of the history of Spain (specifically Segovia) in 40 minutes. It was a lot of information to remember, but it was helpful to understand why there were so many different types of architecture in the city.

Katy, me, and Mikaela
over looking Segovia

After our little info session, we went to see the aqueduct. This aqueduct is one of the most preserved aqueducts in all of Europe. I couldn't believe how massive it was!! I was also shocked to learn that they didn't use an cement or anything to hold the blocks together, they just simply used a pulley system to set the blocks on top of each other! It was just SO big! Standing there, I just kept thinking of how many generations of people stood in that exact same spot. How for some of them, the aqueduct was necessary to get their water, while for me it was just this huge monument. It also blew my mind that in the 1st century they could build something as huge as the aqueduct! Makes you appreciate our construction tools nowadays :)

Segovia's Puerta del Sol

After the aqueduct, we walked around and saw the outside of some different churches and different important buildings. The architecture was so pretty!!!!

in front of the Alcázar

Our morning tour ended in the main plaza, where we were given an hours free time to each lunch and walk around on our own. My senora packed me a MASSIVE picnic lunch. I had a 6 inch bocadilla with ham, lettuce, tomato, and cheese, a peanut butter sandwich, an apple, a banana, a granola bar, a packet of cookies, a small chocolate bar, and a juice box! I swear my family is trying to fatten me up! Since we had all brought lunches, we had a picnic in this cute little park.


After lunch we went to the Alcázar of Segovia, which is a castle. The Alcázar was originally built as a fortress but has served as a royal palace, a state prison, a Royal Artillery College and a military academy since then. I'd never been in a castle before, so I was super excited. What struck me the most was how elaborate their ceilings were. (See pictures on Facebook.) They were each decorated with gold with super detailed patterns! This castle was used for the model for Disneyland's castle, so it looks vaguely familiar.

our little American family pic :)

After the castle, we went to the Segovia Cathedral. It was so beautiful! The cathedral mostly follows a Gothic style. Sonya told us that it's one best examples of a church having one common style because most times when the church gets a new leader they remodel the church after their own tastes, but the Segovia Cathedral wasn't. 

Aqueducts again

After the Cathedral we went back to the bus stop a different route and got to see the aqueducts up high. They were absolutely incredible! It was breathtaking how big they were! What also surprised me was how small the passage of water was through these huge things!  I'd say the water trough is about 5 inches wide. Super small considering hos massive the aqueduct is!!

bus ride home

Once back on the bus, we all crashed and napped until we got back to Madrid. Once in Madrid, I went home, took a longer rest, ate dinner with my family and got ready to go out for the night.