Segovia

I had SO MUCH FUN in Segovia today! We had to get up super early (6:30) but it was totally worth it! It only took us about an hour to get to the city and I slept for most of the trip. When we got there we stopped for breakfast at this cafe that was right by the aqueduct. Of course, we had to take a lot of pictures After that, we started walking....a lot. Fortunately the city is fairly small so it wasn't too bad. We visited a small plaza that is very famous because a lot of the Royals like to go there. Also, I think that the battle of the communities started there as well. After we visited there, we went to the castle! IT IS AWESOME AND HUGE! We walked around and saw where the Catholic King/Queen (Isabel and Ferdinand) ruled. There were also some great views of the city as well. When we finished, we started walking back to the main square. We visited the last Gothic style cathedral to be built in Spain-also huge and beautiful. Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures inside. I can understand why but I was kind of sad because I really wanted to! It was so gorgeous! By that time it was almost 1:30 so we stopped for some lunch (our host mom packed us sandwiches and apples). Later, Todd wanted to visit this pastry shop-we met a couple from Texas there as well. We also went to a cafe and I tried horchata-my host parents are always raving about it. It was gross.

Next, we walked back to the aqueduct to take some more pictures from near the top. We had to meet up with the bus at 3:30 so we headed there afterwards. We went to a park where you could see the back of the castle and took-more pictures! We also walked around the escape exit from the moat! Pretty nifty! Then, we went to this cathedral that supposedly has a piece of wood from the cross. It was interesting because apparently there are graves (?!) underneath it and some of the white stones around it are not stone but bone (ick!). Also, there is a story that the army used to hide their arms upstairs in the cathedral back in the day. One night, a guy died so they put him in the church until the next morning when they could bury him. However, overnight some huge birds came and ate his body. So now they are very protective about birds. It was weird! The other weird thing is that apparently water runs underneath the church and has magical powers. You can stand in the middle of the church and feel this "power." I don't know. It was weird.

I loved Segovia so much! It was a quiet little city and it was a lot different from Madrid. It was nice to get away from the big city for a day and enjoy the quieter life. There were a lot of tourists there which was a bummer, but it wasn't too bad. I could definitely go back! I took over 200 pictures today-it was a good feeling. I am loving my parent's digital because it is small and takes great pictures but I am missing my Nikon that is state-side.