5/5/11 - Segovia

Pics!!

Seven o’clock is way to early to get up in Spain if you’re not going to take a Siesta, and Tricia and I were groggy when the alarm went off. We were up early enough to have breakfast with Jose, and he made us coffee to go with our oatmeal. Then we made our way to the train station so we could go to Segovia. We were a little concerned with our ability to buy tickets. First we found the ticket office, but there were three lines of such different lengths that it was clear each had a specific purpose. I got into one of the lines, and Tricia tried her hand at a machine that said it sold tickets automatically, but that no one was using. A couple people came up to me and asked me about the line in Spanish, so a) it must be confusing for everybody and b) I must look like a local. The guy in front of me was going to Segovia too, and he finally decided we should switch lines, so I followed him to a new line. Tricia gave up on the automated machine about this time and choose a third line with hardly any people in it. When she got to the beginning of that line, the teller pointed her in my direction, so she came over to join me.

The actual purchase of the tickets was much smoother, and we soon were sitting on the high speed train. We had four seats facing each other all to ourselves, with a little table in the middle as well as outlets in the armrests. I plugged in my computer and went to town (I really am caught up with blogging, in spite of the fact that I rarely have internet and have no time to go through the pictures and so haven’t posted). The ride is only a half hour long, so we were soon there.

At the train station we grabbed a bus into town, and it dropped us off at the aqueduct. (Also spelled aqqueduct or acueduct on various signs in Segovia.) The aqueduct is amazing - it was built in the third century and the stones were cut so precisely that no mortar was used at all in the construction.

We were hungry again, so we stopped at a coffee shop (which claimed to have the best coffee in the world -> see pic) and bought a cream filled doughnut and a chocolate filled croissant. Then we walked along the beautiful streets in Segovia and took in the tiny winding 1-lane roads that cars sped along and the old buildings and looked out over parts of the city.

Our first major stop was the cathedral, built in 1525. We couldn’t take pictures inside, but it had two magnificent floor-to-ceiling organs covered in baby angels and vines. We went into and out of little rooms, each holding a different religious scene. These were mainly giant altarpieces from the 13^th to 18^th centuries depicting such things as the Immaculate Conception, the Agony of Christ, and the various martyrs. It began to get a little morbid (Catholics don’t pull any punches), as well as chilly in the giant stone structure, so we soon returned out into the sunshine. In the Segovian Plaza Mayor we bought ourselves some fruit for lunch and wandered off in search of the Alcazar of Segovia (castle). It is said that Cinderella’s castle at Disney World was modeled after the Alcazar of Segovia.

Right before I broke my
camera

Now comes the sad part of our story. As we were walking down one of the tiny Segovian streets, I stopped to take a picture. I was too close to my subject, so I backed up into a side street as I was looking through the view finder. Suddenly, the back of my knee hit something, and I went down. It turned out to be one of those posts that are put in concrete to keep cars from going down a road. I scraped up my elbow and fell on my back, but my backpack broke my fall. But the real tragedy was that I slammed the camera into the concrete. The viewfinder took the brunt of the hit, and in retaliation stopped opening. I fooled around with it for the rest of the day, but never could coax it into working. So that was it for the camera.

In the alcazar, we saw the Throne Room, the Fireplace Room, the Cord Room (a Franciscan cord runs along all the walls - it was placed there as a penance for Alfonso the Tenth’s excessive pride), and the Pinecone Room - so named for the conical shapes sticking out of the ceiling. We also walked through an armory and a museum of artillery full of suits of armor, cannons, guns, flags, and coats of arms. Finally, we came out on top of the building and took pictures of the countryside from up above.

When we left the Alcazar it was 2:00, so both the businesses and the attractions were closing up for Siesta. The restaurants were still open though, so we found a little place and went inside to eat (it’s cheaper to eat inside than outside). Segovia’s specialty is roast suckling pig, so we decided we would try it. We again ordered from the “menu del dia”, or “day menu” (like lunch menu). We asked the lady if we could share it (compartir for those of you following along in your Spanish), and she was very nice and said it was okay. She even separated our allotment of wine into 2 portions for us and brought an extra plate before we asked (we were working on the word for bowl - taza).



An ear.



For our first course we had spaghetti with tomato sauce and cheese. It was delicious! And then for our second course we had fried suckling pig with French fries (you may notice I said roast suckling pig earlier - the roast pig is expensive and is an entire pig, while the fried pig is much cheaper and is just a few pieces). When the pig came we weren’t particularly sure how to eat it. We each started with an ear (Tricia ate her whole ear, but I figured two bites was enough to say I’d tried it). We passed on the tongue (how would we split it anyway?) and tried unsuccessfully to chew on bits of meet on the ribs. Finally, we each found a few bits that were all meat, and then we chowed down on the fries.

Lunch also comes with dessert, and we had a choice between café (coffee), helado (ice cream), frusta (fruit), and torta de queso (cheese tort?). We decided on the torta de queso since we knew what everything else was. And lo and behold, torta de queso is cheesecake! Maybe you saw that coming, but I didn’t. I really wouldn’t expect another language to call cheesecake “cake made from cheese”. When you think of it like that, it is kind of weird, right?

As an aside, the tv was on in the bar, and it was playing international news in Spanish. Tricia and I are a little behind on the times, not having seen a tv in a week, so it was news to us that Bin Ladin was killed this past weekend. You’d think someone would have told us.

Another aside:

So, we were walking down the street, chatting about life and such, and we passed a little alley.  A man was standing there facing the wall.  We knew what he was doing, but our bodies moved faster than our brains.  It's like watching a train wreck - it just happens.  You can't turn away.  So Tricia and I both turned automatically towards the guy to see what he was doing.....and we got an EYEFULL.  Seriously. 

Our entire lunch cost just 9.5 Euros total, including the wine and dessert. We weren’t necessarily full, as we hadn’t eaten much of our second course. We went back into the streets where everything was closed and made our way back to the aqueduct. We climbed all the way up to the top and traded photo duties with a couple of Americans from Texas and then walked North to see the second half of the city.

Finally, we stopped at a bar to try the other Segovian “must-have” - super thick hot chocolate! We were a little surprised that the bar tender made it from a mix, but then he added milk and mixed it with the latte machine, so it did turn out dark and thick and chocolatey. By this time it was 5, and the Siesta was ending, so I ran into a camera shop to see what could be done about my camera. There was a young girl working there, which made me a bit sad (I’m both anti-feminist and ageist when it comes to electronics, and some other things which will remain nameless). Not only did she not try to fix it, she said I would need to leave Segovia to find someone that would be able to do it for me. L

Tricia and I had seen about all of Segovia, so we hopped the bus back to the train station. We didn’t know what time the trains left, and when we arrived we realized that we have only 15 minutes before the next train with a 2 hour wait if we missed it! And they stopped selling tickets 10 minutes before the train left. We got in line, but it wasn’t looking good. I asked an attendant if we would make it, and she seemed optimistic. I tried to impress on her that we would not make the 10 minute deadline that was posted all over the station, and she said something about 2 minutes. (I speak Spanish much much much better than I understand it.) When we got to the front of the line, we had about 7 minutes before the train left, but we were still able to purchase our tickets, and then we set off running for the platform. We shoved our bags through the X-ray machine and then jumped on the train with minutes to spare!

(I don´t have pics of the pastries,
since we didn´t have my camera)

Back in Madrid, Tricia and I found a shop that sold pastries, so we bought some to share with our hosts t next morning for breakfast. We also shared a sandwich, since it was 7:00 and dinner in Spain is around 10. And then we made our way back on the metro to our hosts’ flat 45 minutes outside of downtown.

See the columns in my glasses?

Once there, we both pulled out our computers. Tricia looked at hostels and things to do in Toledo and Cordoba and I researched cameras. Jose helped us both - he looked through several camera sites and found that my camera was 129 Euros everywhere, and he also found reviews on the camera so I knew which ones not to buy. And he showed Tricia sites to use to find cheap airfare, cheap hotels, and cheap lodging in peoples’ houses. (Ever heard of airbnb.com? Me neither!! People rent out their guestrooms like a hotel. How cool is that?) And he told us which cities in the North of Spain were his favorite - so we may be changing our trip a bit to include some time in the North. Then I played with little Camin for a while, who is very sweet and let me hold her. 



Cinderella´s castle

At about 10 Jose, Sole, Tricia and I ate dinner - salad and toasted baguette with ham and another with red peppers, onion, eggplant, and anchovies. Tricia didn’t realize they were anchovies until she’d already eaten them, and I was careful not to mention it until they were gone. J And then our eyes were drooping and we decided we needed to go to bed - getting up at 7 without a siesta is crazy!