Say Hello to Segovia...

You know how it is…It’s your anniversary, but it’s the middle of the week and you’re not even going to get to go out to dinner because your husband is working late. So what are you going to do? Go out with your girlfriends instead! Last week, after the kids went to school, Tab and I took Tiff to the ancient town of Segovia for Tiff’s anniversary. It’s only about 50 miles northwest of Madrid, making it a perfect day trip destination. Before I moved to Spain, I saw a show on PBS where the hosts visited Segovia, famous for its Roman Aqueduct, gothic cathedral, and famous castle called the Alcazar. When Tiff and Tab talked about all the great shopping there was in Segovia as well, I was pretty excited about the trip too…even if it wasn’t my anniversary!

Making this trip was also an opportunity to check out the city and see what the kids might enjoy when we visited Segovia as a family. The three of us went to the old part of the city, which is surrounded by a wall, with the aqueduct at the eastern end and the Royal palace, the Alcazar, at the western end. It takes about 20 minutes to walk from the aqueduct to the Alcazar. Segovia also has its own Plaza Mayor, where Tiff, Tab and I enjoyed a ‘café con leche’ and ‘pan con tomate.’ The ‘pan con tomate’ served at the La Concepcion in Segovia is made with airy sourdough, split in half and served open-faced, topped with olive oil and a very fresh tomato sauce. It was delicious and the service was great. The staff looked so dashing in their black suits. There is also an amazing gothic cathedral built around 1525 which is the last of its kind built in Spain. It is visible from the plaza and creates quite the backdrop for sipping coffee.

After we finished our morning treat, we continued our walk through the city. There are so many little shops with pottery, iron works, leather goods, religious artifacts, and much more. Besides shopping, we walked over to the Alcazar, but we couldn’t go inside because the Prince of Spain was visiting that day. We didn’t see him, of course, but we did get to walk around the grounds. We continued to shop until the restaurants opened for lunch around 1:30. We ate at a great little restaurant on the plaza. I can’t recall the name. We were looking at the different restaurants’ menus of the day, rather than at the restaurants’ names, themselves. Our restaurant served their wine in the cutest little carafes. We had a tasty butternut squash soup and some stewed chicken, with roasted potatoes. We finished off our meal with ice cream and another café con leche. After lunch, we walked back to the car and headed back to Madrid to meet the kids at the bus stop.

The next time I’m in Segovia, I want to tour the Alcazar, go inside the cathedral, visit the Church of San Miguel, where Queen Isabel I was crowned, and climb up and walk along the city wall. The view of the aqueduct from there is supposed to be fantastic. I see myself returning to Segovia again and again. I think you should too. Hasta luego…