Day Trip to Segovia

The high speed train from Madrid gets you to Segovia in under half an hour, which feels wrong given that you step off into a town the Romans were building two thousand years ago. The aqueduct is the first thing, and it is bigger than any picture prepares you for — we stood right under one of the arches and craned our necks at stone blocks held up by nothing but their own weight.

From there the streets climb toward the Plaza Mayor, and the whole old town was strung with pennants and banners — mermaids, dragons, odd heraldic creatures — a once a year festival we were lucky to stumble upon. We passed the Juan Bravo statue and kept walking out to the Alcázar, which sits on its rock like something Disney traced. The Spanish flag was snapping off the top tower.

We saved the cathedral for the walk back. The vaulted ceilings inside go on and on, rib after rib, and the organ is a gold tower of its own.

It’s an easy trip from Madrid and one we won’t forget anytime soon.