Sightseeing in Segovia

Remember, that I am a few days behind on the blog, but I will be playing catch-up the next few days. So, check in often! Today (now a few days ago), we went on our first adventure with Dr. Sicius to the town of Segovia, Spain which is famous for several things including a Roman acqueduct built in 100 AD, and a castle for Queen Isabel of Spain (yes, the wife of Ferdinand . .the couple who funded Christopher Columbus on his voyage west). We took the bus from El Escorial to Segovia, and we first stopped at a beautiful spot that allowed us to see Queen Isabel's castle from afar. See the picture below.

Beautiful right? Does this castle look familiar to you for any other reason???? Dr. Sicius told us a bit of modern history associated with this castle. For all you trivia buffs, here's a new factoid. Walt Disney spent a year in Spain, and he based his Cinderalla castle at Disney World on this castle in Segovia. See the resemblance? Many people think the Disney Cinderella castle is based on a castle from Austria, but nope . .it is this one in Segovia. In the next picture below, you see me along with Dr. Sicius’s family . . his wife Isabel (great name for Segovia, right?), and his daughters, Paulina and Lucia along with Prof. Raleigh. Oh yeah, and the guy mowing the grass in the background . . I didn't get his name. :)

Then Dr. Sicius showed us an old Roman road near a stream and told me that it looked like North Carolina. I said yep . .and also East Tennessee!  Note that my hair is down!!! It dried in the dry heat outside. But, alas no curling iron so about 5 minutes after this picture, it goes up again!

Then, we headed off to walk through the town of Segovia. First, we stopped at a statue of Romulus and Remus (according to legend, these are the twins who founded Rome). Here's the short-hand version . . .legend says there was an attempt to kill the twins, and their mother was murdered, but the servant who had been ordered to kill the babies couldn't do it. Instead, the servant just left them out to die of exposure, and the twins were found and nursed by a she-wolf. This statue of the she-wolf nursing the twins signifies that Segovia was once a roman town. See below.

When you are standing at this statue, you can simply look to your left, and you see the most amazing Roman aqueduct built in 100 AD. You may not think that an aqueduct could be beautiful, but it really was. What is amazing is the builders didn’t use any cement to hold the stones together. It stands because of the way they put the stones together and gravity. I still have no idea how that is possible! Good thing I’m not an engineer. But, I took tons of pictures of the acqueduct because it was so massive and powerful looking, but also beautiful. You can see all kinds of birds flying around it because they put nests there.

I couldn’t resist the picture of the acqueduct with the Nestle ice cream truck in front of it. (See below.) Interesting juxtaposition of the contrast of modern and ancient, right? Andra, are you proud of this picture that I took?? Quite artistic of me, right?? :)

This is a picture of me walking directly underneath the aqueduct. I had to take a picture from this angle because I still don't understand how these rocks are still standing and not falling on my head!

I'm following the students here as we walked through the town of Segovia with its narrow little streets. 

Then, Dr. Sicius told us an amazing story about Queen Isabel and Segovia. Queen Isabel was married to Ferdinand, and when he was out of town (I think he was in Toledo), she hopped on her white horse, and came riding into town to this one particular church with everyone cheering her on. She jumped off the horse in her flowing dress, entered the church dramatically, approached the altar at the front of the church, and lay down on her stomach in the shape of the cross. I thought Dr. Sicius was going to tell us that she was going to pledge to serve God the rest of her life, but her Christianity was a bit more focused on intolerance. (in my opinion!) She announced, "I swear to you God that I will not rest until I have driven every Muslim out of Spain!" (Wow, not very inclusive or respectful of other religions! . But, she is an interesting and complex woman as you will see.) Below is a picture of the actual church where Isabel made her proclamation!

She then exited the church, stood proudly before "her" people, and they came up to her, knelt before her, and kissed her ring. Well, Ferdinand (her husband, the King) heard about what was going on, and everyone was gossiping and saying . . "your wife talks and acts as if she is the ruler of Segovia". Well, Ferdinand was not very happy about this assertion so he wrote her a letter telling her that he was the King, and that she better step in line (something to that effect). She then responds in a very persuasive one-page letter (Dr. Sicius has actually read and seen the letter!). Isabel tells Ferdinand that she loves him very much, and that they are blessed to have their one child, a daughter. She tells him that she hopes they can have more children, but they may not be able to. If they have no sons, then their daughter would be the ruler, and he should realize that the people will treat their daughter as Ferdinand treats his wife (her, Isabel). Thus, he should treat her with respect so that the people would also respect their daughter. Ferdinand gets the letter and is immediately persuaded by her appeal. He writes to her "Yes . . when we are in Segovia, you are the Queen of Segovia, and I am simply Isabel's husband and when we are in Toledo, I am the King of Toldeo, and you are simply Ferdinand's wife." Nice compromise Ferdinand!!!! The picture below shows the marker outside the church that marks this historic date.  

The picture below is the cathedral of Segovia. We didn't actually go into this cathedral, but it was beautiful from the outside!

And, finally we make it to Queen Isabel's castle! I can definitely see the Cinderella resemblance. See the picture below.

Here we are posing in front of the castle!

Hey! Is that top apartment for rent? :)

The view from the castle.

Then, we bought a few postcards, and headed to our meeting place to finish our day in Segovia. Time for a cortado con leche por favor! (The coffee in Spain is fabulous by the way!)

Whew! That was a long post! This blog is quite the commitment!