Segovia - Day Trip

There are several recommended day trips from Madrid; Toledo, Ávila, and Segovia. Anne’s been to Toledo and Segovia looked really cool, plus it’s an easy and quick train from our AirBnB near the Chamartin station.

The 11 bus from the train station dropped us off directly under the first highlight…

The Roman Aqueduct: Built around the 1st century AD, it runs 17km from the mountains to the wells at the Alcazar. Amazingly, it was in use until 1973. It’s a substantial feature and is represented in the coat of arms for the city.

As we walked through town from the aqueduct to the Alcazar, we took note of the unique facades of many houses, where artistic designs are etched into beautiful patterns, something we’ve only seen in Segovia.

The Alcazar was our next stop. Built on a rocky outcrop and on top of ancient Roman foundations, the Alcazar served as a home and fortress for Spanish royalty for generations. It has a commanding position on cliffs over the Eresma and Clamores rivers, and a man made moat on the city side, making it an incredibly difficult position to assail. Simply put, it’s a beautiful building.

We ended our sightseeing at The Cathedral of Segovia. It was the last gothic cathedral built in Spain and the scale is simply massive. It’s hard to convey just how large the space inside is. We also climbed the bell tower, which has an informative audio tour that includes the living quarters of the bell ringer whose family lived halfway up the tower due to the need for bell ringing all day.

It was a great day trip and highly recommend. We didn’t try the suckling pig, a local specialty. And we really would have loved to see some of the highlights at dusk or at night, so we really wish we had planned ahead to spend a night on our way back to Madrid from Santiago.Read more