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Plaza Mayor

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    • TravelerMy big trip
      1
      Day 38

      Segovia

      March 27, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 14 °C

      בדרך שלי ממדריד לליסבון, החלטתי לעצור בכמה ערים קטנות. התחנה הראשונה: סגוביה, עיר לא רחוקה במדריד אבל עם אוירה לגמרי שונה: שקטה, ישנה, יותר קרה, מוקפת בהרים, וידוע בשביל האקודוקט הרומאי שלה. הכי אהבתי את השביל ליד הנהר הקטן שנמצא בלמטה של העיר.Read more

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    • Klassiek Spanje
      Day 3

      Segovia

      April 10, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

      Na een mooie busreis via het natuurpark Parque Nacional de la Sierra de Guadarrama hebben we segovia bereikt. Intussen hebben we in dit natuurgebied stieren, schapen, ooievaars en roofvogels gespot

      Segovia is o.a. bekend door hun aquaduct. Het Romeinse aquaduct van Trajanus, uit de 1e eeuw, loopt ca 28 m hoog door een deel van het centrum. De constructie bestaat uit 160 bogen, deels in twee verdiepingen, gebouwd van 24.000 granieten blokken. De lengte van het aquaduct is 728 m, en maakte deel uit van de 16 km lange waterleiding tussen Ríofrío en Segovia.
      De oude stad ligt boven op een rots. Waar de cathedraal boven uit steekt.
      Een mooi plaatsje om rond te lopen.

      Hierna zijn we met de bus vertrokken naar onshotel vlak bij Madrid Onderweg konden we deze stad al mooi zien liggen.
      In het hotel aangekomen mochten we bijna gelijk aan tafel.
      Soep met ei en varken, kip met friet en chocoladevla/mouse na.      Read more

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    • TravelerEurope 2023
      Day 27

      Plaza Mayor of Segovia

      May 18, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

      Doug took in the Cathedral while Nancy was content to poke around the market which happened to be on. since it was Thursday. Large trailers (how do they get them in there?) of baked goods, several stalls of wonderful looking vegetables and one which was fairly busy with multiple bins of olives which were being ladled out into bags and weighed.

      Plaza Mayor is the main square of Segovia and is filled with lots of activity and is very vibrant. The Cathedral of Segovia occupies one side of the square and shows just how large the cathedral is. The town hall with clock is on another side. Cafés, restaurants and bars surround the entire square.      Read more

    • TravelerSpain & Portugal 2023
      Day 5

      Catedral de Segovia

      September 16, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 68 °F

      》Segovia Cathedral (Catedral de Segovia)

      An impressive Gothic cathedral which looms over the town of Segovia, Castile-Leon Spain. Today, Segovia Cathedral is part of the Old Town of Segovia and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.

      Segovia Cathedral built between 1525 and 1577 during the reign of Charles V, was the last cathedral of the late Gothic style in Spain, elsewhere outdated in Europe. The cathedral was constructed after the city’s former cathedral was destroyed during the battles between the Castilian royal armies and Communeros, who took the cathedral to protect its holy relics and its defensive position on the walls of the Alcazar. After a seige lasting months, the cathedral was ruined.

      The new cathedral was relocated and designed by Juan Gil de Hontanon, featuring three tall vaults, with fine tracery windows and stained glass. The interior was late Gothic style, yet the dome was later added in 1630. The stone spire was also an addition from 1614 following a fire during a thunderstorm that destroyed the original Gothic spire built of American mahogany, a symbol of the Iberian presence in the Americas, once the tallest tower in Spain.

      The cathedral was consecrated when an Italian marble and bronze altarpiece was completed in 1768, as Spain underwent an Enlightenment 
      period encouraged by Benedictine monk, Benito Feijoo, despite later being suppressed in the 1770s by censorship and an Inquisition.

      Not only can you marvel at the 90 metre tall tower, but you can view the exquisite religious artworks and interior designs of the impressive Gothic cathedral. Including artworks such as the Crying over the Dead Christ by Juan de Juni (1571), the triptych by the Flemish painter Ambrosius Benson (c.1532-36) and the altarpiece by José de Churriguera.

      Inside the cloister you can visit the Chapter House, designed by García de Cubillas. It has a fantastic coffered ceiling carved in 1559 and a collection of Flemish tapestries narrating scenes of Queen Zenobia of Palmyra. In the Chapter House you can see the gilded silver monstrance that processes on Corpus Christi, and a small museum room also displays one of the first printed books in Spain.      Read more

    • TravelerSnowbirds Tackle Europe
      1
      Day 6

      Travel day - Barcelona to Segovia

      January 5, 2018 in Spain ⋅ 🌧 6 °C

      Why do travel days have to be so difficult?!! Our train was departing at noon so I allowed ample time for us non-morning people to get there. I didn’t dare suggest that we walk to the train station so I arranged a taxi fully aware that the driver was going to rip me off. And he did and I fought back, just on principle, and still lost $5 on the deal before I decided it just wasn’t worth the aggravation.

      We boarded our AVE train and in just 3 hours at a speed of 300 km we arrived in Madrid (Atoche station). The speed is posted on a screen with a map and I tried not to look at it! We no sooner arrived in Madrid when John discovered he had left his e-reader on the train. I ran around that huge train station trying to find someone who could help me get back on the train to retrieve the e-reader and had no luck. I was told to come back when the lost and found was open. We then had to take the Metro to another train station (Chamartin) in order to board our train to Segovia, 100 km north of Madrid. When we arrived in Segovia, we discovered that the train station was 11 km outside of town, which surprised me because usually they are in the centre of town. John wanted to take a taxi but I only had enough euros to take the public bus, which was fine with me.

      It was raining when we got to the city centre. We then learned that there was a huge celebration across Spain, called Three Kings Day, which is equivalent to our Christmas Day. The narrow cobble-stoned streets were packed with people and we had to pull our luggage uphill nearly 2 km as no vehicles were allowed within the old walled city. John grumbled the whole way but the people around us were so joyous that it was infectious. Our hotel, Exe Casa de Los Linages, was once an old castle. We were assigned the nicest room on the 6th floor, except the elevator only went to the 5th floor. At this point John was struggling and a nice young man offered to carry his luggage up the flight of stairs. John declined the offer but I intervened and the luggage was hoisted up the steps in seconds. Now John was really feeling old because earlier in the week a young man offered him his seat on the Metro! So you can see why it is imperative to pack light when travelling in Europe!

      We ended our eventful day with a nice meal at a local restaurant where no one spoke English and the menus were in Spanish. We gambled on a 3 course dinner that is typical in Segovia. Fortunately, I was served some unknown species of fish and John had steak. The cost was $25 per person and that included a full bottle of wine, which we really needed!!      Read more

    • TravelerSnowbirds Tackle Europe
      Day 7

      Soggy in Segovia

      January 6, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ❄️ 0 °C

      This hotel also provided a fantastic European breakfast, although one thing we noticed was that the bacon was almost raw. Well fed (minus the bacon), we were ready to explore. We dressed in multiple layers and rain jackets and headed out. The rain from last night had turned to a heavy wet snow and the temperature reading was 1.5 degrees (very accurate!). Many businesses were closed because it was a National holiday. We walked through the town to one of the main attractions, the 9 mile Aquaduct, which was built by the Romans 2,000 years ago. The exposed section we saw was 2,500 feet long, 100 feet high, with 118 arches, made from 20,000 granite blocks without any mortar, and can still carry a stream of water to a subterranean channel that runs through the city. Pretty impressive.

      We stopped at a small market and picked up a fresh baguette, cheese and tomato for lunch because I just wanted to return to our warm hotel room and not have to sit in a restaurant with wet hair and clothes. Later in the evening we wandered out again to a nearby pizza restaurant. When I asked how big the pizzas were, the server told me “small....good for one”. So we each ordered one. Surprise! They were actually the size of our typical large pizza. I once again felt like I was taken advantage of because I was a tourist. Most of my leftovers ended up in the garbage. Although the restaurant was empty at 8:30 when we arrived, by the time we left it was full. The Spanish people eat supper between 9 and 10 pm and I observed that they usually order 3 courses plus coffee. Seems like a recipe for gastric reflux when they go to bed a couple of hours later! It’s a good thing we are used to eating later than normal at home.

      The falling snow and the medieval buildings looked so pretty at night.      Read more

    • TravelerIreland, Portugal and Spain
      Day 32

      Going to Spain

      November 3, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 7 °C

      Being very organised people, we were on the road at 9.40 am, heading for a town called Valdepeñas which happens to be about 200 kms from Madrid. Rather than do a 600 km drive to Madrid in one go we thought it made sense to break the back of the journey, have a restful night, and then drive in to Madrid. There we had to hand in our car and catch the AVE, or high speed train, to Segovia from Madrid’s Chamartin station.

      Booking.com found a reasonably priced hotel just out of Valdepeñas which was very easy to find, being at the 194km turnoff from the A4. Only thing is, there is more than one Valdepeñas in Spain and our GPS, although heading us in the right direction to start with, then told us to turn off the A4 and go onto a regional backroad. After 6kms we just knew that this was not right. After a look at Google maps, and whatever we had to hand, we backtracked and hit the A4 again. Just as well we did, because the Valdepeñas we had been going to was nowhere near where we wanted to go. A loss of 12 kms is neither here nor there in the greater scheme of things, and so we kept going toward the REAL Valdepeñas.

      The thing that was most noticeable during our drive was the huge number of olive trees. We saw millions of them, and probably another million or so of fresh plantings. We wonder just how much olive oil and olives the planet needs!

      The hotel near Valdepeñas is one of those places that would have been built 30 years ago, and was at the time a pretty good show. The rooms were huge, everything was as good as you could ask for, and the staff were so very helpful.

      Robyn had not slept well the last few nights so she had a kip while I went for a 4km walk up through vineyards. It was dark when I returned, but so peaceful.

      The restaurant was very, very quiet, although we were eating early for them, but we enjoyed our meal, and the helpful staff. Local wine, local olive oil, local bread, and local menu added up to a nice experience.      Read more

    • TravelerIreland, Portugal and Spain
      Day 33

      Welcome to Segovia

      November 4, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 13 °C

      Today was one we had been dreading, because handing back the car with damage can cost quite a bit of money, with no comeback. We had 1400 Euro excess and the damage I found on the left back panel just after we had picked it up could easily cost quite a bit, if they hadn’t picked it up beforehand. Then I found that I had actually done a little damage on the right back door when I turned too sharply in a lane in Tavira, PLUS there was a small bumper scratch that I had not seen before, no doubt inflicted in a car park while we had it parked there for a few days.

      At least we had a hearty breakfast waiting for us. We were the only customers who had booked breakfast as part of their package, and there on a table was our room number reservation. Quite quaint really! It was the usual sort of European continental breakfast, with toast, ham, other meats, cheese, yoghurt, fruit, etc, with juice, tea and coffee. By the time we had finished we were really ready for the road.

      We had 200 kms to go to Madrid and all went well until Robyn misunderstood the GPS and sent me, urgently, up the wrong street. It took about 15 minutes to get back and around, and then ... when we arrived at Chamartin station there was a group of signs for hire car - Avis, Sixt, Thrifty etc. Nowhere, and I mean nowhere, was there an arrow pointing to their drop off points. We drove through the station, and ended up going away from it. A good old traditional Aussie U-turn and we were back at the station, but still with absolutely no idea where to go. I “parked” while Robyn went looking and asking. Ages later she came back and pointed to the area we had to go to. We had drive past it, but it was tucked away before the aforementioned signs! Another U-turn and we were illegally parked in front of the Avis office. After only a few minutes the chap I was dealing with came out, asked how we liked the car, walked around it, and hopped in and checked the fuel and mileage. He then gave me the key and pointed to an area in the paid parking lot and asked me to take it over there and bring the key back. I left Robyn with all our luggage in the office and did so. When I came back he told me we would get our fuel money back and that was all there was to it, handing me back my contract. Whew! I am still not sure we will get away with it, but if our luck holds as well as it has so far, we should be right.

      We lined up for tickets at the office and asked for two tickets to Segovia on the AVE, or high speed train. The lady said she couldn’t understand why so many people were going to Segovia for the weekend, but the next two trains were full. We would have to wait until 3.40pm, a 2.5 hour wait. Even on the slower trains there were so few spare seats that we would have been in different carriages. We waited as we had no choice, and eventually, at 3.41 pm the train pulled out. We did hit 250 kph at one stage during the half hour journey, and while it was much better than anything Australia has to offer, it was not up to the Japanese standard.

      On arrival we took a taxi to our accommodation, Hotel La Casa Mudejar. What a pleasant surprise it was! It was in a really old building but was lovingly renovated and of quite a high standard. We went for a brief walk before dark and then headed out for something to eat and drink. The Hotel restaurant opens at 8.30 pm, much too late for us under the circumstances, so we had tapas and wine in one small place, and then more drinks in another one just around the corner. Nice way to finish the day.      Read more

    • TravelerIreland, Portugal and Spain
      Day 34

      Rain in Segovia City

      November 5, 2018 in Spain ⋅ 🌧 4 °C

      The weather forecast was quite certain for Segovia and district. It was to rain on Monday with light showers on Wednesday. So far it has been 100% correct. We had quite a bit of rain during the night, but it had virtually stopped by the time we were up.

      Breakfast made yesterday’s look parsimonious, and that’s saying something. The selection of meats and sweets was huge, with cereals, bread, fruit and cheese in abundance. This style of breakfast is daunting if you are a tea and toast sort of person, or cereal and tea, which we are. Nevertheless we did our best, and managed to work our way through many of the things presented.

      Just after we headed out the door it started to rain again, so we had to look for umbrellas AND raincoats. We have known for weeks that we would need raincoats, probably for Ireland, and definitely for Spain, but had never quite got around to finding any. Raincoats are not always easy to find, but nevertheless we now have to have them as the forecast is for rain on Wednesday and possibly some light rain on Tuesday.

      Umbrellas were fairly easy to find, but then the search began for raincoats. We found one for me at the Visitor Information Centre at the base of the aqueduct but Robyn wanted something more stylish. We saw quite a few but of course they were not available in Small, so in desperation we looked in children's clothing shops. Strangely, there were as many good clothes for boys and for girls, and many of the girls' coats were in stylish colours, not pink, or pink, or pink. We ended up buying a boy’s coat which is not quite waterproof but is knee length and will do the trick.

      Using our guidebook from the walking group, we started walking around Segovia. Trying to follow the detailed instructions and match them to the VIC map proved time consuming, so we ended up just walking around a bit more and then checking out the Cathedral. What a magnificent structure it is.

      Heading back towards the castle, or Alcazar fortress, we stopped to look across the valley at the village of Zamarramala. Why not walk across there we thought? We headed off and found ourselves there in no time. It looked a long way off, across the valley, but in reality was not so far. While we were walking around it started to rain. By the time we had returned to our hotel we were fairly wet, but it was good fun anyway. At least we did a decent hour of walking.

      One problem we will continue to have in Spain is their late dinner times. At home we often don’t eat until after 9 pm, because there are always so many things to do. Here the restaurants don’t open until 8.30 pm and before that you can get a drink and some finger food, but that leaves us with quite a bit of spare time.

      Our first port of all was a little place just around the corner from the hotel where we had a drink and small finger food. The food was not warm enough and we didn’t feel like staying there so we went walking out of the main plaza, down towards the aqueduct and chanced upon a little shop that is part deli, part cafe, part bar. That was good enough for us. We enjoyed a small meal there of toast with tomato and meat and a plate of goats cheese, washed down with local wine.      Read more

    • TravelerSpain 2017
      Day 22

      Segovia

      January 28, 2017 in Spain ⋅ 🌧 3 °C

      Segovia is awesome. It's an old town built on the edge of a cliff. I'm told Toledo is more awesome, we will go and find out.

      It's got an old Roman aqueduct that still works and is very impressive. We unfortunately only got to see it from the car window, but I guess thats how it is with kids.

      We got there on Saturday lunchtime (normal lunchtime not Spanish lunchtime) and looked for somewhere to park the car. Eventually found a spot that you had to park underground through the use of a lift system. Similar to the car parks in New York except those are up and this was down. By the time we'd parked and got everyone sorted out it was Spanish lunchtime and we hadn't booked anywhere. That meant that in a town renown for its grilled baby lamb and roast suckling pig we had Italian pizza just off the main square (Plaza Mayor - every town has one). Once we'd had lunch we headed to our Airbnb which was in the new town across the river.

      A lovely place run by Chelo (who lives downstairs with her daughter and grandson - there could have been more people but we never met them and asking was impossible as they didn't speak English (the grandson couldn't speak at all, he was 20 months old) and we don't really speak Spanish. That afternoon, post naps was spent exploring the little place we were staying and finding the bar for a glass of wine and the obligatory snacks that come with the drinks.

      Next morning we packed up and headed into town. This time parking in the large parkade that was supposedly under the cathedral but when we had to walk to the cathedral we realists it wasn't.

      From the cathedral which was your standard gothic building (apparently there's more to cathedrals than this but I'm not sure what they are) we headed to the alcazar (aka castle, aka princess castle) which word on the street suggest Walt Disney used to model his castle on. I'm not sure what Walt Disney was doing in Segovia but one look at the castle and you realize it could be true. The castle is now a museum and used to be a military barracks at some point. Knowing Spanish history would help me in explaining some of this but it has a lot to do with the nationalists nationalizing everything (or something like that).

      Anyway, after the castle we strolled back to the Plaza and had a coffee and watched most of the last set of the Australian Open final. We missed the last bit but Roger won. From there there was a real need for lunch and based on the chaos that was the previous days lunch we thought the solution would be to go back to the bar we had drinks at the night before as this was out of town and there was a restaurant next door. Well, sort of fail. The bar was packed and the restaurant was super expensive. I think it would have been delightful if one child wasn't screaming and the other climbing over everything because they were exhausted. So after one course (everyone thought we were odd) we bundled everyone into the car and headed home.

      Unfortunately the final chapter of the weekend was in relation to returning the car to Atocha station. It is a long chapter that, like Haper Lee's compendium shall remain unwritten.      Read more

    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Plaza Mayor

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