Segovia

As usual, it's been too long since I've written anything in here about my time here in Spain. My semester is finally coming to an end, but I've been trying to make the most of my limited remaining time here by doing some more traveling and spending time with my friends. I'll try to make this more interesting than just listing stuff off that I've done, because it's more fun to read (and to write)!

Two weeks ago, almost all of my friends here were on a trip to Morocco. (This was a trip sponsored by the school -- but not financially. Anyone who signed up had to pay something like 400€ to reserve his spot, and that was before booking a flight! I picked my battles, and while Morocco seems like it was an eye-opening trip, I had a great time on all of my trips and I would have had to cut at least one of them to do it.) Not wanting to take the alcoholic route and post at a bar by myself, or take the bum route and sit at home with Pilar, I decided to book a trip to Segovia by myself for the day on Saturday. This was my first time traveling by myself anywhere that wasn't just a solo flight to/from visiting someone or going to school. I liked the liberation of not having to answer to anybody but myself all day, but as being alone can be, I did feel a bit lonesome at a few points. (But not too much; spending time alone is important and not something that bothers me!)

Segovia is a very old city, complete with an original, still-standing Roman aqueduct running right up to the old walled section. My drive there was a really cheap bus ride, which was pretty cool because the weather was very un-Spanish: clouds and fog, obscuring the craggy peaks of the mountains. I could see clouds rolling up mountains, and distant buildings were completely enveloped. This isn't something one really gets to see that often in America -- I did this summer in the Berkshires -- but to see it in the dry, baked Spanish landscape was pretty cool. Out the window, I could also see Valle de los Caídos from a distance: a HUGE cross standing on the mountainside. That is the Spanish dictator Franco's grave, and it is somewhere I wish I had gotten to because of how much his life and legacy still resonate in Spain. Even just seeing it from afar, though, was very telling as to what sort of fear and respect he commanded.

Segovia was lovely. The weather cleared up and its famous sun made me wish I'd remembered my sunglasses I bought at the Roman market. The cathedral was very nice, but I am starting to get a little burned out on Gothic cathedrals, to tell the truth. Something has to really make a church stand out for me to pay special notice at this point, and Segovia's cathedral had a few things: very ornate and well-placed stained glass, a gorgeous meeting room with a ceiling that legend says was gilded by the first gold brought back from America, and a small museum that had some very well-preserved artifacts from as far back as the 1300s.

After hitting the cathedral and seeing the aqueduct, I wanted to treat myself to a nice meal, so I walked into the restaurant of a nice-looking hotel -- Casa Mudéjar -- and ordered the Menú típico segoviano: the "typical Segovian meal," which came with a copious amount of wine and left nothing to be desired. The first course was sopa castellana (Castillian soup), which was incredibly rich and a bit heavy, but really delicious. It was almost more of a stew, full of meat and vegetables, with a ball of mozzerella-type cheese at the bottom. The main plate was cochinillo, which doesn't have an exact translation but I saw it on English menus as "roast suckling pig." It was essentially a (very small) portion of a roasted young pig. It felt a bit like eating chicken: the meat was very tender (could hardly believe it was pork), and you have to work around the pig's bones. Some people get a little squeamish with this dish. It didn't really bother me; it's not so different from eating a whole chicken / duck / adult pig... but I do confess that the first thing I did was cut off the protruding EAR sticking out of the side of my cut of meat.

The dessert course was an extremely rich and extremely tasty pumpkin-flavored cake. Cannot get over how good this thing was, and I'm angry with myself for not writing down the name of the dish (or just remembering). I love pumpkin stuff anyway, and this was probably the best pumpkin-themed dessert I've ever had. Plus, as I mentioned, they gave me a jarra of wine, which had at least five glasses' worth. I was stuffed and a bit tipsy at the end of that meal -- extremely satisfied. I ordered an espresso to perk up, and hit the town again.

I went next to the Alcázar, which is a large fortress on the far end of town. The admission was cheap, and the interior was the well-maintained former residence of the King and Queen of León. The tapestries were huge, and there were huge suits of armor everywhere standing guard everywhere. At night, the place would look like the Addams Family mansion. The best room was the Room of the Kings, which boasted a very ornate ceiling whose thunder was stolen by the busts and short descriptions of every Leonese king lining the walls, from the 700s on. The rest of the place was pretty cool, too: you can see the King's actual bed from some 500 years ago -- not too big or comfortable looking! -- and apparently the Alcázar used to house the Spanish Academy of Artillery, so there was a (surprisingly large) museum that showcased many of the weapons, books, and uniforms that the students used throughout the Nineteenth and early Twentieth centuries.

By this time, it was starting to get dark so I just wandered around town in the twilight. I stepped outside the walls to see everything lit up, and made my way through the Jewish quarter of the city. (Unfortunately, the old synagogue -- turned church -- was not open.) I was struck by the architecture of the city. There was a great deal of intricate brick work mixed in with the classic Spanish Baroque sandstone. It did not look Spanish, nor did it really look like anything I knew. I will have to do some more research. It actually looked a bit Andalusian to me (more on that later).

I wish I could have taken some pictures. Well, check that, I did. But my camera's memory card has failed, and the batteries also failed me on this trip. So, I got a few, but I want to download more because I don't want to forget Segovia, and unlike my other trips, I don't have my friends' Facebooks to pilfer pictures from. I will write more later about this weekend's voyage to Andalucía soon -- until then, I will see you all stateside in about 10 days!