Avila and Segovia

A quick note about yesterday and the protests being held across Spain. The photo below is a screen shot from yesterday about noonish. We had been by that square about 10:30 and the police presence was strong. While we were enjoying the Prado which is very near this photo location the protest was being held and some of these people were the ones streaming towards the metro station we had planned to use when we left the museum.

 Today was a day trip bus trip with 60 of our newest friends.LOL. The first stop an hour and a bit outside of Madrid was Segovia. A UNESCO world heritage site for the city centre portion, it has three main attractions; The Alcazar (fortress/palace), the Roman aqueduct and the cathedral. 

The Alcazar itself has been faithfully rebuilt as it was mostly destroyed in a fire many years ago. It had been “repopulated” with items of similar ages as the original building and I found it quite interesting.

Next up was the cathedral. This is the third biggest in Spain and it was interesting but honestly we have seen so many beautiful cathedrals this one was merely “nice”.

We walked through town and it was EXTREMELY BUSY this weekend as there was a special festival this weekend celebrating 550 years of Isabel the Catholic. 

We walked around a corner in the streets and saw the best part (for me) of the visit

This is the best preserved Roman aqueduct in Spain. It was stunning! It is two thousand years old and was being used until 1973!!! No Mortar or cement was used, just cut rocks placed correctly so as not to fall

After a longish lunch we were back on the bus, this time heading about an hour southwest to a town called Avila. 

Its claim to fame is the best preserved medieval city walls in Europe and honestly I was extremely pleased to see this place.

Stunning! Most places in Europe looked like this 1000 years ago.

This city had virtually no tourists compared to Segovia (which had too many). It is the home of a famous saint (St. Teresa) and we saw her birthplace and where she played as a little girl.

It is also the place where another saint named Saint Vincent was tortured to death in 306 AD by the Romans because he was a devout Christian and refused to change to the multi-god Roman religion.

Last photo of today is Caro in front of one of the gates to the city.

We arrived back in Madrid about 6 ;15 and after being let off the bus we wandered up to the Plaza Mayor and had supper in a different restaurant than before.