Aqueducts, Cathedrals and Castles, oh my!

Drove into Segovia, almost right up to the 2000-year old Roman aqueduct.










Next we walked to the Cathedral. It was so magnificent that Margo broke out into song when we saw it!


We took an audio guided tour of the Cathedral, with its more than 23 chapels. Each chapel was ornately beautiful. Most of the altars were carved from wood and painted with gold; the carvings were so detailed, it made you wonder how they ever did it.

We then walked on to the Alcazar – the 12th century castle that had been built on top of the foundation of an ancient Roman fort, and improved over the centuries.

We took an audio-guided tour, and were surprised by the magnificent furnishings inside. Turns out the old military castle had been converted by one of the early kings of Castile in the middle ages. Most of the original furnishings and art work had been destroyed by a fire in 1862, but the rooms have been beautifully restored in the style of the 1500 - 1600’s. It had a number of carved ornate ceilings and tapestries. It had one room with many three-dimensional colored sculptures of the various kings and queens who resided in the castle. There must have been 40 or 50; every single king was depicted holding a sword. We saw the king’s bedroom, which had all the walls covered in ornate pictured tapestries, and the Treasury room which held an old hand press for making coins (the press weighed over 4000 pounds). We did take a great picture of the armament room. It contained many swords and crossbows, including a massive 16th century hunting crossbow with inlaid ivory and etchings, with a mechanical crank to draw the bow.