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Segovia
Segovia
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A mediaeval walled city with the added attraction of its famous Roman aqueduct, Segovia is the distilled essence of Old Castile, noble, proud and a little austere. Its main sights, apart from the aqueduct, are its fairy-tale castle, the Alcázar (the model for the Disneyland Sleeping Beauty castle we all know and, let's face it, loathe), and its cathedral, the last Gothic cathedral to be built in Spain and some say Europe. It has dozens of other historic buildings and monuments, but it doesn't really matter whether you see them or not: the joy of Segovia is walking its streets, taking in the atmosphere and, maybe, rounding off the experience with a meal of cochinillo, roast suckling pig, preferably at Mesón Cándido under the arches of the aqueduct. SPV has a new Segovia section, and I have given Old Castile an overhaul as well. Visit Segovia, or read on for a short sample."The local legend says that the aqueduct was put there overnight by the devil, because there was a young Segovian girl who was so tired of fetching water from the river that she sold her soul to him for it. It is Segovia's most emblematic monument (literally: it is the main element of the city's coat of arms) and the most important example of Roman civil engineering in Spain, built to bring water from the Rio Frio high in the sierra. No-one knows exactly when it was constructed, though the consensus is the first century A.D. when Trajan was emperor. The most unbelievable thing about it, especially when you are looking up at it (we are talking about the famous bit, where it crosses the Plaza de Azoguejo), is that no binder holds it together, no cement, no mortar, nothing: its entire 800 m length and going on for 30 m height has stood for nearly two thousand years purely because it was well built (it is no wonder mediaeval Segovians thought this was supernatural). You can get a good view of the aqueduct from above by climbing the steps to its west."
