{spain - day four}

{spain - day four}

miss the first two posts?
click here for {day one and two}
click here for {day three}

and now we have reached the day that my full-on tourist mode breaks out.

like fanny pack-wearing, camera-toting, souvenir-buying mode.

ok so i didn't really wear a fanny pack but my grandma used to wear a gold sequined one when she went to las vegas to hold her cigarettes and money and if i had one i would have totally worn it in her honor.

let's just say i'm really glad i don't own one. whew.

like i said in my top five post, the aqueduct was totally amazing.

it is the oldest bit of roman architecture in the world and it runs right through the middle of what i would call "downtown" segovia.

as you can see in this picture, there are stairs that go up to the "top" of the aqueduct. of course we hiked those stairs! or rather, liz drug me, panting, up these stairs.

it was totally worth it. the view was brilliant.

breathtaking.

beautiful. i loved the shadows. and there was a nice breeze up there. quite nice after the mountain of stairs i climbed to get there!

in order to take advantage of the nice breeze and to catch my breath we decided to have a little photo shoot. when liz visited here in college (the trip that sealed her deal for wanting to eventually live in segovia) she took a picture in front of this aqueduct so we set about "recreating" this picture so she could have them side by side.

and even though i don't have a picture of me here from years ago, liz took a few pictures of me as well for posterity's sake. and because i was bugging the crap out of her. :)

p.s. oh yeah - that is me rocking the 70s romper. my mom would have been sooo proud!

then lo and behold we met someone who spoke english. i hadn't spoken english to anyone except liz the whole time i was in segovia. i chatted that poor woman's ear off. and then she very kindly offered to take pictures of liz and me. i think she just wanted me to shut up.

after this we walked up more stairs (and thus - might i remind you - even higher in elevation and closer to the sun) and few a through streets into playa mayor which is the epicenter of the city.

it is a tourist attraction and there are lots of little souvenir shops and restaurants.

we stopped for sangria and pinchos.

these were easily the most delicious olives i have ever had.

ok if you look closely in the stem of the sangria glass, you will see a tower?

that is this gorgeous cathedral. this is about 1/4 of it. it takes up an entire city block and it is beautiful. and down at the end is where we walked to get to alcazar. the castle. with the tower.

oh i have such a love hate relationship with that tower. hold your horses! i'm getting there!

here is a fun little fact: all the streets in segovia are marked with pretty little signs like these:

aren't they fun! no ugly green and white boring signs there.

so we take off walking up hill some more. i could have seriously touched the sun. we were that close to the dang thing. and about ten seconds after we leave the little restaurant i have to use the bathroom.

hello. i was the winner of the "smallest bladder" and "waits until it gets awkward to have to go" awards.

so in short, i walked up hill to this beautiful castle and i had to go so bad that my brain was, ahem, swimming and didn't have enough oxygen to take a picture of the castle. so i found this one.

via



which is a pretty good view of it. we were there in the daylight though so it wasn't bathed in golden light from the sunset. it was in the heat of the day so the sun was only about 20 feet away from us.

but 20 feet was too far away evidently. so we climbed up 152, dizzy, spiraling stair to get to the top of the tower. hither to referred to as {the beautiful death tower}. i thought i was going to die getting up the stairs but once we got up there, it put the views from the aqueduct to shame.

i literally had to sit down and gain some composure before i could really appreciate it.

ok enough words. just pictures...

this, the {beautiful death tower} ladies and gentlemen, is where i fell in love with segovia. i just signed my heart over. this is why i want to go back.

so that is pretty much the whole trip to spain! who is going with me next year?