Misadventure Memoirs

Well, here we are in stunning Segovia and the pendulum has swung. We’re both now bunged up to Billy-o!! 😄 The dried fruit regime has recommenced (although Col is a late adopter…he’s not keen to venture back to Bumwee, Idaho anytime soon!) 😂

We’ve had an active day covering 12k steps, drinking heaps of water (and other more interesting beverages) and had a delish lunch in the main plaza. And yet…there’s still no movement at the station! So now, we are both hoeing into handfuls of dried fruit like Hansel & Gretel abandoned in the woods! So far, just musical fruit and, trust me, after 72 hours of dysentery, it’s a brave, brave soul who allows a squeak to escape the cheeks! 😳

Anyway, we’ve unwound the umbilical cord from our tour group and leader and are now free as birds to follow our own adventures. We (cleverly) booked train tickets, found our way to the station and caught the train from Madrid to Segovia this morning and we’re already so happy that we have four days in this delightful place. Our first impressions were just, wow! 🤩  For a city of 51k population, it’s the pocket rocket that really delivers! 

We know from our tour through other parts of Spain and Morocco over the last three weeks that what we’re seeing is a mixture of Moorish, Roman and Christian architecture. The standout feature that dominates the landscape is a double tiered Roman aqueduct that runs through the valley and up to the old town. It was originally 15 kms long, stands over 28 metres high, has 165 arches and dates from the 1st century AD. It’s remarkably well preserved and also very photogenic…you just cannot take a bad snap of it! We’ve been under, around and above it today and photographed it from every angle.

Day 2 we explored the Segovia Cathedral and the Alcazar, both outstanding. We climbed to the top of the bell tower at the Cathedral…every one of its 190 stone stairs. There was a fair amount of wheezin’, puffin’ and cussin’ (and then I told Colin to belt up and behave himself! 😄) but the spectacular view compensated for the effort. 

There were just four of us on the guided tour of the bell tower, so it came as somewhat of a shock for the two of us to be sandwiched between two tour groups at the Alcazar. Every time I had my photo perfectly framed, some mofo would wander across my field of vision 😖 (that’s when Col started swearing again!)😂

We are so enjoying being able to eat and drink normally again that we’ve gone a bit cray-cray! Mega litres of sangria have passed our lips. We’ve also discovered Kaspirinhas (no, not a Caipirinha). These are made with white rum, a dash of passionfruit syrup, fresh lemon juice and soda. Just delicious!! At €15 per round, we try to limit ourselves to just one each a day. We’ve enjoyed Patatas Bravas, omelettes, salads, croquettes, local cake delicacies, almond nougat and a swag of other deliciousness, including my body weight in olives (but they’re just soooo good) and mojito icypols (complete with alcohol)! We need to be protected from ourselves lest we roll off the plane on our return! 

Also, now that we are not restricted by a timed itinerary, the plastic has taken a pounding! 😂😳