Segovia

Several days ago, we visited Segovia, a small town on the northern side of the Sierra de Guadarrama, about 40 miles from Madrid. The town is smaller than Toledo, maybe about 40,000 people.

The trip was very easy thanks to the bullet trains, and this time we got to go through a 12 mile tunnel under the mountains. The tunnel opens right into the Segovia train station. The day was rainy and cool (highs in the low 60s at best), but the weather simply made the scenery a bit more dramatic.

The town itself is beautiful. Like Toledo, and many other ancient towns, it is built on the hills above a river, in a natural defensive position. Also like Toledo, it is full of terrific Romanesque and Gothic architecture.

The Segovia Cathedral is beautiful but strange. It is a sixteenth century late Gothic building, and as such, far too young to be very interesting to me. It is quite nice to look at though.