Friday night BF was all excited smiles, telling me we had to go to bed at a reasonable hour so we could get up early as he had plans for us the next day. My clues? "A lot of walking, and a lot of stairs." Uh-huh. I do love a good surprise though, and I have utter and complete trust in this man (there's a first..) so I just smiled back at his gorgeous face and said "sure, let me know if what I'm wearing is OK".
I'm not entirely sure why, but I had assumed we were walking - from the house. We were in fact, not. As he opened my car door for me, I had a small thrill of anticipation, I had absolutely no idea where we were going, but I hoped it had something to do with the mountains I had seen from the highway last week. As it so turns out, he can read minds, because soon we started heading for the mountains, and I relaxed into the very comfortable leather of the passenger seat, and took in the beautiful countryside beginning to unfold itself to us as we zipped out of Madrid's city limits.
Segovia is about 90 mins out of Madrid, nestled in the hills, frozen in time with stunning sandstone buildings, cobblestone streets, and of course, the ancient Roman aqueduct. We parked in the more modern part of the town, and walked our way up steep narrow streets, winding, winding, winding until eventually we were right in front of some of the arches of the aqueduct itself. We did a lot of walking, and then proceeded to climb a lot of stairs. The view from the top was absolutely breathtaking. It is unimaginable - the sheer volume of rock that was chiselled and carved and moved, lifted, to form this masterpiece of engineering. The city itself is such a quaint and picturesque little town, and it captured my heart entirely.
After walking the length of the "ruins" (I use inverted commas because it is in impeccable condition, given it's a couple of thousand of years old), BF wanted to show me an equally ancient cathedral. I've seen a lot of churches, cathedrals and other religious constructs in my time but this was something truly special. I took so many photos I nearly ran out of battery. Gold plated designs in the interior.. stained glass that would rival the beauty of those found in the Catholic churches in Italy.. it is something truly special. I had a spiritual moment inside that caught me very off-guard, and I found I needed to sit and breathe and just let it wash over me. Something spoke to me while I was inside that church, and I heard its message very clearly. As we left I felt so overwhelmed, and wanting to share what I had just experienced, but I couldn't do it justice walking, so we walked to a closeby bar and sat to enjoy appertivo (pre-lunch drink and tapa). After soaking in a villager wedding right next to our table, and then watching a demonstration about something-or-another (loud, annoying, protest elsewhere please..), we made our way through the winding cobblestone streets to the restaurant BF had booked for our lunch.
Boy was it a treat. The local dish is suckling piglet - roasted whole, served with something delicious. BF ordered our food, and I was in heaven. It was complimented beautifully by the vintage red he ordered, and we ate and ate and drank until I thought my pants might burst. It was such a perfect day, and the drive home was filled with views of the gorgeous Spanish countryside.
Segovia is a little slice of heaven. I would happily go there again some day.
Till next time,
M x
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