Segovia, Toledo, and goodbye to Spain, 7 to 9 June

Segovia and Toledo, Tuesday to Thursday, 7 to 9 June

On the way to Segovia we stopped at El Escorial, a massive palace complex built by the Spanish royals, and at El Valle de los Caidos (Valley of the Fallen). The latter is the spectacular monument built into the middle of a mountain to commemorate the fallen of both sides in the Spanish civil war. The monument was built from 1940, soon after the war finished. Franco's tomb is in the monument, which is still an issue with some Spaniards and seems likely to remain so until the last generations who lived under Franco are gone.

As a monument it is breathtaking. The cross on top of the mountain is 150m high (3 times bigger than the well known Rio statue of Jesus), and the massive cavern excavated inside the mountain is larger than St Peter's cathedral in the Vatican. As a result only a part of it was consecrated as a church so St Peter's could keep it's spot as the largest cathedral in the world.

The outside.

The inside.

Later we arrived at Segovia, a well preserved hilltop town featuring walls, cathedral, alcazar (Moorish word for castle/palace). Perhaps the stand out feature, given a degree of cathedral fatigue, was the roman aqueduct which was just outside the hotel where we stayed.

Still standing after over 2,000 years, it was bringing water 16km from the mountains to the city until the late 20th century and could do so again if needed. It was built from local granite with no mortar. While in NZ we are celebrating bi centenaries, Segovia celebrated the second millenium of its aqueduct in 1974.

Segovia's fairy tale alcazar supposedly provided inspiration to Walt Disney. We were shown locations which the locals think have been used as models for Disney's Sleeping Beauty movie.

We umm'd and ah'd about visiting the inside of the castle but as the above mentiond monument fatigue was setting in, we settled for Phil walking up the tower for the view while Janet had a sangria in the cafe and read the book. It was the hottest part of a hot day and their were lots of stairs. Still the views were great and it wasn't that crowded - other than me, just a few english people and a dog that might have been mad.

 

View from the tower of the Segovia alcazar.

In Segovia we tried roast suckling pig, a dish that is super famous in this part of Spain and at its best in this town. The roasted pig was "addressed" by a distinguished gentleman (rather like a haggis) and then cut with a plate to demonstrate how tender it was. The plate was smashed on the floor afterwards in case of suspicions it was some sort of trick. And the pig was tender too, but somehow a dish you only need to try once.

Using a plate to carve the pig.

Last stop on our Spanish expedition was Toledo. Toledo was once an important capital city but was sidelined and somewhat forgotten about after Madrid took over in the 1500's. Due to this historical quirk it remained largely unchanged over the years and the old town in its entirety is now a UNESCO world heritage site. 

Toledo claims to be famous for three things - the magnificent cathedral, making steel swords and knives, and marzipan. Given marzipan is just a mixture of sugar and almonds, it is surprising what can be done with it - for example we came across a 3m high statue of Don Quixote, all in marzipan.

The site of the old town is spectactular - on a steep hill protected by cliffs and a river on three sides. The town itself is very interesting with the typical maze of streets, Spain's 3rd largest cathedral (impressive enough to spark interest even if it's not the first one you've seen lately), and history everywhere. The cathedral is home to the enormous Monstrance of Arfe, which is made from an incredible 18kg of gold and 183kg of silver, said to be some of the first gold brought back from the New World by Colombus.

Massive monstrance.

And it was a very hot day, 37+ in the shade, so we suffered accordingly.

Old Toledo's main street - called The Wide Street - this is one of the wider parts.

 

The jumble of Toledo seen from the tower of Iglesia de Los Jesuitas (Jesuit church).

We stayed outside the old town and were really lucky to score a room with a view for our last night in Spain.

Toledo - from our bedroom! Cathedral spire on the left, alcazar on the top of the hill.