Segovia

The campsite at Segovia is situated about 3kms out of town, it’s quite small and in late May at least, there was a surprising amount of grass everywhere - which is unusual outside the UK I find. A groundsman was already cutting it just after breakfast, when we were ready to go sightseeing. The site is conveniently on a bus route with a bus every 15 mins. so it was a no-brainer to leave the Landy at home and use public transport. €1 each way - any distance, is a good deal for us tourists and I don’t suppose it manages without public funding. The roads are smooth and the buses are like new so austerity in Spain isn’t all bad.

When we visited Pont du Gard in the south of France it was, to say the least, a surprisingly mighty construction, highly engineeed. Well here in the middle of Spain is another. Built by the Romans to convey water into the city in the same way as PdG provided for Nimes, the diffence here is that the aquaducto is right in the middle of the town!

It was also built without any mortar - the stone was so precisley cut that the pieces sit perfectly together without any slippage. It’s true that the whole construction has been renovated in the recent past but I can’t tell the new from the old. Not only are all the arches intact, there’s a town full of traffic that’s driving past, vibrating the ground more than the Romans ever did. Yet there’s seemingly no fear of anything falling.
Almost every block has an indentation in one face so I wonder if this is how they were hoisted - using a matching hollow in the opposite face and then lifting with one of those scissor things that applies sideways pressure as the weight is lifted. Or maybe as the Romans weren’t short of a slave or two, they simply moved massive quantities of earth to form a supporting hill as they built it and then, once it was complete, they just told the slaves to get rid of it all again. With plenty of control over their slaves I imagine that this would be a fairly simple task.

At the other end where the hill is less steep, the viaduct turns about 45degrees and continues with smaller arches until the slope disappears. We stood and looked in amazement - then we sat down and looked more (drinking a coffee). Then we walked up the steps at one end and looked again and then we walked to the other and looked even more.

If you would like to know more about the viaduct, I suggest that you look out for Mary Beard’s programme on the TV as she knows what she’s talking about and doesn’t just look and wonder (and she looks as though she knows what she’s talking about whereas I look like a tourist).

Once we had finished looking at the Aceducto, we walked up to the cathederal and then on to the Alcazar which is a crazy building that’s a cross between the Sleeping Beauty castle and a multitude of Rapunzel towers. Much of it was covered in scaffolding but we managed a couple of pictures.

Then, as it was almost 2:30pm we decieded to look for somewhere to eat lunch (Spanish time). We happened upon a quiet resturant in a back street and with the menu of the day at €11.90 to include a litre of wine, it was within budget (actually budget is bread, cheese and tomatoes but what the heck).
We had stumbled upon La Casa Mudéjar Hotel Spa, next to the Main Square and the Cathedral. This is a hotel and restuarant in a 15th century building - it turns out that it was a good place to drop-in. The choice was enormous and the waiter wasn’t satisfied until we had made our choice of all three courses and the wine. We sat back and waited so see what arrived and it was amazing value with a full range of dishes for Primeros, Segundos and Postres.

Two hours later we staggered out into the sunshine and realised why everyone needs to sleep in the afternoon in espain.
After further wanderings around town looking at Cerano hams and little suckling pigs hanging in the butcher’s windows, we jumped on the bus and €1 each later we were back at the campsite. Here the guy was still cutting the grass and the place was looking lovely.
It was a lovely evening and so we dug out the new BBQ - a Weber “Go Anywhere” and we ate kebabs with courgette and red peppers. Afterwards we dug out the plum brandy firewater and after one or two shots we invented a new word for Cheers! which is “Segovia!”.
This is only really funny if you follow the Eric Morcambe method of downing a harsh drink as follows. Pick up the glass, take a slug, swallow and as it slips down and fires-up in your throat, hit the back of your neck and simulaneously exhale sharply whilst making a small but noticeable shake of the head at the same time.
“Segovia"!