Today we took a coach tour to Ávila and Segovia. We really wanted to see the outstanding Roman aqueduct at Segovia and had planned to do a day trip on our own by train. However, Bernie found a guided day trip that we could do by coach that would take us to both Ávila and Segovia, so we decided to book that. Having to be at the meeting point this morning 25 minutes before our 9.00am departure meant setting an alarm for this morning to make sure we arrived on time. With our body clocks on Spanish time – late dinner, even later to bed it’s getting harder to be up early when we need to be!
We walked to the meeting point arriving at 8.37am to find that so many others had arrived even earlier than the 25 minutes beforehand that was requested by the tour company. The staff in bright orange T-shirts directed customers to queues depending on whether they had booked Ávila and Segovia or Segovia and Toledo. We were not quite on the end of our queue with a few more customers arriving after us. When we were taken to the double decker coach EVERYONE wanted to be upstairs. Of course, being near the end of the queue we had not choice but to sit downstairs. Not really a problem, like I’m going to be awake for the view anyway once the bus gets moving, ha, ha!
The coach departed on time and our guide Sara introduced herself, her fellow guide, Carlos, who would be guiding the Spanish tourists and our driver, Luis. Sara also explained that with the English group being so big we would be meeting local guides in both cities who would take half the English speakers. Sara pointed out a few sights on our way out of Madrid and then handed out audio sets that we would use during both of our walking tours today. And then we fell asleep for the 114-kilometre journey to Ávila!!
Arriving in Ávila Sara woke all the sleepy heads in time for us to stop at the Cuatro Postes Viewpoint overlooking the walled city. We were also provided with the opportunity to take a comfort break and/or buy breakfast/morning tea at the conveniently located restaurant on the hill.
After our short stop we drove down into the city where we pulled up beside the Tourist Information Centre. We ended up in the group that was assigned to the local guide, Glória. We used the escalators in the visitor centre to go up to the level of the city walls where Glória pointed out the north wall of the city which is the most photographed aspect of the walls.
Ávila’s wall is the legacy of its position on the border of Spain’s northern plateau. The city was in dispute between the Christian kingdoms of León and Castile, and the Muslim-ruled kingdoms of the south between the 8th and 10th centuries. The walls, which remain a landmark of Ávila to this day, were erected during this period. The walls are among the best preserved and most complete in Europe contributing to its World Heritage status.
We entered the walls through the gate next to the Catedral de Ávila then meandered through the streets with our audio cutting in and out which was frustrating. Sometimes we thought it was because we were lagging behind a bit taking photos and sometimes, we thought it was because the twisting streets had us out of line of sight with Glória? On the whole I think it’s actually because the headsets are cheap and crappy and unreliable. Anyhow, we picked up a reasonable amount of information along the way having the many palaces and churches pointed out to us.
We wandered inside the walls and outside the walls with fabulous views over the countryside to the south before re-entering the walled city to visit the Convento de Santa Teresa. We headed back through the centre of the city past Iglesia de San Juan where bunting was flying in the lead up to St John’s Day next week before exiting through the Puerta de San Vincente. Our last stop before lunch was at the Basilica de San Vincente.
We were taken to the. Restaurante Las Murallas for lunch. A tapa and a soft drink were included in our ticket, and we could order more food if we wanted it. We sat at a table with a family from New York who only arrived this morning and were straight out on this day trip. Luckily, they were able to check in early this morning and they had at least been able to shower and freshen up before going sightseeing. After our light lunch we had about 20 minutes of free time before we needed to be back at the Tourist Information Centre to re-board the coach.
Then it was time for an after-lunch siesta during the 60-kilometre drive over to Segovia. We pulled up just about under the Roman Aqueduct which was the main purpose of our visit. We met our new local guide, Daniel, who gave us a short history about the aqueduct. It was built in the 1st century AD to channel water from springs in the mountains 17 kilometers away to the city’s fountains, public baths and private houses. Its length is 794 metres and it towers 28 metres tall at its highest point. Remarkably it remained in use until 1973!
We then had 25 minutes of free time. That was long enough to climb the stairs to look back down onto the aqueduct and take photos. Well, that’s what we did. As the group broke up after Daniel’s instructions about where to meet him after our free time, I heard one girl say to her partner, so, what is there to do here?? After returning to the square, we had just enough time to buy ice cream! We had only had a very small piece of tortilla for lunch back in Ávilla so we really needed our ice-cream fix today.
Still cramming the last of my ice-cream cone in my mouth we headed back to the designated place to meet Daniel. He led us through the beautiful streets of Segovia pointing out the mountain that is the source of the water that the aqueduct carried into the city before taking us to visit the Catedral de Segovia. Segovia’s cathedral was last to be built in the Gothic style in Spain. Following the Revolt of the Cumuneros (1520-22) the old cathedral was left partially destroyed. In 1525 Carlos I ordered that a new cathedral should be built and after three phases of building the cathedral dedicated to Our Lady of the Assumption and to Saint Fructus was finally consecrated in 1768.
Phew, next stop was the Alcázar de Segovia. The alcázar was built on top of a rock at the confluence of the Eresma and Clamores rivers around the 12th century and it was used as a residence by Alfonso VIII. In the 13th century Gothic elements were added thanks to Spanish architects working for Juan II and Henry IV. Daniel told us that the castle served as the inspiration for Disneyland’s castle. Hmmn, I always thought it was a castle in Austria somewhere that inspired the Disney Castle? A quick Google check says it’s actually Neuschwanstein Castle near Munich in Germany. Does anyone know for sure? The Alcázar de Segovia certainly looks like something straight out of a fairytale.
After a quick tour through the castle, we had about 20 minutes to take some more photos of the exterior before it was time to re-group for the walk back to the coach. It’s always the problem with these tours, they pack so much in that it’s hard to see everything properly. Still if we had done this ourselves, we would only have seen Segovia, doing it this way we have seen Ávila too which is a bonus.
I chatted with a lovely young Canadian man on the walk back to the coach. He is in Spain for a work conference and is managing a couple of days of sightseeing before flying home. After this day trip today, he is catching the train to Barcelona tomorrow and then returning to Madrid to fly back to Ottawa. We got to talking about the fact that uni students have all started their summer holidays here in Europe as they have in Canada. He was quite bemused by the idea that in Australia our academic year is in line with the calendar year.
So, after a full day of sightseeing it was back onto the coach for the trip back to Madrid. We had a good run back to the city arriving just after 6.30pm. We walked back to our apartment surprised at how busy it was in the city on a Monday evening. We walked past one venue where there were lots of young people all dressed up in evening wear. We suspect that may have been for a school formal or graduation ceremony. Walking past one of the cinemas the red carpet was out so maybe a premiere of something?? The posters were for something animated that I didn’t recognize. Then there was a crazy man yelling and carrying on in the streets which was a bit disturbing. Especially when he was going the same way that we were and we didn’t seem to be able to get away from him. Fortunately he was just yelling aggressively but not trying to engage with anyone.
About 8.00pm we headed out to dinner. Tonight, we tried the Taberna Alhambra, and we got the ordering wrong AGAIN! Bernie wanted to try their house specialty salad and potatoes with two sauces (bravas and aioli) and a pork loin dish with honey mustard and onions. I suggested this might be too much, did we really need a salad and potatoes? The salad arrived piled high on a dinner plate along with a dinner plate full of fried potato cubes smothered in red and white sauces. Bloody hell, we’ve still go the pork loin coming. We’d tackled a fair amount of the salad and potatoes when the pork arrived … accompanied by chips! Yup, we really would have had enough without the extra potatoes. The problem is that the serving size varies so much between restaurants and even the pricing is not necesssarily a good indicator or how big or small the serve might be. In the end we ate it all except a bit of lettuce and a few potato cubes. Definitely no churros for dessert tonight!!
Steps: 18,703 (11.59kms)