Toledo & Segovia

Hello from Madrid!

We have had some fun here but before I get into that let's talk about Toledo and Segovia.

We did an excursion to see these lovely towns.

Toledo was founded a long time ago by the Carthaginians followed closely by Romans. Toledo is known as the "City of Three Faiths" because it was historically home to thriving communities of Christians, Jews and Muslims (except during the Inquisition) who lived and worked together. Each had their influence on the architecture, culture and history.

Toledo sits on a hilltop, surrounded by a river.  This creates it's own natural defensive position.

We had fun walking in the narrow streets and checking out the shops.  Carsten made a quick stop to buy Marzipan.  It is famous in Toledo.

The main stop for the day was the Cathedral. Built in 1227-1493 (one can only assume that permitting was slow...) it is a Gothic cathedral.

The choir area. The chairs are carved with saints, animals and mythical creatures.

At one end of the cathedral it looks like there is a hole in the roof.  This window lets in light "the Light of God".  We have never seen such a feature in a cathedral.  It was very beautiful.

After a little free time we got back on the bus and headed to Segovia.  This was a bit of a drive and I was wondering why we chose to split the day between Toledo and Segovia.

I am SO glad we went to Segovia!  It was wonderful!

Segovia is famous for three things: the Roman aqueduct, its cathedral and the Alcazar of Segovia.  The first record of Segovia dates back to a Celtic era. It was later controlled by Romans (starting 100 BC-ish).

Anyway - the Roman aqueducts:

Some of the 176 arches. 

The arches stand without mortar. The little holes are for the pincers used to lift the stones in to place.

These aqueducts were built around the first century AD to channel water from the springs in the mountains (11 miles away) to Segovia's fountains, public baths and private houses. It was in use until 1973.

The cathedral (we did not go in).

A monastery in the valley (same) 

The Alcazar of Segovia

They created a moat around the Alcazar as they dug boulders out of the riverbed.  The ground was too porous to hold water to make a proper moat so they put grizzly bears from the forest in the moat!!! 

The bears in Spain are not the grizzly bears you are thinking of in North America, they are a subspecies of brown bears called the Iberian brown bears.  Still - a moat full of bears is quite the deterrent!

There were some beautiful stained-glass windows. Some of the scenes were interesting:

It didn't seem so big or far when we decided to take this picture.  Carsten is hidden in the middle.

It was a great day in two lovely cities! It was hot and the sky was clear - can't ask for more than that!

Take Care,

Sheri & Carsten