Segovia

On Friday we went on the first of our excursions around Spain. We went to Segovia, which is basically in the center of Spain, for the day. We met at the train station to get on our bus at 8:30 then drove about 2 hours to arrive at this incredible view. This is Alcázar de Segovia, which has served as a palace for many royals and I believe it has turned into a Military Academy since then. Pretty sweet.

Here I am with some cute girls from the group, Jeanette and Leigh.

Then we got back into the bus to drive into the main part of the city. We met our guide here by the aqueduct that the Romans made a really long time ago. It is so cool in Spain how things are super old in the middle of modern life. Our guide was saying that people used to drive under this aqueduct all the time, but now you can't because they want to preserve it. So cool.

I LOVED Segovia because it has some of the prettiest views. I mean look at this. I love all of the roofs and the colors and I just think it is incredibly beautiful. I would not mind living in Segovia :)

Our guide stopped us here to talk about an old church that was then turned into a jail (which I thought was kind of funny) and then a library. 

Here's our guide. He was super Spanish. I loved it. 

This is the church that was turned into a jail then a library. 

Oh heyyy check out this awesome cathedral in the middle of the Plaza Mayor. Is this real life? yes. Was this amazing? yes. It blows my mind how awesome and beautiful this place is. I love the architecture and how it is so old and again it's incredible to see daily modern life surround this incredible piece of history.

We went inside and it was really gorgeous in there as well. Our guide was telling us that lots of Catholics can get married here and that there are choir concerts held there as well. Seriously so so so amazing!

After going inside, we walked to the Castle that I mentioned earlier and got a tour inside. I'll post pictures of details later. There were tons of beautiful things inside, like gorgeous tile, and incredible ceilings covered in gold. 

This castle is really the epitome of a castile. I can imaging a prince or princess walking out of it. 

Sorry family, but I met my prince charming in the castle and we eloped ;)

After our tour through the castle, we had 2 hours of free time to eat our lunch and explore more on our own. So we ate our lunch at the Plaza Mayor with this as our backdrop...pretty sweet. 

Then we saw this Pastelería and I've been waiting to eat a Napolitana de Chocolate ever since I arrived in Spain so we indulged ourselves. SO GOOD! I was standing in the middle of la plaza mayor, looking at this amazing cathedral, eating a delicious napolitana and could hear the buzz of Spanish all around me. Alexis and I took a minute to just stand there and take it all in. A moment I hope to never forget :)

After our indulgent moment, we looked around at different shops for a while. Considered buying a hat, but decided against it, so I have a picture in the hat instead. 

Then we walked back to the aqueduct to climb the stairs to the top and get another incredible view...seriously so cool!

Trying to hang on to the Aqueduct. 

I kind of felt like I was back in Rome a little bit because this reminds me of the Colosseum. 

So excited about life!!

After we all reunited at 4, we had another short tour through some part of Segovia. then we piled back into the bus to head home. Miriam, our director's wife, bought us all this treat, which is custom in Segovia. Score! Another delicious pastry to eat on the way home. I was so tired on the way home that I slept most of the way. 

Then we came back to Luisa's and did some homework and ate dinner, which included fish with the spine still in it that we had to take out. Story: one of the girls in our group on her first night in Spain was eating fish that her family gave her. She accidentally swallowed the spine and it got stuck in her throat, so she had to go to the doctor and they took it out. Not the ideal welcome to Spain, but she is fine. I'm glad that didn't happen to me last night. Then I got to gchat with Alissa!! It was so great to talk to her for a little while!

Life is good. 

I'll post more pics of the details soon.