Segovia and Madrid (Nov 9-11)

by Amy

On Friday, the 9th of November Phil and I had plans to go to Madrid to meet up with our friends who live there and go rockclimbing with them and the youth group they work with on Saturday. Since we didn´t have anything planned for Friday, we decided to take the train up to Segovia (2 hours north of Madrid) to see some more of Spain. While waiting on the platform to catch the train to Segovia from Madrid we met another Enligsh speaker (Australian) who was going for the day to visit Segovia also. We ended up sticking together the whole day sightseeing and eating. It was a good time.

Segovia´s main attraction is the old Roman aqueduct that runs through the town and was built to bring water from the mountains to the castle and the townspeople. It is quite the an impressive structure. Besides this, other tourist interests are the castle (which Disneyland supposedly replicated in its fairytale castle), the cathedral, and a convent. We only walked by the cathedral, since it cost $5 or something to enter and we heard that the inside is a letdown. We went to the castle though which was like probably most other castles: big cold stone-walled rooms, an artillery museum, tapestries on the walls, and a couple turrets that you could climb up to have a great view from the top.

Our friend Dioni and me in front of the castle

On top of the castle, Segovia in the background

Segovia is also known for it´s fried pig, cochinillo frito. It is most commonly sold as a whole pig (picture what you would have disected in science class) but you can also get it in portions. We ended up buying some portions of pig with some other tapas. It was very delicious. We also went out for churros and chocolate at a chocolateria which actually makes a lot of the more expensive chocolate bars that you can buy in the stores here. Very good. Some of the best I´ve had here yet. When we returned to Madrid we also went our for pallella (rice mixed with with all sorts of meat and veggies) so we ate very well that day:)

On Saturday we caught the bus to Patones (the rockclimbing place outside of Madrid) with our friends Michelle, Jody, and 8 others from their youth group. We had a very nice day. Not much climbing for Phil and I, but we had fun teaching the youth how to climb and it was good fellowship. Michelle and Jody help out at a church in Madrid whose pastor is Guatemalan, so consequently all the youth were from Guatemala too. They are a fun bunch of people and we swapped numbers with a few who were interested in climbing with us again.

Eating lunch at Patones

We spent the night in Madrid and caught the train home in time for night church in Valdepeñas.