Segovia & Ávila: Cities of Fairy Tales

Last Saturday, we had a group day trip to 2 cities about an hour outside of Madrid. The first one, Segovia, is an ancient city with few residents. The second one, Ávila, is also an ancient city, famous for the wall surrounding it. Both were beautiful in their own ways, and strikingly reminded me of a traditional town in fairy tales, like where the princess would live in a castle.

Segovia

Aqueducts

The aqueducts in Segovia are the oldest in the world, constructed entirely of rocks and mortar and carried water down the mountain to the center of the city.

Ferdinand & Isabella's Castle

Talk about fairy tale. This place has a moat (currently dry, but still), secret tunnels and overlooks to see all the land. There were creepy suits of armor and paintings with eyes that follow you. I saw their actual thrones, too! So cool!

Fancy group lunch

Did you know that Spain is known for their preparation of suckling pig? Me neither. But they are, so how could we possibly not experience this...? We had lunch in Segovia before leaving for Ávila. It was in a really nice restaurant in town square, where we didn't order, they just brought us all the same thing. We got a really good salad (YAY VEGETABLES)  and then various parts of a roasted suckling pig. I got the leg, hoof and all.

Ávila

After lunch, we got back on the bus and drove about an hour to Ávila, which is famous for it's surrounding walls. It was built by the Romans and is known for its density of Gothic style churches.

Convento de Santa Teresa

Saint Teresa's birthplace and home converted into a church. It has a shrine to her in the back that is made almost completely of gold. Like it actually glows.

We have excursions like this every weekend! This Saturday, we're going to Saler & Albufera, which are both in Valencia. We're having a group paella dinner which should be awesome! I can't wait!