Saturday 10th October 2015 – Segovia, Spain

We woke to a lovely day with clear skies that helped to explain the 3ºC early morning temperature. This has been the pattern for the last few days with sweaters and the heating on in the van in the early morning and T-shirts by mid-morning. It is easy to forget that this part of Spain is actually quite high and we have been at over 1,000m when we have been on the plain and even higher in the mountains.

The next stop is Segovia but the Michelin Green Guide mentioned an interesting walled town on the way – Pedraza. The Garmin satnav showed a car park in the town but as we approached the small hill crammed with buildings, I decided to park on waste land at the bottom. It was a good decision as we walked up into the town through a narrow stone gateway and then even narrower streets – it would have been a nightmare in Henrietta. There was however, surprisingly, a very large car park on the top of the hill by the castle, which was just as well as the cars were pouring in. The Michelin guide warned us that weekend visitors flock to Pedraza and it was entirely accurate. Having said that it was easy to avoid them as we walked down the lovely side streets and admired the views over the plains. We decided to give the castle guided tour a miss – it was going to be in Spanish and the main attraction was art rather than history.

The Segovia aire has places for 10 motorhomes but the Vicarious Books aires guide says that more spaces can be found. A good job too! There were 20 plus motorhomes there when we arrived but we managed to find a reasonable spot. The whole car park is on a slope but our pitch was not too bad and by using levelling blocks we were almost level. The aire is in the most fantastic position. A 15 minute walk is all it takes to get to bottom of the hill on which ancient Segovia was built. Within a few minutes of starting the walk we came across the remains of the Roman aqueduct that bought water from over 16km away to the hill top city. It was just a few feet above ground level when we joined it but as we descended towards the centre, it rose steadily above us and when we reach the visitor-thronged Plaza del Azoguejo, it had reached 28m high on two tiers of graceful arches. It is one of the greatest pieces of Roman engineering still standing and all done without any mortar or cement joining the blocks.

We obtained a city map from the tourist information centre, which gave us even more information about the notable buildings than the Michelin Guide walking tour. There are 72 notable buildings on the map and of those 32 are churches, monasteries or convents – there were (and still are) a very religious lot! We did a small part of the tour and then it was time for dinner, for which there is a huge choice. We found a small restaurant away from the main tourist drag, La Cueva de San Esteban (Calle Valdelaguila 15) where we had their €24 (£18) 3-course menu including water, bread and half a bottle of wine each. Jane had a salad starter and I had Judiones de la Granja, giant white beans (like Greek gigantes beans) in a substantial soup with pork and chorizo – delicious. For the second course, we both chose the local speciality of roast suckling pig, offered by every restaurant in Segovia except, perhaps, the vegetarian restaurants although we didn’t see one of those. It really was a very good meal and excellent value – highly recommended.

It was time to wend our way back to Henrietta and a lovely walk it was too. Plaza Mayor (the main square) was full of families at 21:30 and with the floodlit buildings it was a great scene. The aqueduct was also beautifully lit and looked even better than in the daylight. When we arrived at the aire, we found even more motorhomes – well over thirty.

Photos: The wall Mediaeval village of Pedraza; View from the old Pedraza prison although the inmates didn’t get the chance to enjoy it; Our first view of the Roman aqueduct; Getting bigger; Huge!!; Photographer in one of Segovia’s squares – I first saw this setup in Athens forty years ago and was amazed to see someone still doing it. After taking the photograph, the photographer develops the black & white photograph inside the camera; One of Segovia’s many churches, this is San Esteban close to our restaurant; This great folk band from Segovia were celebrating their 25 anniversary and had been drinking for most of the day, and the music was still good, as was the dancing by two of the girls; Segovia’s Plaza Mayor at night, dominated by the cathedral.