castles – Running Free

Of Castles and Aqueducts

You may have noticed that none of my posts so far have been about Spain even though I do currently live there. Well it finally happened. Last weekend I took the opportunity to get out of Madrid without actually leaving the country. Crazy, I know. And I was rewarded with some snow-capped Spanish mountains but we’ll get to that later.

Lauren and I took a tour with Citylife Madrid, which plays host to all sorts of trips, get-togethers and social outings. It’s probably geared toward the typical study abroad student, but, whatever, we wanted to go to Segovia and they were going there. Scene opens to two girls grabbing croissants and coffee and running down the street to the bus.

Destination: Segovia
Travel time: one hour, thirty minutes
Mode of transport: bus, oh dear

First things first, the photo op. It was kind of funny to watch everyone like off of the bus and immediately start clicking photos. Even though the sun really didn’t want us to take pictures. The Alcazar de Segovia is said to be one of the inspirations for Cinderella’s Castle in The Magic Kingdom (another of which is Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria…which John and I will be visiting soon!). And for that reason it will heretofore be referred to as Cinderella’s castle. We quickly surveyed the exterior of the castle and then headed into town for a tour.

The city is itself incredibly old and was named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1985, along the Aqueduct of Segovia. The aqueduct is 818 meters long and is considered the most important Roman civil engineering project in Spain. Over fifteen kilometers long and more than 160 arches! Let’s be honest it has to be one of the most impressive looking ones in the world.

But if you were to ask the Spanish, the Romans didn’t actually build the aqueduct, the devil did. You’re telling me devil brought water to the town of Segovia? Well sure. According to the legend, a young girl used to have to climb to the tops of the mountains surrounding the town in search of water and then carry it all the way back home. One day she made a deal with the devil to construct some sort of structure that would prevent her from having to trudge all the way to Timbuktu just to get water. (There’s no record of the conversation, so that’s probably not exactly how she worded it, but I imagine it was something like that). The devil listened to her request and said that he would do it for a price: her soul. The girl agreed but that night when the devil went to work on the aqueduct, she found herself regretting that decision. She prayed to the Virgen de la Fuencisla for help all night long. When the sun rose the next morning, there stood the aqueduct and yet the girl was fine. But how could that be? Well apparently the devil never actually finished the aqueduct; there was one stone missing. And in that space is a statue of the Virgen de la Fuencisla. Leave it to the Spanish to outsmart the devil.

But back to the town and more importantly the castle.

She looks pensive but really she’s surveying her kingdom

But wait, it isn’t over! From there it was on to Pedraza, a little medieval village that looks like, well, a medieval village. Not only that, but there are only 500 residents and one single road in and out. But most impressive was the view. In case you hadn’t already figured it out, I’m a sucker for mountains, especially cloaked in snow.

We may have gotten a little punchy by the end

So there are my first check marks on the rapidly growing list of destinations to discover within Spain. Segovia: check. Pedraza: check. Two down, maybe about twenty five to go…

Mountains and Coastlines and Villages, Oh My: Exploring the Welsh Countryside

I suppose I should start with introductions.

Everyone this is Wally; Wally, everyone. Wally was my companion on the rolling hills and gentle coasts of the Welsh countryside. And after witnessing my first car accident literally within 2 minutes of picking up my buddy here (key word here is “witnessing”. Don’t worry, Wally kept me very safe) and some arguments over the navigation system we got along swimmingly. So, fueled with coffee, I headed off on the open road.

Originally I was going to head through the gut of Snowdonia National Park; however, after a brief study of the map, I decided it made more sense to tackle the coastline first and hit Snowdonia on my way back. It turns out that Snowdonia is rather big so I crisscrossed in and out of it for much of my journey to Aberystwyth, my destination for the day. Anyway, first stop of the drive was Mumbles Pier because how could I not stop at a place called Mumbles Pier? I found the first of many houses that I could see myself living in, a nice boat to sail around the ocean blue and a lighthouse to always lead me home. What more could I ask for?

As for the rest of the drive, I’ll just let the pictures do the talking.

I made it into town just in time to see the castle (well castle ruins) against the nighttime sky. The castle was nice and all but it was the the view from the castle and the way that the color of the sky played off of the ocean that really caught me.

It was my goal to have some fresh seafood while I was on the coast and boy was that the right call. I popped in to Gwesty Cymru (google translate tells me that that means Hotel Wales) and had the sea bream. I don’t know what sea bream is, but it was absolutely delightful.

New day, new destination. Which means more time with my good friend Wally. My final stop was to be in Bethesda/Bangor but there were many stops to make along the way, to admire small towns, rolling waves and snow-capped mountains.

One such small town was the seaside village of Portmeirion. Architect Clough Williams-Ellis purchased it in 1925 and spent the next 50 years developing it. His intent was to show how a beautiful site could be developed without spoiling it. The resulting village looks like a little slice of Italy right there in the middle of Wales, overlooking the Traeth Bach tidal estuary and surrounded by a sub-tropical forest called Y Gwyllt. It may have taken him 50 years to develop but I think the final result was well worth the wait.

I’m actually jumping in this picture although it looks like I’m summoning the heavens. It rained the entire next day. I can only blame myself…

After a pint at the very cosy, first licensed pub in Wales, I finally made it to my lodging which for the first (and only) time on this trip was an Airbnb. The lack of wifi was rather disappointing but holy cow did the view make up for it.

I had a long day ahead of me and coffee was a necessity so I stopped in at The Alpine Coffee Shop and made friends with a gorilla. It probably helped that he wasn’t real because monkeys aren’t usually my thing. But something about this shop converted me into such a softie that I wanted to go up and give that fake monkey a hug. Must have been something in the latte. Continue reading Mountains and Coastlines and Villages, Oh My: Exploring the Welsh Countryside

Cardiff, Wales

Remember in my last post I said that my feet weren’t surrounded by snow? Well, I was aching for snow (because I am almost always aching for snow) so I decided to change that. I realize this post is coming days before the east coast is going to be slammed by a nor’easter and I feel for you, I really do. Once I became an adult and lost the reality of snow days, I learned that less is more in the snow department. That said I would love to see how the madrileños would react to a foot and a half of snow. The coldest it has been since I arrived here is the mid-40s and you would think it was Antarctica. So anyway, I took off in search of snow. I didn’t go to the Alps or the Pyrenees or the Urals, I went to Wales. I wanted to see the land of my people. Well, my other people. But apparently my other people are rather popular…

Or maybe they’re so unpopular that they don’t care enough to restock? At least I got to see one of them…

Wales is a beautiful country and I got a little camera happy so I may have to break this into a couple of posts. I’m thinking one of city living, full of history, castles and pubs; and one of the countryside, full of majestic mountains, smooth coastlines and snow, glorious snow.

I started in Cardiff, the capital city of Wales since 1955 which is surprisingly recent if you ask me. And like any good tourist, I went straight to Cardiff Castle. The site originally contained a Roman fort that was later abandoned in the fifth century, when the Romans had to get out of Dodge. The Normans constructed the current castle in 1091. It still stands today; however, through the years modifications have been made to suit the tastes of its many owners.

For me, the most interesting part was the blackout shelter that had been constructed within the walls. In 1939, Lord Bute allowed these walls to be breached with new entrances so that they could become public air raid shelters. Up to 1800 people could seek refuge within these walls and some even slept here. The walls are now full of propaganda posters, one of which contains a casserole dish that bears a remarkable resemblance to Winston Churchill. For a casserole dish.

This seems like fitting advice for the modern-day citizen as well. Please don’t just stop and stare..

From there I was finally on to the Keep. Originally it had been constructed out of wood, but was reconstructed out of stone. When I first got there at 9:30, it was closed due to icing but they were able to open it by the time I got around and, one hundred stairs later, I got to be the very first person to go up for the day. The views were well worth the climb.

My heroes came via golf cart and opened the gate after determining that it was safe to enter.

Pit stop on the way up to see the facade.

Next on the agenda was the medieval, Gothic-style clock tower. It seems to me that every European city has their own fancy clock tower. I kind of want one of my own. The tower was designed by William Burges for 3^rd Marquess of Bute and due to its intricate design it took five years to complete.

On to the house! Now here is a place where I can envision people living. It’s so warm and inviting, even though the Bute family spent only a couple of weeks a year there. Psh, royalty, am I right?

Finally, the military museum. That’s where I learned that the Dragoons Guard cavalry captured an elephant when attacking rebel forces in the Battle of Lucknow in 1858. (Can that please be a Trivial Pursuit question someday?) And I also learned that traditionally a goat would lead the Welsh forces into battle. The story goes that during the Crimean War, a bleating goat warned the troops of a Russian attack. From there on out, Hebe, the goat was adopted as a mascot by the 41^st Foot. Finally, I also discovered that the Welsh have a rather wonderful sense of humor.

What would I say is the most important thing I learned there? I would be very inexperienced leading troops into battle but, man, would I look good doing it.

Next on the agenda was a walk down to the bay but after a full morning of learning (and climbing!), my body and brain were tired. So after a quick coffee stop in which I eavesdropped on two guys talking about protein shakes and Iron Man events in front of sewing machines and dainty teacups, I finally found my way to the bay.

The day ended with a walk around the Bute Gardens, where I tried to summon some supernatural spirits with the standing stones; felt incredibly small next to some very old trees; and made friends with a boar. At least I think that’s a boar. Or maybe he’s a creature from Where the Wild Things Are.

All in all, a successful day in the city. Join me in my next post when I take a drive…on the wrong side of the road…on the wrong side of the car.