Spain – Running Free

Barcelona and Gaudí

Okay I’ll admit it: I don’t love Barcelona. Everyone always raves about it but it just doesn’t do it for me.

A lot has happened since I last posted about “European Vacation” starring Kate and John so a quick recap: we started off by having cheese, pancakes and jenever in Amsterdam, we saw Cinderella’s castle in Bavaria, and we had beers, brats, and pretzels in Munich. Enough that people were noticeably worried when they didn’t hear about them.

Okay, all caught up. Then we went to Barcelona. We started with a free tour of the city which was, well, free. That was about all it had going for it. Our tour guide was originally from NYC but had lived in Barcelona forever, man. I’m still not completely convinced that he wasn’t drunk. But hey, at least he kept us from getting lost in the small side streets of the Gothic Quarter. For the most part.

We did learn that this type of wall decor is called sgraffito and is created by applying multiple, different colored layers of plaster. Apparently that’s where the word graffiti comes from. How did we go from chubby cherubs to illegible letters? Where did we go wrong?

We also got to see the spot where Fernando and Isabel received Columbus when he returned from his first voyage to America. He brought them back gifts and everything. We stood there for a little bit but no one brought us any gifts. I guess we didn’t look regal enough.

The spot where Fernando and Isabel received Columbus after his first trip to America. For the record, we are not Fernando and Isabel.

Anyways we saw a little bit more of the old city, including the cathedral, part of the original entrance into the city and a building that had been damaged by bombings during the Civil War.

Speaking of the Civil War (sort of), we also saw the open-air fresco by Picasso that was installed in 1962, during the reign of Francisco Franco. The mural was a celebration of the Catalán culture making its introduction during the time of Franco all the more incredible.

With the tour behind us and feeling like we had seen enough of the Gothic Quarter for the time being, we headed towards the water. But first, the Arc de Triomf and the Port de Barcelona.

The second day was all about Gaudí. I had been to Barcelona back in 2009 when I studied in Sevilla. But when I thought back to that trip I couldn’t remember going inside the Sagrada Familia. I must have gone inside, right? That just wouldn’t make sense, I mean why would we take a tour that brought us to the Sagrada Familia but didn’t take us in? Well, it turns out that I didn’t go inside the last time…because the inside didn’t exist. It wasn’t finished until 2010. That’s so weird to think of: construction started in 1882 and there wasn’t an inside until 2010. What would Ted Mosby say? Actually he would probably geek out about it.

Anyway, I’m glad I finally got to see the inside, because the inside looks like this:

So many pretty colors that I didn’t know what to do with myself.

I couldn’t really consider this a Barcelona post without some pictures of the exterior (of which only two of the facades are actually completed. Yeahh, I think their projected completion date of 2025 may be a little off.) So here we go:

And because it’s the thing to do, we saw the other Gaudí buildings, the Casa Batlló (on the left) and the Casa Milà (on the right). Call me crazy but they were kind of a letdown.

Finally we made our way out to Parc Güell. Once we got out there we spent most of our time in the park park next door instead of Gaudi’s park. When you see the views you’ll understand why…

Our last day started with a bang. In the form of an epic sunrise. It really is amazing to come alive with the sun, I could do it everyday.

And that was followed by a trip to the spa. Heaven.

So we left Barcelona on a high note and took the train through the Spanish countryside to end our trip back where we started, in Madrid.

Note: the northern countryside is a lot more beautiful than the southern countryside. Just look how mesmerizing!

Bilbao and the Guggenheim

After San Sebastián, I had one more stop: Bilbao, the capital of the Basque Country. I had about two days and didn’t really have much on the agenda outside of the Guggenheim Museum. That said, I spent my time wandering, mostly throughout the Casco Viejo (old city center). I try to spend most of my time in any city in the old city center because the architecture seems to have more character. I like the charming old buildings of years past and the narrow windy streets. I’ve admitted that I don’t quite get modern art, well I don’t really get modern architecture either.

I felt like I didn’t have a whole lot of history in the my previous post and I’m going to have even less in this one, but, oh well, the pictures are pretty.

When I first got there it was supposed to rain both days; however, the first day ended up being not so bad so that was the day that I went exploring. I was staying in the city center so I started there and gradually made my way out across the Nervión river (also known as the Estuary of Bilbao) and into the old town. This first group of pictures is from the city center (which I suppose would be considered the new town, but of course that’s all relative).

Parts of the area along the river had an oddly Scandinavian feel. It reminded me of Copenhagen…but perhaps it was just the colors. The church in the pictures is Church of San Anton, which was first built in the 15th century. Over the years additions have been made to increase the size. The Belfry Tower, the current bell tower, was constructed in the 18th century and replaced a previous one that had been damaged.

Right next to the church is the Mercado de la Ribera, a two floor market. The first floor offers tapas and drinks to be had right then and there. The top floor has cuts of meat and fish and cheeses and bottles of wine to take home and prepare. The views were great and the stained glass, impressive.

Within the old town, there was a hill with a view that overlooks the city and the mountains in the background. I do love those burnt orange rooftops.

On the way down, I was reminded why I don’t like cats. Seriously, look at those eyes. I swear they all followed me the whole way down.

Thankful for my life after passing those cats, I wandered around the town. Of course I got thirsty and hungry so I had to throw some coffee and palmeras in there.

Oh and there was also wine…

…that only took one glass

The next day I went to the Guggenheim and spent the rest of the day in the park before catching my train back to Madrid. Overall I was unimpressed with the Guggenheim. The building itself was incredible but as far as the works of art themselves? My favorite was probably the dog outside. But look at him. He’s so well trained! And trimmed!

I did like those lollipop looking things too. They kind of reminded of a more colorful bean like in Chicago. I’m making a funny face in the second to last picture but you can’t really tell. In all seriousness, the artwork in the museum is very modern and that’s not really my taste. I’m sure it’s all very impressive but it just doesn’t tickle my fancy.

From there it was on to the see the swans in the park. If only there was a swan boat to go with them.

Finally I was on my way to the train station. I said hello to John Adams, who apparently is a big deal here in Bilbao. His testimony of Bilbao and Bizkaia, and their ability to retain their heritage, is recorded in “A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, 1787”. And I passed a building which had an intricate design on the underside of all of the terraces. How cool is that?

My train ride home was five hours so of course I needed sustenance. I overheard a tour guide saying that this bakery was one of the best in the city so I had to give it a try. It was a long ride so I got a palmera and a pastel vasco. The pastel vasco (also called Gâteau Basque) originated in the Basque region of France and is a pastry with a vanilla cream (although sometimes cherry) filling.

And so vacation came to an end…on that very, very sweet note.

San Sebastián: Sand and Sea

Yesterday I mentioned that I sometimes take too many pictures…well you’re about to bear witness to that. I blame it on San Sebastián which may be the most beautiful place that I’ve ever been. As such this post is mainly pictures, but I don’t think you’ll mind.

San Sebastián is located in the Basque Country, on the coast of the Bay of Biscay and is only about 20 kilometers from the French border. The Basque Country (or Basque Autonomous Community) is an autonomous community that was granted the status of nationality by the Spanish Constitution of 1978 which was signed by current king of Spain, King Juan Carlos I, in December of 1978. The Basque Country (or Euskadi in the Basque language) even have their own parliament and King! They also have their own language, Euskera, which sounds and looks nothing like Spanish.

But anyway back to San Sebastián (or Donostia in Euskera), the most beautiful city in all the land. It has everything: three churches, three beaches, three hills, one island, one river, and a partridge in a pear tree. Okay, so it’s not a partridge and it’s not in a pear tree but they do have a dove so there.

From this point on, I don’t really have any history to share with the group and I’m not going to bother to include food and drinks since I already did that in my last post. And to be honest, I have enough pictures without it. Trust me. With that said, I am going to group the pictures according to location instead of day by day. You’ll notice that I have different outfits on; although the workout outfit is always the same for both days (Penn State got some nice exposure in the Basque Country…well if anyone up there knows what a Nittany Lion is!)

First things first, let’s start in the old town. This is when the churches and the Town Hall are located.

Now let’s climb. During one of my morning runs I decided to tackle Mount Urgull. The views from the top (and actually the whole way up) were amazing. The whole area is a basically a park with lots of trails, so I looped around the hill as I made my way up. That way I was able to overlook the city, the beaches, the open waters (of the Bay of Biscay) and the coastal mountains of Ondarroa in the distance. The hill originally served as a defense point dating back to the founding of the city in the 12th century and there are military barracks and a castle (with a chapel and a 40 foot tall Jesus statue (added in 1950) that overlooks the city). Back in its day it was the site of many military operations including the Siege of San Sebastián in 1813 and the assaults of 1823, 1836, 1876 during the Carlist Wars. Of course now, the city is a touristy resort town and the area was sold to the city council in 1924 so that people like me can get view like these!

This is apparently becoming my thing

After working up a sweat, let’s hit our first beach, Playa de Zurriola (Zurriola Beach) located in the part of town known as Gros. Along the walkway just past the beach is the Dove of Peace statue which was built in the1980s as a symbol of the city’s commitment to peace, freedom, and coexistence. It’s also apparently the area for the young folk and the beaches were full of young surfers and sunbathers. Although there were quite a few families too and I definitely saw a little girl get swept up by one of the waves with her father chasing after her. She cried and then went running into the water. No harm, no foul. I mean who wouldn’t want to go running into this?

I had to cross the river to get to the beach so this is techinically the river

This is the Dove of Peace statue. It could kind of pass for a partridge in a pear tree, right?

Next the big beach, the Playa de la Concha (La Concha Beach). Remember that ad from yesterday’s post? The ad that was etched into the sand at the beach? Well this is that beach! The pictures are from a couple of different days at a couple of different times a day so you’ll see that sometimes the water is all the way out but sometimes the water is in. Imagine watching that and seeing all of your hard work being swept away?

Finally the beach that everyone forgot, Playa de Ondaretta (Ondaretta Beach). Okay that’s probably not true but it’s right next to Playa de la Concha, separated by a little piece of land that juts out into the water, so I’m going to assume. It’s got a prime view of Isla Santa Clara (Santa Clara Island) and Mount Igeldo (which has an amusement park at the top!) though so it’s doing alright for itself.

This was my favorite city of the trip. I’m sure you can see why…

Bodegas Franco-Españolas: Pinkies Out Everyone!

As you can see, I had my fair share of vino with the many, many pintxos; however, a trip to wine country wouldn’t be complete without a trip to an actual winery. When I travel, I am primarily looking for beautiful places, like this and this, but I also like to incorporate some thing particularly educational or cultural. It makes me feel like I am getting a more well-rounded experience and that I’m working my brain in addition to my clicker-happy index finger. (Sometimes I snap too many pictures, oops!)

So I figured going to a winery counts right?
1.) It’s educational: I promised I learned more than how to drink it (I had a pretty good handle on that beforehand)
2.) It’s cultural: Spain and wine practically go hand-in-hand

So there. I mentioned that Logroño is right in the heart of wine country so it should come as no surprise that they have a Ruta Enoturísrica (wine tourism route). If I had more time and a car, I might have tried to hit a couple more but when you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all, am I right? I’ve been to many breweries over the years (should I be admitting that?) and I can say that they all seem vaguely the same and I still couldn’t tell you how to make beer.

Anyway, I crossed the Puente de Hierro (Iron Bridge) and went to Bodegas Franco-Españolas. That bridge that you can in the distance is the Puente de Piedra (Stone Bridge). Remember that because it will come up again later. They conveniently have you pick up your tickets and wait in the gift shop. They had a lot of award-winning wines for sale but since I wouldn’t be able to tell the difference anyway, I knew that I wouldn’t be leaving there with any of those heavy hitters. My palate is very well accustomed to the 1-3€ wines. But before you scoff, let’s be real, I’m in Spain so the 1-3€ wines are actually quite good.

After a couple of minutes the tour began, in Spanish. It was Semana Santa so there weren’t a whole lot of options available period, never mind in English. With that said, because I don’t know the technical terms associated with wine making in English, I can probably talk about wine better in Spanish than I could in English! Hmm maybe not.

We started with a brief history of the winery itself which has nothing to do with Francisco Franco, but rather the winery’s French roots. In the 1850s eager European botanists brought American vines home with them to study. Surprise! These vines were covered in phylloxera, tiny bugs, which by the end of the 19th century destroyed most of the grape growing industry in France. Since the French need their wine, some hardy winemakers moved in search of a new place to cultivate wine and landed in Logroño in the La Rioja region. They officially opened Bodegas Franco-Españolas in 1890 marrying together French wine-making know-how with the Spanish setting and resources. One year later they had their first harvest, resulting in wines such as Diamante, Royal, and Estilo Borgoña (which would later be renamed Estilo Bordón). In its 125 years of operation, the winery has played host to many an important figure, including King Alfonso XIII and Ernest Hemingway. Hemingway was actually a big fan and came to winery often. I’m hoping that some of his writing prowess rubbed off on me. And I just used the word prowess so it seems to be working!

But back to the winery.

We started in the barrel room where the first fermentation takes place. The barrels are kept elevated so that they can be adjusted for climate as necessary. If it is too cool for the fermentation take place, heaters can be placed below the barrels. If it is too warm, coolers can be placed there to slow it down. Pretty neat huh?

Next stop was the room where the second fermentation takes place. The crest on the back wall is the crest of the winery and includes the building itself, the crest of Bordeaux and the crest of La Rioja, symbolizing the marriage of the two cultures.

From there we went wandering around the winery, passing barrel after barrel after barrel of wine. There is even a statue of the Virgin Mary in one of the rooms so I guess you know it’s good.

After the wine has been aged in the barrels, there is a little bit of residue left over. Hmm, what to do with that? Put it on your face of course! It makes do a great red wine scrub which will leave you with healthy youthful skin. Lesson learned: wine does a body good on the inside and the outside.

Down in the wine cellar, there are thousands of bottles. In fact, along that wall with the pipes along the top, the bottles are actually stacked back-to-back so whatever you think you see, there is actually about double!

This room is designed to have a homey feel so there are decorations throughout, including these signs and that chair with a tree sprouting through it. The tree-chair is meant to represent all that goes into wine-making, including what you see (the vines) and what you don’t see (the roots).

And because, obviously, a house isn’t a home without a Velázquez there is replica of Las Meninas along one of the walls. Only in this one, the setting is the winery itself, reflected in the pipes along the top. Those look familiar right? Oh and Velázquez himself is also hanging out downstairs. Be sure to give him a wave when you leave.

From there it was more barrels. You think you’ve seen a lot of barrels already? Well lets talk about this row of barrels here. Remember the picture earlier that I took from Puente de Hierro, looking to over the Puente de Piedra? Yeah, this row of barrels spans the distance between those the two bridges. Now that’s a lot of wine!

Next on the trip was some old advertising which I always find interesting.

First was how the advertising for Diamante had changed over the years. Originally it had been marketed toward the limited, elite class and then was gradually introduced to the masses.

Second was an old advertisement for the winery in general; however, it wasn’t just any regular old advertisement. It was an ad on the beach! That’s right, not at the beach. On the beach! This picture was taken in 1925 when the winery hired people to etch advertisements into the sand at Playa de la Concha in San Sebastián. (Keep your eyes open for that beach in the next post!) I’m not sure how economical it was considering that the tides go in and out and wash it away but it sure is unique.

Last but not least, the bodega contains an old treasure. A really old treasure. It is a vine that survived the phylloxera plague in the 1860s!

Finally the fun part: the cata (tasting).

We got to try two wines: the Rioja Bordón Reserva and the Barón D’Anglade. A little background on the two wines:
1.) The Rioja Bordón was aged in American barrels for 18 months. The pores of the wood of the American barrels are larger so that the oxidation happens much quicker
2.) The Barón D’Anglade was aged in French barrels for 24 months. The pores of the wood of the French barrels are smaller so, you guessed it, oxidation happens much more slowly.

We were at a winery so of course we went through all of the appropriate steps. After the pour, we first examined the color by holding it up to the light and placing a white napkin behind the glass to check out the color. I’m told there was a difference in the color although they pretty much looked the same to me.

After that, we smelled the wine which was actually a two step process. First we smelled it without moving around the contents of the glass. Then we smelled it again after giving a swirl. For the first wine, the Rioja Bordón, there as a definite difference in smell after swirling. The distinct odor of alcohol was noticeably diminished after giving the glass a swirl. The Barón D’Anglade had the same effect; however, the hint of alcohol was much less pronounced in both stages anyway.

Finally, finally, we got to taste it. Except that tasting it is actually a lot harder than expected. We had to take a sip, hold it in our mouth while breathing in through out mouth, then finally swallowing the wine and breathing out of our nose. When our guide first said the procedure I had visions of myself choking on the wine while taking that inhale but luckily someone else in the group did that instead of me. She was a good sport about it though. If it had been me, I would have turned a ruby red as the Rioja Bordón!

After the tasting they brought out some charcuterie and picos to accompany the wine and we were put to work finishing one of the bottles that had been opened during the tasting. I’ll take that, please and thank you. And so went my visit to the winery. I already feel more cultured.

Tune in next time when I take you to the Playa de la Concha! Alas, there will be no wine advertisements; only surfers!

Logroño

You might remember in my last post that I mentioned whisking myself away on vacation. If you had a keen eye, you might have noticed something. Yup, the train ticket was valid for the day that I actually bought it, which was Monday. Instead of my travel day, which was Wednesday. Cue the sad trombone: wah wahhh. Thankfully that was the only hiccup along the way. From there it was smooth sailing.

I started in Logroño in the La Rioja region of Spain. In other words, hello wine. I didn’t get there until late on Wednesday so I headed straight for the hotel so that I could wake up early the next day. Starting the day early in Spain is both wonderful and horrible. It’s wonderful because no one is awake so you can get the streets and the sights to yourself. It’s terrible because no one is awake so nothing is open. You can find breakfast and coffee if you look hard enough but that’s about it. Stores don’t open until 10 or 11, then they close around 2 and sometimes don’t open again until 5. How they get anything done is beyond me.

All told, I had just under two days in the city. Most of the time was spent exploring; however, I did manage to squeeze in a visit to a winery, but for now it’s all about the exploration! Anyway, I started each morning with a coffee and a napolitano or tostado and then went for a walk around the city. Notice how empty these pictures I are? I didn’t even have to try all that hard to get photos without people in them. Any people that I did stumble across during my morning strolls were very clearly not Spanish, or at least, were not local Spaniards. The Camino de Santiago passes through Logroño so there were a lot of people trekking around. I followed the seashell markers through the old town so that counts for something, right?

Lunchtime finally rolled around and it was time to do the thing that you’re supposed to do in Logroño. Pintxos! (Or pinchos!) There are loads of bars scattered around the town but there are three main streets: Calle del Laurel, Calle de San Augustín and Calle Alborniz plus an alley or two connecting them all together. Between all these streets there are probably about 50 restaurant/bars, each specializing in a certain pincho. The idea is to go from bar to bar sampling their specialities. So that is exactly what I did for the two-ish days that I spent there.

Yes, I was that person. Anyway, that about covers wandering and eating my way through Logroño. Check in with me next time when I talk about my visit to the winery! Make sure to stock up on your wine now!

Triple Header: Movie, Music and Football

They say when it rains, it pours. Well it poured this weekend for me. Friday night, check. Saturday night, check. Sunday night, check.

Friday night: movie!

I’ve never really been the going-to-the-movies type although I’m not sure why. I usually have to take a minute (an embarrassingly long minute) to think about the last time I went to the movies. For the longest time, Toy Story 3 was the last movie I had seen in the theaters. That came out in 2010. Now that I think about it I also went to see About Time (based solely on the fact that one of the characters had an Irish accent, true story). And that was in 2013. So I had been averaging one about every three years. I foresee that number getting drastically lower once I’m back stateside. Cough John cough. And dear readers, you’ll be relieved to know that I did see the new Star Wars movie in December. And yet, here it is only two months later that I found myself at another movie: The Big Short (La gran apuesta). Even though we are in Spain, we saw it in English because we figured that the vocabulary for the movie would be a little too specific to be part of our regular vocabulary. Looking back that was a great choice. I mean we probably could have understood it alright but something would have been different. And that something is swearing. Don’t get me wrong, Spaniards are master swearers; they drop them into conversations just like any ol’ preposition. That’s just how they connect thoughts. But there’s something about the way Americans swear, especially in this film, that just can’t be replicated. It’s all about intonation, facial expression and strategic silences. I can’t believe that last sentence was all about swearing, but anyway, English swearing was in full effect and it was glorious. Also the movie was pretty incredible so there’s that.

Saturday night: music!

I may not be a movie person but I dig live music. So when Lauren suggested going to see some jazz/blues, I was in! We went to La Coquette, a cute, little cave of a bar where we were able to snag front row seats. Like too-close-to-the-stage front row seats.

Somehow I felt like the leather jacket gives me a little more street cred for a blues bar

So close we could have been part of the band, The Downtown Alligators. We could have been alligators! The lead singer had that great raspy, bluesy voice and then in between songs he would rattle off some Spanish banter. It was actually very weird to hear him switch between the two.

Sunday night: Football!

You can take the girl out of America but you can’t take America out of the girl. I had to watch the Super Bowl…it was my patriotic duty. Plus it was date night. So I was ready: Skype on my iPad which John pointed towards the tv, FaceTime on my iPhone to chat with John (and judge commercials together…I was mostly unimpressed). The only problem: the game started at 12:30 in the morning so I definitely fell asleep somewhere in the fourth quarter. I woke up in time to see Denver win but I’m pretty sure I missed Helen Mirren scold drunk drivers. And the Clydesdales, were there Clydesdales this year?!

I was too busy dreaming..

Running Mad…rid

All of my posts so far have shown me outside of Madrid. For some reason I’ve been putting off writing about actual Madrid. I don’t know why but it’s hard to write about; how do I start? Destinations are easy. I went here; I did this; look, pictures! Everything fits so nicely in one post. I’ve been in Madrid for almost three months now; that’s a lot of words and pictures to fit into one post. So what’s the best way to break things up? Where do I begin? Well, let’s start with running. That is the general theme going on here so I’ll start with me running Madrid. Not running Madrid (although I did see the king’s hand once!) but literally running the mean, hilly streets (and parks!) of Madrid.

When I first arrived to town, we lived in Lavapiés so I pretty much had El Retiro in my back yard and quickly learned to get lost (and then found…wow, I’m so deep) in the labyrinth of tiny pathways, all the while admiring the small fountains, the scattered monuments and the golden colors of autumn.

The following month, Lauren and I found our permanent home in Madrid which happened to be right next to the Parque ~~Deheaven~~ Dehesa. Okay, okay, I’ve made that joke elsewhere but let’s just look past that and let me have my fun with words. But seriously, doesn’t this kind of look Iike heaven?

Those views are worth running for if you ask me, but then again so is beer. And so I find myself at that time again: training season. The time of year where Liz and I decide that it’s a good idea to run 13.1 miles (there was that one time that we thought 26.2 miles would be a good idea) motivated only by visions of beer and a medal. If you’re thinking ‘that’s not enough motivation to train for a half marathon’, well, you would be right. By the end, training almost always ends up being replaced by talking about training while looking at motivating pictures. But it turns out that beer and medals are just enough motivation to run 13.1 miles on a Sunday morning while the rest of the world is still sleeping. Although somewhere along the line, we ~~got old~~ learned that mimosas are actually much better rewards. So, eleven weeks from today, that’s where you will find us: chugging up one of Madrid’s many hills and chanting “medals, mimosas, beers…medals, mimosas, beers.”

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…