Tag: aqueduct

Stunning Segovia

©2020 Snapping the Globe, L.L.C. All rights reserved.

When you want to take a day trip from Madrid, there are many options.

Toledo. Pedraza. Consuegra. Valladolid. Segovia (to name just a few…)

The last one intrigued me. When I was last visiting with a friend, who is from Madrid, she talked a lot about Segovia and its aqueduct.

This, I had to see!

Rising early, I headed by metro to Chamartin train station. It was fairly easy to purchase my ticket and find my gate and train. A short, thirty minutes later, I was arriving in Segovia. Making my way to the front of the train station, I found bus #11, which was how I had planned to reach the city center and the famed aqueduct.

The bus ride was quick but the city scapes that we drove past were uninspiring, leaving me to wonder for a split second if I had made the wrong decision by traveling here. But, then, in the distance, there it was.

The aqueduct and the old city set up on a hill.

Jumping out of the bus, I could not contain my excitement, gazing up at the ancient Roman aqueduct, built almost 2000 years ago, the city’s most important architectural landmark. Snapping photo after photo, I finally made my way out of the traffic circle and walked along the length of the beautiful structure. One of the best preserved Roman aqueducts in the world, it has become an icon and one of the main attractions that lures visitors to the city. Covering a distance of 17 km, reaching a height of 92 feet (at its highest point) and containing 167 arches, this feat of age-old engineering was used to transport water from the Fuenfria spring to Segovia. The most amazing part of this venerable structure is that it defies the laws of gravity, standing on its own, with no kind of mortar used in its construction.

An interesting legend about Segovia’s Aqueduct is that it was the result of a pact between a girl and the devil in which she offered him her soul in exchange for water to reach her house before the crack of dawn! That devil must have been a talented engineer!

The aqueduct stretches down Calle de Ruiz de Alba and as I left the Plaza del Azoguejo to follow it’s footprint, I got my first glances of the city’s homes, businesses and other architectural features. Returning to the plaza, there were many tourists admiring the city’s coat of arms and a statue of the Blessed Virgin, housed in a niche the upper reaches of the aqueduct. There are two niches still visible, one on each side. The one housing the Virgin de la Fuenclisla, once held an image of Hercules, the purported founder of the city and the other, once held a statue of Saint Stephen. It is interesting to note that on the fourth day of December each year, the day of Saint Barbara, the patron saint of artillery, the local military drapes the image of the Virgen in a flag.

For those that are interested in learning more about the aqueduct, an interpretation center is housed in Segovia’s former mint, Real Casa de Moneda. The exhibit explains the connection between the mint and the aqueduct in that coins minted in Segovia used the aqueduct as a mint mark.

Finally, after soaking it all in, I climbed the stairs alongside the aqueduct, pausing for one long last look, before making my way into the historic part of the city.

What a site!

When my breath catches in my throat, I know that I am looking at something truly remarkable! This was one of the most amazing pieces of architecture and if this was the opening bid, what else was I going to find in this stunning city?

I couldn’t wait!

For more pictures, check out Facebook, Snapping the Globe and Instagram, @snappingtheglobe.

Segovia