Frogs, castles and the ‘sound of music’

Have you ever seen the first scene from the “Sound of Music?” You know, the one where Maria runs through the mountains belting how the hills are alive?  Basically, that was my weekend.  Oh, and I can’t leave out the castle, palace, aqueduct, cathedral and the cafeterías.

Layered up and ready for the cold in La Granja. You can see start of the awesomeness (Palacio Real) behind me.

How is it possible to visit all these places in one weekend?  Simple.  Just hop on a bus heading to one of the coldest places in Spain. Segovia.  And while the Visit Segovia Web site may say, “The city’s elevation of 3,280 ft. provides a refreshing atmosphere during the long summer evenings,” don’t let that fool you.  Despite all the warnings I got from Alcalá locals (Jose Luis from choir, the mom of one of my English students, my host mom…) and the three layers of pants, thick socks, boots, a warm sweater, jacket, gloves, scarf and a hat, I was still not prepared for the incredible cold that was Segovia that morning.

It was so much colder and more like an ice skating rink than we ever could have imagined.

La Granja
But the view of the mountains from the bus on our way there made me forget the cold (until we got off the bus of course).  We made our first stop at La Granja, the summer home of King Philip V and ten minutes away from Segovia.  In every garden there is at least one fountain, with 26 fountains overall, and they each represent some mythical story.  (One story: a king was angry that people made fun of his sons so he turned them all into frogheads. Hence the word “frogs” in my title.)  At this point the view was so breathtaking…that we started singing Edelweiss.  I felt like a Von Trapp family singer.

After slipping and sliding back down the long drive to our bus (new phrase: Ten cuidado, el suelo está rezbaladizo! Be careful, the floor is slippery!) we were on our way to Segovia.

I can't even begin to imagine the work it took to pull this aqueduct together.

Segovia
After gulping down our bocadillos (snacks) as fast as we could, we were there.  How could we tell?  Well if the winding streets, houses and hills didn’t give it away, the huge aqueduct in the middle of everything did.  According to Javier, proffessor/tour guide/generally brilliant person, the Roman aqueduct was used to carry water from the top of the mountain to the village.  The crazy part..only the top part is made out of cement.  The rest of it was built with just one stone set on top of another.  How does it all stay together??

After wandering past the tempting cafés (it wasn’t time for lunch, but we were ready!) we ended up in one of the most elegant buildings in Europe, the Cathedral.  There was so much religious artwork.  (Now I understand why there was a painting of the Virgin Mary on the side of a semi-truck on the way home).  What fascinated me most was the huge book of music on a turntable in the middle of the room.  You couldn’t even read the notes, but the choirs would sing for hours from this book.  And we think play rehearsal is bad.

The Cathedral is one of the most intricate arquitectural wonders I have seen so far.

Finally, we got a lunch break and ended up eating ponche, a typical Segovian dessert, and Cola-Cao, basically hot milk and Nesquick.  It was perfect.  Especially, when we found out that the café also made pizza.  After lunch we searched for postcards, hats, a shotglass and earrings.  Because it was “siesta time,” there were only a few shops open, but with our shopping skills we found everything…except the shotglass.

Ponche. Sugar. Pure sugar.

And then…we made it to the castle, the Alcázar.  Have you ever seen Cinderella’s castle in Disneyland? Well, this is where Walt Disney got his grand idea.  (Even though he sued everyone who tried to use the idea after him..) This Medieval castle was built almost 800 years ago and used as a fortress along with a popular vacation spot for King Alphonso VI.  This is also where Queen Isabel was proclaimed queen and later gave her financial backing so that Columbus could “discover” the new world.  The view from the turrets was amazing, but I loved the tapestrys the most.  The 12th century Spaniards were so smart.  What better way to keep your room warm and have a conversation starter?

The castle named Alcázar. I know there were secret pasages somewhere. If only we had more time..

Back in Alcalá
After a long cold day, we were finally home.  But we weren’t finished yet.  We still had a birthday part for our host mom, Charo.  She was so surprised when we showed up at the friend’s house she was just leaving.  She couldn’t understand why we all had to climb back up the stairs again.  When we opened up the door and everyone jumped out and yelled surprise from behind a curtain that I didn’t even see, I almost had a heart attack.  There were so many people, talking so fast, drinking wine and eating food.  My host sister and I made feeble attempts at conversation with Alvaro (a friend of the family or someone’s husband?).  After appetizers, soda, wine, champagne, cake and pie it was time.  For sleep.  I was done for the next day…but it was absolutely worth it.