¡Hola a todos!: January 14, 2011 Segovia

Finally! The long awaited Segovia update. :) Segovia is a just a couple hours outside the city of Madrid. NYU piled us into three buses sometime between nine and ten in the morning and off we went.

First view of town. Not so pretty, I know, but I figured I had to document this first glimpse.

Aqueduct!!!

Aqueduct that STILL functioned as an aqueduct right up through a portion of the 20th century! And even then, it isn't as if it stopped working as an efficient method of water transport. A couple leaks had sprung in the top viaduct as a result of erosion from air pollution, and they stopped using it more out of sense of ultra-cautious preservationism than anything else.

You're looking at one of the largest, most intact aqueducts (or aqueduct bridges, technically - that's the part that actually rises above the ground like this) of the Roman Empire.

Our guide, a professor who normally teaches at NYU in Madrid but is off this semester, had our group gather underneath this arch. He explained that the aqueduct had been built during the late 1st century. The engineering was so sophisticated that no mortar was used. He then had us look up.

Some of us took an involuntary step back when we saw the seemingly out-of-place stone in the very center. The professor told us not to worry. It's the keystone of the arch (giving me new appreciation of the importance the motto "Keystone State" implies for Pennsylvania) and it's looked roughly the same for the last 1,900 years. For a long time in the late 20th century, it was theorized that traffic vibrations were negatively affecting the structural integrity of the aqueduct, but that belief has since been debunked. It is simply too large and too well-constructed to be at all affected by those things.

There are two niches (like the one seen above between the tops of the higher and lower arches) at different points along the aqueduct bridge. The other one, not shown here, probably once held a statue of Hercules. Legend holds that he founded Segovia. :)

I had always sort of thought that it was just the rest of the world, outside Spain, that assigned so much significance to Cervantes and always seemed to imply that he was the one great Spanish writer. But no. The Spaniards have fulfilled their stereotypes well and are pretty obsessed with him.

Ah, the kind of place I would have eaten lunch if I weren't a starving college student... :)

Puppy!

My first view of the Catedral de Santa María from within the city walls.

The is the entrance to the Antigua Sinagoga Mayor de Segovia - the town's old, main synagogue. It was constructed during the 14th century but taken from the Jews (along with the other synagogue in town) in the early 15th century. By 1419, it had been converted into a church, hence the "Corpus Christi" printed over its front door today. Certain laws had been put into place to prevent synagogues from maintaining large congregations or ornate buildings, and the Antigua Sinagoga Mayor was guilty on both counts. At this time, the Jews were ordered to leave their homes in the Jewish Quarter, or Judería.

The architecture of the synagogue reveals a strong Muslim influence, not surprising since throughout Spanish history, Muslims were far more tolerant and accepting of the Jews than were the Christians. The pointed arch of the doorway leading to the inner courtyard is an example of this.

The courtyard. At the end you see the door to the synagogue itself. Its design is very similar to that of a horseshoe arch, also a very characteristically Muslim style of architecture.

Despite the cross directly ahead, it's very apparent, even after extensive renovations following a fire in the late 1800s, that this building was not designed to be a catholic church. The room is laid out as a rectangle rather than a cross, there are no stained glass or engraved depictions of people, the windows are round, and the only structural decoration are the sculpted vegetation of the columns and the two rows of the horseshoe arches that they support. When it was still a synagogue, women and children would have sat up in the balcony of the second floor while men would have filled the pews you see here on the ground floor.

The alters, of course, were added after the synagogue was converted to a church. The simplicity of the stained glass window and the sculpted column provide a strong contrast to the newer additions of the room.

The home of Andrés Laguna, a wealthy and prominent Segovian Jew. The professor took us through here, just to see the courtyard, very quickly. It's not part of the official itinerary, but he thought it was worth checking out.

This was taken from inside one of the lookout towers along the city wall. From the windows, you can see the road just outside the main gate of the city. At the first sign of danger, guards stationed here could give the order to close it up and block access to potential intruders.

Taken from the wall, looking out at the countryside and another portion of the wall in the distance.

We walked farther along until I could take this picture: a view of the lookout tower from the outside and the main gate into the city.

Okay, here, admittedly, I was playing with the zoom lens on the camera... this was taken as I stood in the same spot as the prior picture. I wanted a better view of the mountain in the background.

The balcony here, about halfway up (with some little heads poking over the rail), apparently acts as a playground for schoolchildren during their recess. The kids were shouting and waving at us, sometimes in Spanish and sometimes in attempts at English or German or French.

I REALLY like my 14x optical zoom. ^.^ These were the kids, although I somehow managed to take this during the one moment they weren't smiling and waving and shouting.

And then, sadly, we had to stop playing sentry and take the steps back down off the wall.

The cathedral backs right up against the Jewish quarter. Segovia is really such a small town. Following this path along its outside wall brings you to the Plaza Mayor.

Segovia's Plaza Mayor.

Front of the cathedral and a street vendor's stand just outside.

Inside the Catedral de Santa María.

This I thought was SO cool. Not entirely sure why they were here in the cathedral, but these were the two main types of gadgets used in the construction of the aqueduct (and many other stone structures): a grip or clamp and a pulley. A small notch is made on each side of the stone block, and the pointed parts of the clamp are placed against them. As the chain on the other side of the clamp is pulled upward by a rope threaded through the pulley, hung somewhere high above, the weight of the clamp and of the stone itself tightens its grip on the stone block to the degree that it can be lifted and set into place on other blocks.

Roof kitten!! The cutest kind of kitten!

The village in the background is Zamarramala. Every year a festival is held there, the Fiesta de Santa Águeda. It apparently dates back to 1227. Our guide/professor told us that Moors tried to invade the town while most of the men were away, and the women of the town were able to successfully defend it. I've read in other places that the women helped to retake the Alcázar de Segovia from the moors after it fell to them. In recognition of their efforts, this festival, named for Saint Agatha only because she is known as patron saint of wet nurses and women in general, is a day where women rule the town. Female mayors are elected and preside over the day's events, and all the women of Zamarramala are in charge of the men.

Road leading from Segovia to Zamarramala.

The Iglesia de la Vera Cruz de Zamarramala is apparently an important landmark due to the Muslim influence revealed in its architecture. It's hard to see from this angle, but the part of the building to the left, behind the tower, is rounded. It was founded in 1208 by the knights of the Order the of Holy Sepulchre. There are many legends surrounding it, in part due to its unusual shape and odd location outside the main town. One of these is that the body of one of the knights of the order was left overnight in the church before burial, and crows flew in and ate it, destroying the corpse. The prior was so angry when he saw what had happened that he unleashed a horrible scream into the air and cursed any crow that should dare return. Reportedly, crows were never seen near the church from that point onward.

Yes, Zamarramala really is as small as it looks.

The Alcázar de Segovia! My first castle!!

It's easier to tell from pictures that show it from the other side, taken outside the city walls, but this was the oldest (and as any Segovian will tell you, the most important) of those that inspired Walt Disney's designs for the Cinderella Palace in Walt Disney World.

An attempt to show the moat... which was waterless when we were there but which had grates for drainage at the bottom and doors for access from the inside of the castle... maybe for throwing prisoners in? :)

Super blurry picture of me and a knight all set for a joust...

Okay, here comes the history! This is the ACTUAL throne room wear King Ferdinand and Queen Isabel heard Columbus's request for supplies to sail around the world to India. They said no - and then they received word that Granada had fallen. With the Muslims conquered and a plan already in mind to expel the Jews that same year, they would need a new race of infidels to oppress, convert, and/or destroy. And so Isabel called Columbus back to this same room and told him they would fund the expedition. He would later return to this chilly castle with a number of freezing, frightened, half-dressed natives from what he believed to be India and present them to his benefactors, the King and (especially) the Queen. That encounter also occurred here in this room.

Depiction of Isabel's coronation, which occurred here.

Isabel's bedchamber and bed, both of which were actually quite small. It was here that the professor explained how proudly the queen would boast that she had only bathed twice in her life - when she was born and on the day she was married. It was believed that submerging yourself completely in water regularly would disturb the balance of humors in the body and make you sick or affect your mental faculties. Cleanliness, he told us, was a Jewish and Muslim thing - not a Christian one.

I am so mad at myself for forgetting the names, but apparently, one of the kings shown on wall to the right (possibly the only one whose portrait is visible here although I think it was probably to the right of him) was originally just a lord in charge of a small territory. He won kingship and the independence of his kingdom because he had lent King Ferdinand a falcon on a hunting trip, and the king kept forgetting to return it. Trained falcons were extremely expensive, and Ferdinand finally asked him to take the kingship in return for forgiveness of the debt. Keep in mind that Ferdinand and Isabel were never king and queen of all of Spain. Ferdinand was king of Aragon, Sicily, Naples, and Valencia and Isabel was queen of Castile and León. The rest of what is today Spain was broken up into small kingdoms.

Castle chapel.

Also in the chapel: The center image is Saint James (Santiago) beheading Muslims. He was know as Santiago Matamoros and his image was constantly used in justification of holy wars with the Moors. "Mata" comes from "matar," to kill, and "moros" was the word used to describe Muslims or "Musulmanes" in Spain. The title effectively means "killer of Moors."

After a long climb up a narrow, stone, spiral staircase, we reached the roof of the castle.

Here you are seeing literally all of Segovia. It takes only 10 minutes to walk from the castle to the cathedral there in the middle, and it's only another 15 or 20 minutes at most to walk from the Cathedral to the far end of the town.

This is Joy! She and her friend Ellen, who had just met a hostel, are both from Korea. Our tour group had intersected their progress through the castle a few times, and I recognized them when Joy came up to me. She asked if I spoke English, and I replied with a smile and "¡Sí!" because I am so very confusing like that. :) She told me my hair was beautiful, and asked for a picture with me. I took one with my camera, too, and that's when I learned their names.

Taken through one of the narrow windows off the spiral stairs.

Back to Plaza Mayor to find food. NYU kind of just set us loose and told us to be back in two hours. Our group was one of the first ones back and I didn't see anyone I recognized, so I wandered around for a while looking at menus.

After some wandering, I ran into Ellen and Joy again! This is Ellen, above. I asked if they had eaten yet and they hadn't, so we went in search of food together. After recoiling from the prices of some of the more expensive restaurants right on the square, we went to a little place off the beaten track that they had seen earlier in the day. We ate and sat and talked for a while, and I helped translate the menu for them. I thought it was pretty brave of them to go to Spain by themselves without knowing any Spanish. In contrast, they thought it was amazing that I knew Spanish "so fluently." They were so sweet! We had a great couple hours together talking about school and internships and countries we've been to. I even wrote down some Spanish phrases to help them out on the rest of their travels.

Joy and I playing with our cameras and the mirror behind the bar at the restaurant. :) I ended up recommending that they order the pork because Segovia is especially known for its Cochinillo Asado - whole, roasted baby pig. Their dish (thankfully) didn't resemble the pig at all, but they said it was good. I wasn't hungry and ordered a salad, forgetting that in Spain, all "salads" have a glob of tuna on top. Saying you're a vegetarian before ordering will not save you from this. It doesn't even cross a Spaniard's mind that a mixed salad wouldn't contain tuna, whether or not it is for someone who doesn't eat meat, poultry, or fish. I sent it back with profuse apologies and our very annoyed waiter left and then returned - with the exact same salad, minus immediately visibly tuna but unfortunately not without a whole lot that had slipped down between and under the lettuce. I ate around the fishy parts instead of trying to argue.

Back at Plaza Mayor once again...

Rainbow! And view of the cathedral.

After our mini photo shoot and an exchange of emails and Facebook information, I walked almost halfway to their bus with them before saying goodbye and returning to my NYU group.