Tori Overseas: Toledo and Segovia

This past weekend, we had two day trips to Toledo and Segovia. These two cities are not far from Madrid. Toledo is located south, in the province of Castilla-La Mancha; Segovia is north, located in the province of Castile and Leon.

On Saturday, we met at 7:50 a.m. to board the bus to Toledo. We had many sights on our itinerary, necessitating an early start. We wove through the Guadarrama Mountains and about an hour later, we drove up to the mountaintop, with a beautiful 150-degree vista of the city. The Tagus River surrounds Toledo on three sides, and a large footbridge bridge leads visitors into the former capital of Spain. Toledo is a beautiful, multi-cultural city, home to mosques, basilicas, and synagogues. Unmistakable marks of these three religions can be seen in all of Toledo’s architecture, for example, Moorish arches, stained glass, domes, and more. We visited a few museums, two of the only remaining synagogues in Toledo, and one mosque. We also visited El Greco’s original painting, “The Burial of the Count of Orgaz,” which he is buried beneath. El Greco relocated from Madrid to Toledo late in his life and painted many of his more mature works. "Crete gave him life and the painter's craft, Toledo a better homeland, where through Death he began to achieve eternal life.” This famous quote about El Greco truly epitomizes how Toledo truly became his home. There, he lived comfortably; he painted, studied and raised his son.

After touring for the majority of the morning, we broke for lunch and sampled some of Toledo’s best gastronomy, marzipan. Later, we visited the Primate Cathedral of Saint Mary of Toledo, the third largest Gothic cathedral in the world. This cathedral is also considered to be the peak of Gothic style in Spain. The construction on the church begun in 1226, during the reign of King Ferdinand III. It was finally finished in 1493, when the vaults of the central nave were complete. This was also during the height of the Catholic Monarchs. The church was massive, complete with about twenty side chapels and a treasure room. We spent the majority of our day simply walking around the charming city. Toledo is very hilly, which made walking up the cobblestone streets even more daunting! But, we were lucky to have a beautiful, sunny day, which made our visit very enjoyable.

On Sunday, we visited La Granja de San Ildefonso and Segovia. We had amazing views of the Guadrrama Mountains, yet they weren’t as snowy as they had been two weeks ago. When we arrived in the town of San Ildefonso, which is located in the hills near Segovia it was very chilly.

We walked around the little town and stopped at a café before touring the gardens of the palace. La Granja is a beautiful, classic Baroque style palace, which was formerly the summerhouse of the Spanish kings, since the reign of Philip V. Surrounding the gardens are vast grounds used for hunting, which was a favorite activity of the Spanish kings. The gardens are circa 18^th century, based off those at the Palace of Versailles in France. The most famous part of these magnificent gardens are its majestic fountains, which only run twice a year, on the feasts of San Luis and San Fernando. All of the statues in the fountains represent the gods and goddesses in Roman mythology. My favorite fountain featured the goddess Latona. Maria Jose told us the story of when she was wandering the earth after giving birth to her two sons, Apollo and Artemis, she tried to drink water from a pond. The peasants in a little town refused to allow her to drink their water. Letona turned them into frogs for their inhospitality, forever doomed to swim in the murky waters of ponds and rivers. The fountain at La Granja features Latona in the middle and she is surrounded by figures that are part frog and part human.

We then drove about fifteen minutes north to the charming city of Segovia. The ancient Roman aqueduct is like the gateway into Segovia, which means “victorious city.” The Roman aqueduct, which was declared a world heritage site in 1985, is one of the best-preserved monuments on the Iberian Peninsula. It is massive and breath-taking; I could have stared at it all day! Segovians tell the myth that a young maiden was tired of walking up the mountains everyday to get water, so she asked the devil for help. In exchange for her soul, he said that he would build the aqueduct overnight. However, when the sun rose, there was one stone left to put in place and the devil lost his deal and Segovia had an aqueduct! After strolling around the charming and picturesque city, we visited the Alcazar. The Alcazar is distinctly in the shape of the bow of a ship, which is typical of Spanish castles. The Alcazar was originally an Arab fortress around 1120, but once the Christians recaptured Segovia, The Alcazar was converted. So, the Alcazar has been a fort and a royal palace. It also has somewhat of a natural fortress behind it, which are the Guadarrama mountains in the background. Lastly, we visited the Segovia Cathedral, which is located in the Segovia’s Plaza Mayor. It was the last Gothic cathedral that was built in Spain.