Here it is. The start to our fall break adventure – a Spanish vacation to get some sunshine, tapas, and family time. Firstly, the (ambitious) itinerary:
- Arrive in Madrid ⇒ El Espinar ⇒ Segovia ⇒ Toledo ⇒ Córdoba ⇒ Seville ⇒ Granada ⇒ Salobreña ⇒ Playa Honda, Murcia ⇒ Valencia ⇒ Cuenca⇒ Depart from Madrid
We woke up in El Espinar following a late night arrival into Madrid. El Espinar is a small town north of Madrid and about 25 minutes from Segovia. I chose it mainly because it meant we wouldn’t have to figure out Madrid parking in the middle of the night and our ultimate destination, Segovia, was a bit too far of a drive. The town itself is very lovely, with mountain views and a quaint downtown area. After a comfortable sleep in an Airbnb, we jumped into the car, and off to Segovia we went.
A famous lady once sang (actually lip-synced) that the “rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain”. But my husband, girls, and I found that not to be the case, as the rain seemed to be pretty diligently staying in the mountains as well. Thus, our primary order of business once we reached Segovia (well, after marveling at the Roman aqueduct towering above our heads) was to purchase umbrellas. Once the practicalities were covered, we began our sightseeing.
The aqueduct of Segovia really is magnificent; its huge and a truly beautiful work of Roman engineering, and not hard to understand why people come from all over the world to admire it. The four of us trudged along the aqueduct path for a bit, but the rain and cold wind limited how far we wanted to stray from the car. On a sunny day, I think we could have easily spent a couple hours traipsing around the aqueduct.
Once we had thoroughly admired the Roman handiwork and tried out my new selfie stick (in the words of my eight year old, “now we’re gonna look like real jerks”), we got out of the rain with a brief tour of the Cathedral of Segovia. The cathedral dates back to 1525, when construction began, and we found a number of the paintings and chapels inside interesting and unusual.
After our cathedral tours, we ducked into the various shops selling trinkets, jamón, the luscious Segovian dessert specialty “Ponche Segoviano“, and wine (if you don’t know about the Spanish cultural importance of jamón, and the specifics of it, here’s an article).
After purchasing more than enough jamón and cheese to sustain day one of our Spanish adventure, we headed off to explore our first of many Spanish castles, Alcázar de Segovia.
Alcázar de Segovia is often called Spain’s fairy tale castle, and supposedly Disney modeled Cinderella’s castle after it. Stunning when seen from afar, turrets shooting up from the cliff side, the decorated rooms within its walls are opulent and splendid as well. Our visit coincided with some wonderful afternoon light, and the sun shining after so much dreariness during midday meant golden-lit rooms as we toured the halls. There is a throne room, an outdoor courtyard, and a weapons gallery, which was very exciting to my girls. Alcázar de Segovia does not disappoint.
Ending our day in Segovia, and heading back to El Espinar to make dinner and clean up (and dry our soaking and cold sneakers), we all agreed our trip was off to a wonderful start.
The following morning Rudy and I awoke to take a short morning run through El Espinar while the girls slept. The sunrise beyond the hills was postcard-perfect, and we wandered home with fresh eggs, fruit, and bread to start our morning. After breakfast, we began our first of many car rides of the next week and a half, on to part 1 of our Spanish exploration, Toledo.
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