Segovia; Friday, 15 March, 2024

The hotel I was staying in was a very business oriented one, so consequently when I wandered down to breakfast just after 9am there were only a handful of other guests in the large dining room, and when I hopped on the airport shuttle 90 minutes late I was the only guest so the drive could head straight back to Terminal 4 without needing to visit the other terminals first.

I caught the Cercanías train from the airport over to Madrid-Charmatin station where I changed for my Avant high speed regional train onto Segovia. The traditional rail route from Madrid to Segovia winds its way up through mountain passes taking nearly 2 hours to make the 60-mile journey, and now only runs a handful of times a day. The Avant trains use the high-speed line that just blast through the base of the mountains at about 150 miles an hour, making the journey in 28 minutes and about every hour.

The only downside of using the Avant is that the high-speed station, Segovia-Guiomar is 4 miles from the city centre, but thankfully the local bus service connects with each train so within a few minutes of getting off the train I was sat on the number 11 bus for the 15 minute ride right into the heart of the old town, dropped off at the foot of the Aqueduct and only a 5 minute walk from my hotel.

Because of good connection I arrived nearly two hours before the official checkin time, but thankfully my room was already available so I was able to checkin, drop off my bags and then head back out to explore the city.

I had a bit of a wander through the old town that sits on a rocky outcrop high above the surrounding countryside, so everywhere is either uphill or downhill. I decided to head downhill first, back towards the most famous sight of the city – it’s Roman Aqueduct that has been dominating the landscape for nearly 2,000 years. However, just beyond the aqueduct, and getting ready to head out on its next tour was the City Sightseeing hop-on-hop-off open-top bus, so I decided to take that first to get a better overview of the city.

I did one full loop of the city, arriving back just as the skies decided they would like to open, so rather than stay on for a wet repeat tour I hopped off the bus and had a brief wander around the Aqueduct area, making use of the shelter offered by both the structure and nearby buildings. The rain only lasted for about 20 minutes so after a brief look round I was able to head back to the bus stop and pick up the next tour as the number of sights from the bus were enough to warrant going round once on each side.

The second tour round was mostly in beautiful, and warm, sunshine and I was able to take in the stunning views of the city centre as the bus heads out into the surrounding hills for views across to the rocky outcrop that the city sit upon.

Back in the city centre I had a bit more of a wander around the Aqueduct area before climbing up the steps to the gateway in the city walls where the aqueduct meets the ancient city fortifications and from here took in the stunning views both of the aqueduct itself as well as the city. I started to head further into the walled city of the town, but my wander was quickly interrupted by the need to wait under a balcony as another hefty shower briefly passed through.

With the shower passed I continued to wander making it to the Plaza Mayor at the centre of the old town and next to it the Cathedral. I popped into the cathedral to have a look around and afterwards headed to a bar in the Plaza for a quick drink, and a snack to help sustain me through the next couple of hours until the restaurants started serving at 9pm. After my drink and snack I had a bit more of a wander around the city centre before heading back to my hotel.

Just before 9pm I headed out of the hotel to go for a wander, both to take in the sights at night and also to try and track down somewhere to eat. I eventually found a nice bar serving tapas just off of the square that the aqueduct crosses and was able to fill up there before a final wander and return to my hotel.