Today, I went for a walk this morning, and snapped a couple of pics of the snow capped mountains in the not so distance. The temp was 4 degress, but was down to 2 degrees earlier. I was all rugged up in my big coat, and scarf. I didn't need the gloves and beanie yet, but I know that in the not to distant future, it will become a part of going outdoors essentials. Our accommodation is nicely heated inside, which gives us a false impression of the day. But I love it. It is great to feel the cold on the face, and feeling invigorated. It makes walking a lot more pleasant, compared to the sticky humid heat of Maryborough. We spent the day just relaxing, and taking in the surrounds of the area. After lunch, we take a walk, and it has graduated to 8 degrees, and there seems to be more snow on the mountains again. After a bit of a rest, as it is Spain, and they have thier siesta, we go out again, to get some grocery essentials for the evening, and call it ia day. All is good.
Tuesday, 3rd December 2019
Well, today was an exciting day.
It all started with a earlyish start, being that we had to leave the house at 7.45, as we were going Hot Air Ballooning. The morning temp at this time was -1 degress, so off we went all rugged up in our coats, scarfes, (well I had the scarf ) beanies and gloves. Our Balloon ride was leaving at 8.30, and we wanted to be a little early as we were not exactly sure as to where the take off point was. Again, true to our form, we miss a turn and it takes a little longer to get to the designated point, but as we are getting there we happen to drive past the castle that is here, and we have yet to explore. We find the take off point, park the car, and walk across the field to where there are vehicles and people. There are 13 passengers in all, plus the pilot, and we watch as the balloon is inflated, and the basket put right side up. This process is very interesting, just to see how it is all done. We are directed to board our flight, which, is a very dignified boarding process, one has to climb up the side of the basket, and hop/fall in. We manage to hop in, and wait for the hot air to give us lift off. It is still hovering around 0 degress, but it is nice to get some heat from the burners as the balloon fills. It takes a full gas bottle which is a 20kg bottle to inflate the balloon, and a call is made to an air traffic controller that he was making a flight, and a short time later we are on our way. The Balloon gradually lifts off the grounds and we are soaring upwards, with just the occassional sound from the gas being burnt to heat the air, so we keep up. The Basket is divided into 5 sections, and Bob and I have a section to ourselves, and the other three sections have three or four people in them. The fifth section is for the pilot, who has to share his space with threee gas bottles. I never at any one time did feel nervous about doing this actiity, and even as we were leaving the ground, the nerves didn't set in. So long as I didn't look straight down while we were going up it, was all good. It was absolutley wonderful, and so beautiful to see the surrounds and buildings of Segovia from a different angle. Bob was taking photos and enjoying the whole experience also. Not bad for someone who has real adrenaline rushes if he get to close to the edge of something high. All to soon, we are starting to decend, and it was surprising quick we decended. Before we took off we are all shown and rehearsed in the landing steps. Now we are told to assume landing position, which is taking hold of the handles inside with knees bent. Our pilot counts down until impact, a couple of times, and then we do hit the ground, but not to roughly, and then it bounces once, and we have to be still in the same position for the second landing. All done. Now we have to wait for the land crew to come and dismantle and uninflate the balloon. Again, it is a great experience to see the effort that goes into packing it all up. When all is done, we are transported to the original take off point, and have a glass of champagne, and nibbles. We are all presented with a certificate of Hot Air Ballooning. There was a great mix of passengers, apart from us, there were two couples from America, one couple from India, A Romanian and his mate, and not sure exactly where the others were from.
We leave here, and head into Segovia, and get some lunch, and then we go and explore the Aquaduct. This is one magnificient peice of history, that was build over 2000 years ago, by the Romans, to provide water to the town of Segovia. The Aquaduct was built in the first century, and runs for 15 kms before getting to the city. At its tallest, it is 28.5 meters tall, including almost 6 meters of foundation, and it has 75 single arches, and 44 double arches. It is unmortared, and the blocks are made of granite, and each of them have a divot in them from where they were hoisted up with the tools of the day.
We wonder up the stairs to have a look from the second row of arches, and it is such an amazing structure, for something that is over 2000 years of age.
We spend the next couple of hours walking around the old part of town, and come across the Catedral de Segovia, and pay the entrance fee to go inside and have a look about. There is a lot of ornately decorated furniture inside this place. It was built in the mid 16th century, and is built in a Gothic style.
I have had a great day, I am sure Bob did too.
Wednesday, 4th December 2019
Today, we have decided to go into Madrid to have a look about this place. We are taking the train into Madrid, but not just a normal train, but the fast train. The trip into Madrid, in a car takes around 1hour and 15 mins. In the normal train, it is a 2 hrs trip. In this super fast train, it takes 28 mins.
We are all set to enjoy this trip, thinking we would be seeing country racing past, but that is not how it is. One gets onboard, finds ones seat, the train takes off, and we are on our way. It is a slow start, and then after about 10 mins we go into a tunnel, and that is about how much we see for most of the next 28 mins. Bob does some research about the Spanish train service, and the tunnel is the longest one in Spain, and the fifth longest in the world. The AVE, high speed train, gets up to 300kms/hour and the Spanish AVE system is the longest network in Europe, and the second longest in the world.
We get to Madrid, and try to work out where exactly the train station is in comparision to the city centre, as we are wanting to get the hop on hop off bus to look about this city. Eventually we work it out, and get a taxi to get closer to a pick up point for the bus, which worked out well, as where we get dropped off, is the first point for the bus. We get our tickets, and settle in for the tour. It is still a bit chilly today, about 4 degrees, up to 7 degrees.
There are such a lot of old buildings and statues in this city, and such a lot of statues on top of buildings and ornate decorations. The tour we are on takes about 1 hour 40 mins, and there is a lot of traffic around. We finish this one, and get some lunch and then we hop onto the next bus route, but only to get a bit closer to the railway station. Then we get a taxi to get back to the station, and make it back to the train a lot early. But it is good, rather be early than late. The trains leave exactly on time. Again, we make the 28 min trip, and head back to our place.
Thursday, 5th December 2019
We have decided to go back to Madrid to tour on the second route of the Hop on Hop off bus. Bob bought tickets yesterday for our return trip on the train, the fast train in the morning, and the slower train in the afternoon.
So again we get to the Segovia Ave train station, a little early, and wait for the train to get in 9.20 am. While we are waiting, I question as to whether our trian this afternoon, comes back to this station that we are at. I go to the office and ask the questioin, and the train does not come to this station, it goes to another one in Segovia. Hmmm, ok, So We have our car parked here, and it seems that we will have to get a taxi back to this station this afternoon to get to our car.
The train arrives and 30 mins later we are at the Chamartin Rail station Madrid. We are a little more organised today, compared to yesterday, as we have a destination in mind for the taxi to take us too. There is a sea of taxis waiting and we get one, and head off to where we want to go. We arrive at the said point, and it is outside the Real Madrid stadium. This is the home of soccer/football in Spain, and it has a seating capacity of 81 000. Real Madrid is owned and operated by its members and was founded in 1902. Bob goes and does the tour of the staduim, and I sit in the cafe, and have a coffee. I am overlooking the stadium, which has the artifical sun on the half of the grounds to make the grass grow. It was interesting watching the workers doing their thing in the stadium, where was a guy cleaning the glass partitions, there were others that seemed to be replacing seats on the opposite side of where I was sitting. Down on the feild were three men walking about prodding the ground with a stick, and I am not sure what they were doing. Bobs tour took about an hour, and after he had returned, we went over to Taco Bell to have some lunch. This was a first for us, and it was good. Next we wait for the required bus to come, and we hop on board. It was a sunny day, and we go upstairs to get a better view, even though the roof was pulled over. We stay onboard for a short while, and then get off, and take a look about where we have gotten off. It was a great decision by Bob to get off, as we saw some really great buskers in the street, one of which was a group of performers singing, and a lady doing some Flamenco dance, which we have not seen to date. The next amazing busker was a guy who was playing a set of tubes, with a pair of flip flops. We walk on further, and come across an amazingly long line, and it seemed to us, that they were all lined up to by lotto tickets, and I mean, this line is around 60 meters long. Talk about dedicated. So after wondering about for a while longer, we come across the subway, and decide to get a train back to the main station that we arrived at. After some help from the staff we obtain our tickets, and are advised our trian leaves on platform one. So we join the throng of people heading in the same direction, and board the train when it comes. It is a very full train, but we only have a couple of stops until we get to where we need to be.
We arrive at our station, and we are early, but thats ok, gives us time to have a coffee and relax. After some time, we look at the electronic board to see which platform our train leaves from, but we don't see anything that is revealant to us. Bob goes and make some enquires, and finds out that we have to take one train, and then change over to another train. Hmmm ok. So again we wait for the platform number to show, and either we didn't recognise it, or it is not posted, as the time is getting close to departure time. An executive decision is made to buy tickets for the fast train, as we don't seem to be able to make sense of the connection and platform for the current tickets we have.
After another 40 mins we are on board the fast train, and heading back to Segovia, and to our car. All has ended well.
Friday, 6th December 2019
We didn't do a real lot today, just relaxed and I didi go out for a walk
Saturday, 7th December 2019
Today we are going to the post office to collect a package for Bob, that he has been hoping would arrive here, before we leave.
We go to the shopping centre where the parcel is, and the line up is outside the door. I have some packages that I want to send back to Australia, being that it is Christmas. I have to find two boxes that will suit the presents that I have to send back. So Bob waits in line and I go and see if I can find a couple of boxes in the supermarket that will suit. Alas, I do not find anything in there, but I do find a box, that will fit one of the family gifts. When i get back to the post office, Bob is at the counter now, and colecting his parcle, and posting a box of souiveners for me. The line up is almost just as long. After he is finished there, we decide to go and have a coffee, and then we explore the shopping centre further.
As we are going into the snow in a couple of weeks, we need to research about having snow chains for the car. While I was in the supermarket, I noticed that they sell tyres there, so we figure that they probably sell snow chains aswell. After more investigation, we discover, they do sell snow chains, but also snow socks for the tyres. Ahhh, now we have to find out which is better. We go back to the unit, and do more research, and I pack my gifts in the boxes, and then later in the evening we go back to the shopping centre so I can post my boxes. The line up is again almost at the door, and Bob goes off to the supermarket to check tyre sizes, and comes back with both snow chains, and socks. I get my parcels posted, which was made easier as the guy behind the counter spoke english.
Given the time of the evening, the sun has set, and we want to get some pictures of the castle, ( Alcazar de Segovia ) and check out the Aquaduct at night, as there is a huge Christmas Bauble in the center of the roundabout.
We find the Castle, and the lighting of it is magical, even though it is a bit cool walking. Then we get to the Aquaduct, and the Bauble, is lit up and it looks fantastic. It is quite nice seeing all the fancy lights over the streets lit up.
Sunday, 8th December 2019
Today, we plan go to to the Caslte we took pictures of last night.
We head out and make way to the Aquaduct as that is where there is good parking, and it is not that far away from the Castle. As we leave the car, we decide to take our heavy coats, even though it seems that it is not that cool, As the day wears on, it was a good call as it happens, as there is light sprinkling of rain. We find the Castle, and there is a bit of a line up to get tickets into it, but nothing to bad, only maybe 5 mins wait. The temperture is a damp 8 degress.
The word Alcazar, means a Spanish palace or fortress of Moorish origins, and this Palace looks like something out of Disney world.
The Palace was built in the 12th century, upon a rocky crag, and has a moat going around it, complete with a draw bridge, which does not get raised anymore. The Alcazar was originally built as a fortress, but has served as a Palace, a state prison, a Royal Artillery College, and a military academy.
Once inside this magnifient historical place, amazing. There are many rooms, all decorated elaborately right up to the ceiling. Even the ceilings are a wonder. There are wooden thrones, and a hall to house Parliament, and many suits of armour. We venture outside and over look the surrounds, and notice there is small holes in a couple of the floor, and on further looking, it seems that it is the drainage for an underground tank, as there is a well outside and the water level is not a far down as one would imagine it to be.
In the armoury, there were many suits of armour, and displays of the fighting tools they had back in the day. Truely a great experience.
After we have finished here, we head back to the aquaduct, and along the way grab some lunch. Even though it is lightly raining, it has not stopped many people from going out. It is very busy, and all of the bars and resturants are full to overflowing. We get back to our car, and leave this area for the last time, as we are leaving Segovia tomorrow and heading for Barcelona.
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