Segovia and La Granja Spain

What a weekend.  Segovia and La Granja - "Little Versailles" and to think I almost skipped La Granja, an old royal palace! 

Segovia has this incredible 2000 year old roman aqueduct and the city is built around it.  The old city walls meet up with it at one end and the other is where the water came into it.  In addition to the aqueduct, there is an old fortress/castle (alcazar) and a huge cathedral. I also think it rivals Rome for the number of churches per capita!  I really enjoyed poking around this city on Saturday. 

Shortly after arriving I had to pop into a store and get a hat and gloves though, as the sky was filled with black, billowy clouds, a snow drop here and there and a cutting wind.  I think everyone in the store was buying the same things!

I enjoyed a small lunch off the beaten path in between my visits to the cathedral and the castle.  They say that Disney based his castle off of this one in Segovia, but I always thought it was based on Neuschwanstein in Germany.  The views over the countryside from the castle were fantastic as well as some of the furnishings inside.  

One room that really got to me was the room with the armor and swords.  Just think, these people were going off to kill other people, and yet their armor and sword grips were beautifully filigreed – why bother? 

When I arrived in Segovia that morning, I had stopped at the Tourist Info Center and asked if there was any live music or plays or other entertainment that night.  And sure enough, there was a jazz concert.  So I got a ticket and found my way on the bus.  It was a small, very hot venue (after freezing all day, I really didn’t mind) and good music.  It was a quintet, Randy Greer and the Cole Dinggers.  I looked him up on the internet just a minute ago, and he now lives in Barcelona and has quite the bio. 

I decided to take my time on Sunday morning and had the thought of skipping going to La Granja.  But, thankfully it was a fleeting thought.  After missing the bus by about 2 minutes, I spent the next hour waiting for the next bus by walking up to the Jewish Cemetery to get a great view of the city, especially the cathedral.  It was a beautiful sunny morning, and nowhere near as cold as the day before. 

The bus ride was just a short, 20 minute straight shot (except for the many roundabouts) through high country plateau ranch land.  It reminded me a lot of Colorado – although it has been too many years for me to say, since I have been there.  I think I read that Segovia is about 3000 feet above sea level and La Granja is at the foot of the mountains that separate Segovia from Madrid. 

What a gorgeous day!  Sunny, new snow on the mountaintops and rooftops, slowly melting and dripping down the buildings.  Warm in the sun, cold in the shadows.  

  

Sagrario had told me there was an old glass factory-cum-museum there, and I found out it closed earlier than the palace, so I went there first.  Before getting into the exhibits related to the glass factory, there was a temporary exhibit on “Belenes”, or Nativity scenes.  Nativity scenes are big here – there is even a tour in Madrid to view those set up around the city.  Jose has told me they used to put one in each of the kids’ rooms, as well as in their main and formal living rooms!  A tree is secondary to the Nativity scenes.  Anyway, there were Nativity scenes made out of everything imaginable: straw, puzzles, cloth kits, wood, glass, eggs (!), matchboxes, etc.  It was a nice surprise to come across something so traditional and unexpected.  Here is the one in eggshells: 

 

The museum was set up in the old factory and a new furnace area was enclosed in the center courtyard with men demonstrating the work.  I know I have seen glass making before, but I don’t remember seeing the use of molds.  They made a couple of bottles – nothing fancy, but it showed the process.  The museum had two sections: one of the equipment and explanations (in Spanish, so it didn’t take me long) of how the glass was made and the other section on examples of the glass made in the factory and elsewhere.  The glass factory was here to provide the crystal and chandeliers for the palace.  There was a small section on stained glass making and displays of some beautiful work.

When I finished at the factory, I headed for the Palace.  Best laid plans…..  I never stick to them!  I entered through a gate into the well laid out village surrounding the palace.  I loved the little streets with the sun, melting snow and long shadows.  Outside of the bars were their sandwich-boards with their daily menus.  I stopped to look in a church and ended up staying for mass!!!!  (I know mom, don’t die of shock!) Then, I figured I had better get something to eat, as many of the places are only open at lunch and if I didn’t eat then, I’d end up having to drink wine and eat tapas (oh, how terrible!).  Instead, I found a place to drink wine and have lunch!  This time I tried the other soup I was seeing everywhere – one with big flat white beans and smoky ham flavor.  (I actually wished there was a way to capture that essence as I ate it so I could share it here.) My second course was then pork fillets with french fries, and a small bit of lettuce and tomato.  The final course was a small piece of cake with coffee.  I had two glasses of wine and of course bread.  All for a whopping 12.00 euros – about $16.00.  In fact, since I was eating “early” at 1:00pm, I was the only person in the upstairs dining room, so the waiter/bartender (and maybe cook?) just left the wine bottle on the table for me!  I controlled myself and had only two glasses.  

 

Then finally off to the palace I went.  As I entered, I thought I’d better use the restroom first and then I saw the exit to the gardens.  (This is kind of like, “If you give a mouse a cookie…”) I couldn’t help myself.  I wanted to be outside while there was still some heat from the sun, and the brochure showed a huge garden.  These were built by King So-n-So, the grandson of King Whoever of Versailles.  King So-n-So longed for the France of his childhood, so had this palace and gardens built.  Absolutely gorgeous.  Even in winter.  The sun was hitting the snow on the trees, which was dripping, then dropping off in clumps onto the shrubbery, which still had its dried leaves on it.  When the snow from above would hit, there would be a lot of crumpling noise as the whole lot fell the rest of the way to the ground.  Then, for background music, there was the chirping of the birds was the trickle of the little bit of water in the fountains that wasn’t frozen.  I walked quite a ways through the gardens towards the mountains to work off some of that lunch.  When I finally returned, I almost wasn’t let back into the building, as the gardens are usually viewed on the way out of the palace.   

The most intriguing things on display in the palace were the wall tapestries and the chandeliers, although there was a bed that I would love to have had!  Well, the bedding anyway.  It was a beautiful purple-ish pink and yellow fabric with silver threads through it in a beautiful floral pattern.  The wall tapestries were from 1400 on and made in the royal textile factory in Madrid.  The chandeliers of course were all made in the nearby glass factory.  There were also many clocks – some rooms having 3 or 4 on display. 

I quickly walked through the final floor of the palace to catch the bus back to Segovia where I needed to retrieve my backpack from the hotel and then catch a bus back to an unknown stop in Madrid – which turned out to be an easy Metro ride from where I caught another bus back to Guadalajara. 

Klutz factor:  Okay, I make the weekend sound so good, but I’m always screwing something up when I travel. 

*I barely made my connection in Madrid between the metro and the train to Segovia – because I stopped for coffee and a croissant along the way.  I had to run – yes run – from the ticket counter to the track entrance.

*I missed my bus in Segovia to La Granja because I walked right passed the bus stop and by the time I figured it out I was half a mile down the street. This is after getting very clear instructions from the hotel, having a map, and asking for directions from people on the street!

*Yes, I had some traditional good foods, but I also ate my late dinner at a Burger King on Saturday night because it was right by the bus stop back from the concert and it was friggin’ freezing out and I couldn’t see anything else open in that area.