Segovia

About Segovia

Segovia reveals itself in three tiers. Down below, in the Azoguejo district, the Aqueduct cuts across the square with 167 granite arches laid without a single drop of mortar: the Romans built it in the late 1st or early 2nd century AD, and it kept supplying water to the city until 1973. From there, Calle Real climbs uphill — Cervantes, Juan Bravo, Isabel la Católica — up to the Plaza Mayor, where the Cathedral closes off the north side. It's the last Gothic cathedral built in Spain, begun in 1525, when the rest of Europe was already deep into the Renaissance; that delay explains its air of an elegant fossil. And at the tip of the ridge, perched above where the Eresma and Clamores rivers meet, stands the Alcázar: €7 for the palace and museum, €10 if you add the 152 steps up the Tower of Juan II. Climb it. The view over the Vera Cruz church and the valley beats anything you'll find indoors.

What tends to catch people off guard is the Judería, south of the Cathedral. Segovia had one of Castile's largest Jewish communities until 1492, and the tangle of narrow lanes between Calle Judería Vieja and the Puerta de San Andrés remains intact, anchored by the Didactic Center and the old main synagogue — now the Corpus Christi church. Two minutes away, the church of San Martín brings together Segovian Romanesque architecture at its purest: a porticoed gallery, Mudejar capitals, and hardly anyone looking at it.

As for when to come, let's be honest: Segovia sits at 1,000 meters and Castilian summers hit hard. July and August average highs of 30-31°C, with spikes above 35°C, and the granite slopes radiate the heat right back. May, June and September bring highs of 20-27°C, reasonable rainfall, and none of the crowds of peak summer. Mid-May overlaps with Titirimundi, the puppet festival that takes over courtyards and squares; late June brings the Ferias de San Juan y San Pedro. Travel on October 25th, San Frutos, and you'll see the city in local mode, not tourist mode.

Suckling pig at a grill house downtown runs €25-30; the fixed-price lunch menu, €13-20. The city bus costs €1.15 (€2.25 on lines 11/12 to the Segovia-Guiomar AVE station), but the old town is entirely walkable: you'll only need it for the climb back up.