Spain 20123, Day 2: Segovia

I wasn’t feeling too great about my trip after Day 1. Segovia quickly turned things around for me.

Aqueduct of Segovia

I took the high-speed train from Madrid to Segovia. From the station, it was an easy bus ride to the center of town. After a quick snack, I headed down the street and caught my 1st glimpse of Segovia’s most famous sight, the Roman Aqueduct. It was built around the 1st century.

Without a special lens, you can’t get a shot of the entire length of the Aqueduct of Segovia.

Unsurprisingly, the Aqueduct of Segovia is 1 of the best-preserved Roman aqueducts anywhere. Unbelievably, it was in use until 1973. It has 167 arches and is 93 1/2-foot tall.

Looking northwest to where the aqueduct meets the medieval wall surrounding the Old Town.

The aqueduct and monuments in the Old Town–including the cathedral, the alcázar, and the medieval walls–make up a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

A niche in the aqueduct contains a sculpture of the Virgin Mary. In ancient times, it held a sculpture of Hercules.

View of the aqueduct from the wall surrounding the Old Town.

Jewish Quarter

Segovia’s main 3 sites are the aqueduct, the cathedral, and the alcázar. But it was important to me to also visit the old Jewish quarter. Like many Iberian cities, Segovia has a thriving Jewish community under the Moors in the Middle Ages. That all changed in 1492 when Isabella and Ferdinand completed the Reconquista and expelled Jews in Castille and Aragon who wouldn’t convert. There are now remnants of Segovia’s once-thriving Jewish community.

*Centro Didáctico de la Judería* is housed in the home of a prominent 15th-century rabbi and businessman.

Centro Didáctico de la Judería is a small but interesting museum with exhibits on local Jewish culture.

A display of Seder plates, used for Passover.

An unusual hologram-type exhibit of a Jewish ceremony on display at the museum.

I learned something new at the museum. The symbol seen here originated in Islamic culture, but was adopted by Iberian Jews as a protection against evil.

Segovia’s old main synagogue was built in the 14th century. In 1419, it was confiscated and converted into the Church of Corpus Christi. It’s open to the public, but unfortunately it was closed the day I was there.

Small plaques in the sidewalk like this one indicate a place of Jewish heritage in the time before Jews were expelled in 1492. Because of the angle I took the picture from, the plaque is actually upside-down. Right side up, the plaque is in the shape of the Iberian Peninsula.

The plaques have been placed by Red de Juderías de España (the “Network of Jewish Quarters of Spain”), an organization dedicated to preserving the heritage of Sephardic Jews. The plaques reminded me of Stolpersteine (“stumbling stones”), plaques placed throughout Europe outside the former homes of victims of the Holocaust.

Jewish Cemetery

To get to the Jewish Cemetery, I had to leave the walled city, go down a steep hill to a narrow river valley, and climb a hill on the opposite side of the valley.

An excavated tomb in the Jewish Cemetery.

View of the Alcázar of Segovia from the Jewish Cemetery.

Segovia Cathedral

From the Jewish Cemetery, I climbed back down to the river valley and back up to the Old Town. Construction on the Segovia Cathedral began in 1525. As the Renaissance came a little late to Spain, the cathedral was built in the Late Gothic Flamboyant style. It was one of the last Late Gothic cathedrals in Europe. Construction took more than 150 years.

Chapel of St. Andrew. You can always tell St. Andrew by the diagonal cross that he is crucified on.

One of a series of tapestries in the cathedral tower.

*La Mediana* is the oldest bell in the tower, built in 1480.

View of the hillside Jewish Cemetery from the tower.

View of the Alcázar of Segovia from the tower.

Street-level view of the tower. Hey, I just climbed up that!

*The Recumbent Christ*, a 17th-century sculpture by Spanish Baroque sculpture Gregorio Fernández. The sculpture sits in the Chapel of the Recumbent Christ.

In the cathedral’s chapter house. Using the term “chapter house” to refer to a space in a Catholic cathedral is confusing to me because it meant something very different when I was in college. I guess in this case, it’s where the cathedral’s clerics meet.

The Chapter House’s 16th-century gold-laminated coffered ceiling.

In the cathedral’s museum of paintings, *Triptych of the Descent from the Cross* (c. 1530) by Italian Renaissance painter Ambrosius Benson.

Alcázar of Segovia

So, what’s an alcázar, anyway? An alcázar is general a medieval castle built by the Moors. The were taken over by Christian rulers after the Reconquista. “Alcázar” is a Spanish word derived from the Arabic word “al-qaṣr“, meaning “the fort” or “the castle”. The Arabic word was derived from the Latin word “castrum“, meaning “fortress” or “military camp”. Alcázars, including the Alcázar of Segovia, were frequently built at the location of Roman castra, which is why the term was adopted.

It is believed that the alcázar was primarily built by Christian rulers in the 12th century on the site of a wooden Moorish fort which had been built over Roman foundations.