Greg Widmeyer is an amateur photographer.  During the day, he’s a market researcher; analyzing data and writing reports.  He enjoys traveling with his family and photography…particularly landscape and nature photography.  After many years’ hiatus, he’s recently discovered digital photography and trying to learn about post-processing raw files.

The Walled-City of Segovia Spain

If you’re ever in Madrid and need a break from the art museums, typical tourist sites, and high-end Spanish cuisine, schedule time for a day trip to Segovia. It’s a picturesque, walled-city just an hour north of town with a long history. One can uncover sights and reminders dating back to the Romans, the Moors, a Jewish community, and medieval Spaniards.

Getting there can be half the fun. Of course, you could rent a car or take the high-speed train, but we choose to take the bus. Most of the passengers are locals, so communicating can be a little problem. Just make sure you brush-up on a little Spanish so you can buy the right ticket, board the correct bus, and disembark at the proper stop (“tres billetes al Segovia, por favor”). There is an express bus route (La Sepulvedana bus from Paseo de la Florida), with only a few stops, that gets you from Madrid to Segovia in an hour. You’ll see views of the Spanish countryside—sometimes beautiful and sometimes industrial along this route. The walk from the bus station in modern Segovia to the ancient city is a short 5 minute walk. If you take the train from Madrid instead, its station is a 20 minute walk away and probably worth a cab ride. There will be plenty of walking within the walls of the hilly town.

Leaving the bus stop, walking north in present-day Segovia it looks like a normal, small city. Stop by the small information booth to get a map and make inquiries. Continue just steps further, and seemingly out of place, standing in front of you is an ancient Roman aqueduct 30m high and over 800m long. Amazing that so much of it is still standing after nearly 2000 years.

Turning west, you ascend into the walled city. Of course you’re directed up the winding narrow main street, with a variety of tourist shops. But keep going, there are many other side streets to wander with quirky little shops and local restaurants to explore. You’ll have plenty of opportunity to take pictures of unique doorways, street corners, or the local residents. We even happened upon a little restaurant that served hamburgers (American style). The town is so picturesque; you even have “a view” from the restaurant bathroom out to the Sierra de Guadarrama Mountains.

The local Alcazar, Arabic for Spanish castle, is located in one corner of the walled-city overlooking the ancient fields of farm and pasture. You can tour the castle for a small fee to see how the nobles of the day lived and take pictures of the city and surrounding countryside. But don’t limit yourself to just staying inside the fortification. Many good views of the city are also available from outside of the walled-city.

And what would a European city be without cathedrals and churches. Segovia has its share. One of the largest examples of gothic churches in Europe is the Cathedral of Segovia (are all the churches in Europe under repair?). Outside the city walls, is the Church of Vera Cruz, a circular church erected by the Knights Templar.

We visited during the month of March and were rewarded with beautiful blue skies. Weather this time of year is typically sunny with cool temperatures (high in the mid 60s F) and is an ideal time to visit before the spring rain season or summer heat. As an additional locale to the well-traveled, big cities of Spain, I recommend you make a visit to photograph Segovia.