PALACIO DE LA GRANJA

After spending some time and eating lunch while staring at one of the oldest aqueducts in the world, we headed to the last part of the trip. We ended up leaving Segovia and heading about 30 minutes closer to Madrid to see the Palacio de la Granja. I was excited to see the difference between the first Cinderella castle from the beginning of the day and an actual luxurious palace that had been been after the 15th century.

While inside we got to see some of the tapestries owned by the kings and queens of Spain, and most of them all weaved in gold. They were enormous and used to help with insulation of the walls like in the castle we had seen earlier. What caught me of guard about the castle was not really what we saw inside. The inside was super luxurious and had beautiful lamps that had been imported from France and many famous paintings, it was the 140 acres of gardens that surrounded the palace.

This palace was HUGE just like all of the others that I have seen while in Europe, but it was meant to be a summer palace. A place to hang out in the country only during the couple of months where they could enjoy the outdoors. The gardens were surrounded by hundreds and I mean hundreds of fountains all made out of copper, gold, and silver. They had french style cut bushes and garden architecture and walk ways that would lead up to the mountains. They say that some of the best parties had been thrown at the gardens of this castle way back in the day, and I would have loved to have been there to see it all lit up!

We had a blast walking through and enjoying all of the beautiful scenery. It was an awesome way to end the trip and I know we all enjoyed seeing the town of Segovia and the Palace very much.

The famous roman aqueduct of Segovia

After the castle/ palace visit we headed to the main attraction! Something I had been waiting to see since I arrived in Spain. We walked through the town of Segovia until we hit the amazing roman aqueduct that still stands untouched a couple of minutes past the cathedral and the plaza mayor of the town. The aqueduct was built by the Romans in the second half of the 1st CENTURY! which is absolutely insane for me to even think of. The city of Segovia was a very strategic point for the Roman army and its king, and therefore they wanted to begin a town and have all of the resources necessary to survive there. The city of Segovia was one of the first cities started in that era where water was not available at the source. Water was one of the most important things for survival of course so no one would want to live somewhere where water was not easy to get to.

The Romans wanted the city to be located where Segovia is and they made it happen. Even though the closest water supply was not for 15 kilometers away on top of the mountain the Romans thought of a way to get it down to the city. It has a total of 167 arches and an angle that is still unbelievable for architects to believe could have been measured so precisely during that time. The water runs on the top of the double arches all the way down from the mountain through out the city so water could be reached from multiple areas.

What is the most unbelievable aspect of this whole structure is that it is build solely with stone. There is no mortar holding each piece of stone together or holding the arches. They were carefully planned in order to withhold the structure. It is a completely horizontal building which means all of its weight is held up and down. Previously cars and trucks were allowed to go though the roads that used to go through the arches. Scientists and the government were so worried that something might happen to the aqueduct and since it is one of the oldest in the world and the oldest in all of Spain had a team come and study the structure. The studies showed that the structure was made so precisely with all of its weight being help horizontally that there is no way the structure could come down. It would be even difficult for it to come down due to an earthquake.

How could Romans from the 1st century come up with such a structure? It is unbelievable how intelligent they were and how everything they created such as aqueducts and street formations for cities and s much more are still being utilized today.