Trip to Segovia

Time is running out! With only two more weeks to go in Spain we are still trying to get as much traveling as possible. We got very lucky that our University had already planned weekend trips for us through out the semester to make traveling easier and more affordable for us. Last weekend we got to travel to Segovia which is really close to Madrid and a couple of hours from where I am living. The town is really small but it has been declared "Patrimonio de la Humanidad" by UNESCO and therefore is very well protected and taken care off because of it's amazing historical structures and the actual history that took place in the city.

Our first stop while in Segovia was to see the famous castle that Walt Disney took his inspiration from while drawing Cinderella's castle. I wish I could have taken a picture from the side that looks exactly like the movie but we could not get far enough back for the picture since that part is on the side of the mountain and there was no way for us to go all the way down to take the picture. I did add a picture on the blog that does show a couple of the towers of the castle that would make it look like the Cinderella picture. This castle was first built for protection and then turned into a castle/palace where it was for protection but it was also a residency for the king/queen/ court. This castle actually was one of the main residencies of the Famous Catholic Kings of Spain and where they spent most of their time when they were not traveling throughout the country.

We got the full tour of the throne room where they would receive guests, the kitchen and dinning room where all of the parties would be held, and their actual bedroom which was where the Catholic Queen actually passed away and where her funeral was held. I was surprised that even though the castle was filled with gold painted ceilings and wood work, it was very simple. All of the palaces I had seen prior to this visit had been solely palaces and not castle/palaces and had been from after the 15th century so they were very luxurious. Since the queen and king would move around all the time to cover all of their territory and were in the midst of war at any second previous to the 15th century they only took with them what they could carry. So Furniture was minimal, as well as places to store clothes and the clothes itself. In the royal bedroom they had 2 chests where the queen would keep her clothes in one and the king in the other. It was very interesting to see! The wall were all covered with beautiful screen work made out of reds and golds to try to keep the stone walls insulated as much as possible. Even though we were only in November it was FREEZING inside that castle. I can't imagine how it would have been to live there in January/ February without hit and only a couple of fireplaces to keep you warm.

This castle was also where a lot of the artillery was held and where many of the troops were trained and maintained. We got to take a tour around where the soldiers stayed and saw many of their armors and weapons. It was nuts because it was exactly like the movies. HUGE ARMORS, and swords, cannons, Huge wooded poles to break down the doors etc. Very very interesting :)