Today my friend and I decided to take another day trip, but this time to Segovia. Segovia is a stunning city also just about an hour away from Madrid. We hopped on another bus, which dropped us off pretty close to the center of the city. Before anything else, we grabbed a quick early lunch at a cafe on the main street. The lunch was good, but the best part was definitely the cafe con leche we both got, and were desperately in need of.

After lunch, we headed straight for the Aqueduct. These ancient Roman aqueducts are some of the best preserved of their kind. Seeing them in person, after learning about them in school for so many years, was surreal. It really forces you to take a step back and think about all of the people and things that came before you. I know for a fact that Emperor Domitian was not anticipating me coming to see the aqueduct when he ordered its construction in 98 A.D. Also, fun fact: the aqueducts were constructed without using any mortar. The stones were carved intentionally so they could be stacked. Towards the top of the aqueducts we also got an incredible view of the city and mountains surrounding it.

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Then we headed to the Alcazar of Segovia, which is a medieval fortress. We went inside and got to see tons of medieval art and architecture. The building itself was stunning, but my favorite part was the view from the top of the Tower of John II of Castile. It was worth every single one of the winding steps we took to get there AND the admission fee.

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Finally, we headed back towards the center of the city where we saw the Cathedral of Segovia. We opted not to go inside here, but the outside was beautiful regardless.

We ended the day roaming the streets and seeing as much of Segovia as we could before we had to head back to Madrid. Along the way we discovered an adorable candy shop with tons of crazy candy, including some that looked like giant strawberries and bananas. We also stumbled across an ice cream place, the smell of which made us drool from the street so of course we had to stop.

Eventually, we boarded the bus back and ended up in Madrid. Once again, this was a great day trip, and I know I’ll be thinking about those aqueducts for a while.