Visiting the beautiful town of Segovia and another Disney Castle

The next day we headed out of Madrid again to Segovia. Segovia is North of Madrid, about an hour by train. It's a beautiful Old Town surrounded by a medieval wall, and most famous for its huge Roman Aqueduct that is the first thing you see as you approach the town. The Aqueduct is the largest and best preserved of its kind anywhere in the world.

Segovia was extremely important in Roman times and, like Toledo, is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We got off the train to find it at least 10 degrees colder than it had been in Madrid. We were not at all prepared for the weather in only sneakers and light scarves. But we didn't come all the way just to hop back on the train, so we got on the bus and headed towards the Old Town.

The Aqueduct really is impressive, and is much better preserved than most of the ruins in Rome. It's certainly one of the biggest Roman Ruins I have ever seen, aside from the Colosseum.

Trying hard to pretend we weren't freezing

I fit inside!

We climbed up beside the Aqueduct to really get a feel for how huge it was. It dwarves the entire town, and I'm pretty sure we took about 100 photos just of the Aqueduct before moving on into Segovia.

When we finally managed to drag ourselves away, we found ourselves in Segovia main square and in front of the Segovia Cathedral, the last Gothic Cathedral built in Spain.

The Cathedral was built between 1525 and 1577, and was built to replace the original Cathedral which stood next to the Alcazar further down the road. However this was destroyed during a war, so they built this new one in a more secure place within the city.

The Cathedral was huge, as most things in Segovia seemed to be, and we spent a long time inside savouring the warmth.

Our next stop was the Alcazar, which is said to be one of the inspirations of Cinderella's Castle at Walt Disney World. I really feel that after visiting Neuschwanstein Castle and Rothenburg ob der Tauber, we have done a full circle of things that have inspired Walt Disney. Don't say we're not thorough.

The Alcazar did look very similar to Neuschwanstein, with all the turrets, but the setting of Neuschwanstein was probably more impressive overall.

After seeing the major sights, we spent a few hours exploring the twisting back streets, stopping for some pastries before getting the bus back to Madrid. The train was definitely faster, but only came at sporadic times, and the bus gave us a good view of the countryside on the way back to Madrid.

Our first stop back in Madrid was at San Gines, the famous Chocolatería. The cafe has been around since 1864 and serves the best Churros in the city. They are open until 7.00 a.m. in the morning, so it's a popular place for a late night snack, which seems a much nicer option than McDonalds or a Kebab!

There are lots of photos on the walls of all the famous people who have visited. There were hundreds of photos, but it's not hard to see why it's so popular.

Since we'd already had our dessert, we felt we should probably go have some dinner. We stopped at the Mercado san Miguel, an amazing food market with lots of different food vendors selling tapas and small plates. There were high tables scattered around the place, and you stop at a few different places and get something from each one, then a glass of wine from somewhere else.

It was the most amazing place I have ever eaten, there should be one of these in every city. Either Bradley or I would stay seated while one of us would go get some food from somewhere, then the other would go find something else. We ended up with a selection of sushi, pasta, meats and cheeses, and a few glasses of Spanish red wine. Definitely a great Birthday dinner.