Segovia

¡Hola a todos!

Ayer visitamos Segovia, una ciudad muy rural y pintoresca.

Yesterday, we visited Segovia! A cute little city out in the middle of nowhere. However, it is a very historical city. As you can see above, there are two very important structures there. One is a roman aqueduct which literally runs through the middle of the town. The other is a palace in which Fernando e Isabel lived. FUN FACT: This castle was Walt Disney's inspiration for Cinderella's castle in Disney World! So yes, I was very very excited to have the opportunity to see it and tour it. Unfortunately, it was extremely cold outside. Like -5 degrees C. Which I think is like 27 degrees F. Anyway, I was freezing the ENTIRE TIME. So Segovia was not as enjoyable as I imagine it would have been on a warmer day. Besides visiting the aqueduct and the castle we passed a couple of churches, the Plaza Mayor, the Cathedral, and some other little places of historical importance. I am not sure what everything was because I was not paying very close attention. My attention was mainly focused on trying to get my feet warm because I literally lost feeling in them.

The best part of the day by far was when we stopped at a restaurant on our way home to eat some authentic Spanish cuisine! Not that I am not eating that everyday now. But this was a very nice restaurant called El Rancho de la Aldegüela. First they brought out some appetizers or tapas for us to eat. In the picture above you will see croquetas caseras, pimientos rojos asados, and pan tomaca. Croquetas caseras are sort of like mozarella sticks, but shorter and fatter and I don't think cheese is on the inside. I think it's some kind of creamy thick milk mixture filling. Anyway, they were delicious! Pimientos rojos asados are roasted red peppers. And pan tomaca is like Spanish brushetta. They crush up the inside of the tomato and mix it with olive oil and salt and put it on top of thinly sliced toasted pieces of bread. SO GOOD! We also had tortilla de patata, which is sort of like a potato omelette. Next, they brought out the ensalada mixta y pollo asado (mixed salad and roast chicken). The salad consisted of iceberg lettuce, onion, boiled egg, olives, tomatoes, and tuna. It was tossed in olive oil and vinegar. The roast chicken was by far the best roast chicken I have EVER had. So juicy. So tender. OM NOM NOM! For dessert we were treated to a local delicacy, Ponche de Segovia. It tasted like a combination between tres leches cake and creme brullee. The cake was spongy and soaked in some kind of sweet milk, filled with vanilla pudding, spiced with cinnamon, had slightly carmelized sugar on top, and was dusted with powered sugar. I literally said, "This must be what heaven tastes like."

Last night was pretty fun too. All of us went to a bar called the Irish Rover (yeah, I think it's a pretty American place to go because they have weekly beer pong tournaments there). It was really cute though. Most of the girls ordered Sangria because it was only like three euros per glass. We had fun dancing and we knew all the songs because they were all American songs by Lady Gaga and Rihanna, etc. Also, we arrived at the bar early and left early. Got there at like 11pm and left at 2am. This is very unusual. Spanish people usually don't get to the bars until like 12:30-1ish and stay out until like 4am or later. So when Julia and I told our Señora we had arrived home at 2:30am. She said, "Ay, tan pronto!" or "Oh, how early!" Haha. I told her I liked to sleep.

So that was my exciting Saturday! This morning I went to Mass. A very interesting experience. But I'll have to talk more about that later!

¡ABRAZOS PARA TODOS!

Hope