Segovia Adventure!

Segovia/Pedrazza
Oh Friday our group traveled to Segovia for the day. It is just 40 or so Km outside of Madrid, so it was perfect to see it in one day. Segovia is the city where Queen Isabella named herself queen of Castille in the very Alcazar up on the hill. Although it was not this exact Alcazar because in the early 1800's there was a fire, and the entire Alcazar was burned down. It was rebuilt to duplicate the original, and still maintains the ancient feel. The outside has the enchanted fairy tale castle feel, we even learned that Walt Disney patterned the famous Cinderella's castle after the Alcazar in Segovia. Inside was slightly furnished and so we were able to make out the king's bedroom, the throne room, etc. There was one room with a wall mural, and it was this white-as-a-ghost queen, could have been Isabel or Juana the Loca, and there were people all around her, but the catch was that none of the people in the painting had eyeballs, just empty sockets. It was very disturbing, like something on a scary movie. We kept looking for secret passageways to get into the mysteries of the castle, but everything was locked, don't you hate when that happens. There was this little staircase we found though, and there wasn't a rope in front of it so we walked down, and found a secret little door. It was pitch dark and the door was locked(of coarse) but we told everyone we heard Juana the Loca wailing behind the door! The story behind Juana the Loca:she was married to the handsome king Phillip the Fair, son of pious king Phillip II, and he died at a young age, and she was just devastated. She kept his corpse and would take it around with her, and kiss it every night. Thats where the name the Loca comes from. She lived in the Alcazar for some time, and we were convinced her ghost haunts it! Another famous site in Segovia is the 2000 year old Roman Aquaduct.It was declared as a UN world heritage site, and is also on the list of 100 endangered historical sites. It still works to carry water today, although not with the same efficiency as long ago. It has 120 arches and was built completely without mortar. I was amazed to see such a huge structure still standing. After we were done walking around Segovia, we drove about a half hour away, through beautiful country, to an old medieval pueblo in the middle of the country called Pedrazza. Dr. Shumway said our dinner reservation wasn't until 8 and we got there at six, so he told us to explore till then. He said to meet in the Plaza Mayor. Well we walked up the hill to the town, and walked down about two deserted streets and we were in the Plaza. Hm...so then we kept walking a little bit, and we reached the other side of the city. All the little houses were so old. It kind of reminded me of something you would see in a little town in Britain. Because down the hill were just green field with sheep and cows. We just bummed around with each other till our reservation for dinner.