 Segovia’s borders are shared by both Castille y Leon and Castille La Mancha. It is located within the former but its topography differs markedly from the arid and harsh landscape often represented by its provincial neighbours.
The tall mountains of the Guadarrama Sierra provide fresh mountain waters that flow down to the tablelands below. On their way they pass extensive pine forests, meadows where livestock graze and vast fields of summer wheat until they finally join the river Duero.
The province lies in the heartlands of Spain and has participated to the full in a turbulent history that has left not only many important buildings and monuments but has also moulded the traditions and customs of the inhabitants.
 All the major civilisations that ruled at one time or another are represented here; from the Romans, whose engineering skills can still be seen in Segovia which boasts one of the finest examples of an aqueduct to be seen anywhere in the world, to the Moors, who left imperious alcazares and mosques.
Later, the Christian kings, whose religious devotion and security minded approach, resulted in some of the finest examples of castle construction anywhere in the Iberian Peninsula if not Europe.
Taking a tour through Segovia is like stepping back in history along a timeline that leads directly to the heart of a long removed civilisation. Most of the Segovian villages have Roman constructions that are breathtaking in concept.
Their existence speaks volumes about the genius of the Romans and their mastery of engineering techniques and principles in times when machinery was at its most basic stage of development.
Post-Moorish castles that are found all over the province graphically illustrate the neurosis of the contemporary inhabitants. Large, forbidding, impenetrable and grand, they tower over villages and towns, watchful sentinels forever on guard for signs of invasion.
Towns such as Pedraza, Castilnovo, Coca (birthplace of the Emperor Theodosius), Riofrio, Turegano, Cuellar and Segovia (the incomparable Alcazar) are all permanently protected by sightless, uncomprehending eyes that watch an alien horizon crossed occasionally by the lazy trail of an airliner.
On the northern slopes of the Sierra de Guadarrama, mountain villages nestle in well protected and picturesque valleys, the peaceful summer meadows a stark contrast to the villages and towns of the flat meseta.
 In winter, the resort of La Pinilla provides all the excitement of mountain skiing with the added advantage that it is located close to the capital city of Madrid (110km), easy reach for a day’s excursion.
And if its cuisine that does it for the palate then check out the food of Segovia. Lamb and pork dishes, succulent white beans, mountain trout and mouth watering cakes pack out a menu laden with surprises.
More information: http://www.viasegovia.com
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Last Updated ( sábado, 05 julio 2008 )
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