Running Abroad: Journey to Segovia

At the moment, I am living, and studying, in Salamanca, Spain (some of you may already be aware of this). Furthermore, I enjoy running and do it often (hopefully a greater number knows that). And finally, I plan on, and have continued to run, while living in Spain (please tell me you are catching the drift here). This is how I will document some of my most favorite experiences while Running Abroad.

Cheat Sheet

1. Pensión Aragon
2. Aqueduct/Alcázar de Segovia
3. Pictures

Pensión Aragon

Segovia is a wonderful place to run. The scenery is gorgeous, and the tourists seem to clump together at two main spots, so if you know what you are doing it is fairly easy to avoid them.

My trip to Segovia started when I checked in at a local pensión. These are basically small houses that are rented out, similar in concept to a hostal, but in my opinion completely different. Very popular in Spain, a good pensión, if you can find one, will make your travel all the more enjoyable.

Fortunately, my friends and I found a great little pensión basically inside the Plaza Mayor, and not only was it cheap, it was absolutely wonderful to boot. Pensión Aragon , because of it’s neat rooms, superb location, and cheap rate, is a runner’s dream pensión (and no, I am not being paid to say that).

Aqueduct/Alcázar de Segovia
These are the two areas where the tourists clump together: a good idea to avoid on a run, but two sites definitely worth seeing at some point.

The Roman Aqueduct was built sometime around the 1st century. The water came from the Fuente Fría river. All that is good and dandy, but the real interesting part is the legend.

There was supposedly this woman who had a pretty rough life, carrying water back and forth every day. So, one day, the devil told her that he could get her water delivered to her doorstep by the end of the day in exchange for her soul. Being as desperate as she was, she agreed.

As the devil was coming close to finishing, the woman prayed to the local patron saint, and as legend has it, the sun rose around 4 A. M. that day, ensuring that the woman would not have to give up her soul. The niches in each stone that can be seen to this day are said to be marks of where the devil worked. Spooky!

The Alcázar de Segovia on the other hand, does not have as scary of a history. Originally a Moorish fortress, the Alcázar has been used for centuries, as both a home, and prison, for kings and queens.

What might be more interesting is that Walt Disney was inspired by this castle to create his famous Cinderella Castle. If you look at the pictures, the similarities between the two are quite interesting.

This is definitely my favorite spot in Segovia, and because I was able to run in the earlier part of the morning, before the tourists came out, I was able to run with the castle as a backdrop. Talk about scenery!

There are three main different viewpoints from which you can see the castle. From the front, as most tourists do, from the top (after climbing the tower – and paying extra), and from behind, which is my favorite. It is a bit more of a hike to get there, but trust me, it is worth it. Take the trail leading away from the castle and when you see a set of stairs on your right hand side, take them up to a large open field. Waiting for you will be a once-in-a-lifetime view.

Overall Rating: 8.0/10
Pictures

Aqueduct, x2.

Alcázar, in front.

Alcázar, on top.

View of the whole city.

Creepy street.

Walk down to the fields.

Alcázar, from behind, at night.

Plaza Mayor, at night.

Hot air balloon.

Running Abroad: Journey to Madrid

At the moment, I am living, and studying, in Salamanca, Spain (some of you may already be aware of this).  Furthermore, I enjoy running and do it often (hopefully a greater number knows that).  And finally, I plan on, and have continued to run, while living in Spain (please tell me you are catching the drift here).  This is how I will document some of my most favorite experiences while Running Abroad.

Cheat Sheet

1. What/Why – Less Runners in Spain
2. El Parque Del Retiro – 7.5/10
3. Pictures

What/Why – Less Runners in Spain

Recently, I made my way over to Madrid, the capital city of Spain, and a runner’s paradi-…

I am going to stop there.  Running in Spain is not nearly as common as it is in the States.  In fact, running in Salamanca is a rarity.  If you don’t believe me, all you need to do is look at the Running Club I started on Meetup.com.

Salamanca Running Club

Three members.  All Americans.  Scientifically accurate?  You better believe it.

Running with the… Spaniards?

Now, let’s get something straight first.  People DO run in Spain.  In fact, El Parque De Madrid (better known as El Parque Del Retiro – see the above picture) had runners; however, Madrid is a large city, and it was summer-time.  I honestly feel that every runner in Madrid was inside that park when I was there (and that isn’t saying all that much).

Before I start getting hate mail, I should say that there is absolutely nothing wrong with this.  I enjoy running the same regardless of the number of people doing it.  In fact, there are some positive aspects to participating in a less-popular activity.

Crowds.  Cash.  Cool-Factor.  I call them the 3 C’s and I just came up with it mere moments ago.

Crowds

If there are less people running, you avoid the crowds.

Cash

If no one is running, running paraphernalia can be usually had for less.

Cool-Factor

Doing something different is inherently cooler than being one of the sheeple.

El Parque Del Retiro

As you can tell, I learned a lot from running in Madrid, but how was the run, actually?  I suppose I have to get to that eventually…

It was wonderful.  I stayed in a great hostel called Bull’s Hostal, which was close to the center of downtown Madrid.  This meant that theoretically I should have no problem getting around, finding a place to run, and get back home in one piece.  The key word in that last sentence is “should.”  As in, I “should” have a better sense of direction OR I “should” be able to find my running equipment AND EVEN maybe I “should” have chosen someplace where people can understand my unique version of Spanish.

The day started innocently enough and by the time I got to the hostel, I figured I earned a nice siesta.  You will soon realize why I hadn’t.

After waking up, I realized I had forgotten my running clothes and running shoes.  Oops!  Oh well, no bother.  This is Madrid, thought Chris.  I can just go and get some clothes downtown and use my Chuck’s to run in.

Suffice it to say that I could barely manage even this.  I did find a Nike, and I did boy some running clothes.  That wasn’t a problem.  What was a problem, however, was using ONE STREET to find my way back to the hostel.  All I literally had to do was keep walking straight down the sidewalk.  However, I kept doubting which direction I should be going, so I kept turning around and going the other way.  This must have happened four or five times.  No joke.

I made it back to the hostel and was all suited up to go running.  I had my Camelbak (thanks Blake), my camera, ID/money (for emergencies), and a key to my room.  I was good to go.  Only after my run did I found out that I had brought my running clothes and needlessly purchases more at Nike…

The run from the hostel to the El Parque Del Retiro was uneventful.  I got a lot of strange looks (it is not common for people to run outside of the park apparently) but nothing that phased me.  The running shoes were not comfortable at all (being basically a piece of rubber sole) but nothing worth stopping for.  Finally, I made it to the entrance of the park and was welcome by several runners going back just as I made it up the steps.  This is where I spent the next hour running and occassionally stopping to snap a few choice photographs – see below).

The park was beautiful.  All sorts of different people (Spainairds, Asians, some serious Americans, etc.) were doing all sorts of interesting things (soccer, tai chi, some serious powerwalking, etc.).  The scenery was really beautiful and frankly, I can’t wait until I get another opportunity to run there.  If you haven’t made it over to Madrid, or to El Parque Del Retiro I am going to seriously recommend that you do.

Overall Rating: 7.5/10

Pictures

Within the main entrance.

Atop a stairway.

A wedding?

Another stairway.

The middle of the park.

Building made of glass.

Exotic/Gated part of the park.

Mickey Mouse?