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Running Abroad: Journey to Segovia

November 1st, 2009

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.

Segovia 1/1

Cheat Sheet

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