Madrid Sightseeing and Segovia

This morning the whole group went on a tour of Madrid.

We visited the Cervantes monument first.

Looking up at one of the buildings surrounding the square I noticed something strange.

At first I thought that there were trees growing out of a ledge and then I realized this was some art. I figure the trees were made out of some sort of metal.

Can you see the white building in the background? That is the Royal Palace, roads were blocked around it so this was as close as we were able to get today. Our tour of the grounds of the Palace had been cancelled early in the morning. It turned out the King of Spain was making a visit to meet with some dignitaries, they had changed the day of the week this happened. We did manage to see the Palace guards riding to the palace and a covered carriage following close behind. The carriage held the King!!! Didn't get a picture as the guide was kind of afraid to let anyone off the bus.

We had decided to take the additional tour to Segovia and so after dropping off those who did not want to attend we were off. Climbing the mountains, and arriving in Segovia just before 11.

 As we neared the city this met our eyes.

A wonderful Roman Aquaduct that is still intact!!! Hard to believe that it is still standing and no mortar is used at all.

 Romulus and Remus.

We continued on foot up what seemed to be hill after hill until we reached a square. This is where we divided up for our noon meal planning on meeting up in 1 hour.

Harvey and I headed for a small eatery for some tapas. We ended up having 6 tapas and two beer for only 5 Euro's. Possibly the most inexpensive meal we had our entire trip.

This is the Cathedral on the square.

 After the group gathered we continued our walk towards the castle.

Hmmm, does this castle kind of remind you of a Disney castle???? It even had a moat, which was empty I have been told (Harvey told me not to look. He knows my fear of heights all to well).

At one point in time the castle was used to train soldiers and as an armory.

Here are a few pictures of the interior.

Isabella being crowned Queen of Castile.

Just a couple of the lovely stained glass windows we saw.

All too soon it was time to head back to Madrid and our farewell dinner.

We made some lovely friends and had a great experience.

Everybody have a wonderful evening.

God bless.