The Albatross
Thursday 22 May 2014
A leisurely start today with a quick peek in the monastery that abuts our hotel (The hotel used to be part of the monastery), which actually had a couple of bits you could go in for free.
It was also rude shock to the system and it was raining on and off and it was eight degrees. After that we set off in the car down to walk around a tiny little church which is cool as it’s in the shape of a decagon, and it’s got great views back up to town.
Then we were of on today’s adventure, an hour’s trip across to the tiny town of Sepulveda. On the way we went through the even tinier town of Turegano which was dominated by a half collapsed castle. We decided to stop and have a poke around and I’m really glad we did. Big bits have fallen down, but there is still a central chapel that’s delightfully dilapidated, and the main tower which has obviously had a bit of work done, the tower is a labyrinth of different stairwells, occasionally opening onto really quite large rooms. It really was quite confusing, but brilliant fun and apart from the lass at the entry gate (2 euro), and a bloke cleaning some windows who got a hell of a shock when we bobbed up, we had the place to ourselves. By this time it was 6 degrees.
Eventually we jumped back in the car and made it to Sepulveda, which seems to drape down the side of a gorge.
You come to Segovia to eat suckling pig; you go to Sepulveda to eat roast lamb (and I mean proper lamb, not the one year old stuff we get in Australia). We were a bit early for lunch, so popped into a restaurant that allegedly sold it. Tuna had a couple of warming glasses of red, and I had a coffee and some zero alcohol beer (guess who was driving?) whilst listening to the locals chat at 400 decibels as per usual, and looking at some very miserable looking folk obviously on a cycling tour. When the restaurant part opened we worked out that they weren’t doing lamb tody, but the bloke around the corner was, so off we trundled. It was brilliant, a couple of bowls of light warm broth, followed by the most succulent lamb ever. A couple of hours later we staggered out rather full but very happy. It was still 6 degrees and occasionally slashing down rain at 4 in the afternoon. (I’m writing tis at 9 at night and I’m still not in the least hungry.)
We meandered back into Segovia, for a look at the local castle. Fortunately it had made it to 12 degrees back there and had stopped raining. The walk to the castle did us the world of good. The castle is a mix of medieval and later, it’s also been heavily restored, so it looks quite pristine and a bit kitsch. It was quite quiet and relaxing.
A stop in a quite bar for a glass of wine and to watch the clouds swirl around the mountains to the south occasionally revealing very snow-capped peaks was a great way to end the day.