El puente: Segovia!

Spain has something truly magnificent: el Puente. Puente translates to bridge and this is exactly what it means: a bridge between two days. This year the Puente lasted for three days as we celebrated two free days – separated by the Puente. This was followed by a weekend. In other words, we had five days off between the 6th and 10th of December.

Carmen and I had decided that we would visit Madrid’s neighbouring towns during these days in stead of making more exotic trips to for example Seville. Furthermore, we wanted to visit places with bridges as it would be a crime not to pay homage to these magnificent things that also bring free days down here in Spain.



Segovia was our first stop and I was expecting little. The weatherman (Paco) had told us that the Puente would be the first cold days of the year, but I wasn’t prepared for the big Freeze that was thrown at us! However, Segovia was great and certainly didn’t disappoint in the bridge department. Segovia houses the oldest standing and working aqueduct (ok, not exactly a bridge!) built in the 1st century during Roman occupation. It is a truly outstanding feat of civil engineering! As you can see it is also very good for jumping!

Further, Segovia has a nice Cathedral, an ancient city wall and a castle to go with it. We visited the complete town within three hours so we had some time to spare when Carlos – our Erasmus friend – came to meet us in the afternoon. We decided to go to one of the Royal palaces scattered around. La Granja is well worth a visit after opening hours as it boasts over some great garden landscapes. The gardens were covered with snow which reminded us all a bit of Sweden.