Segovia

Yesterday we first spent the morning doing laundry.... finally we found a laundry mat as they are few and far between in Spain. We then spent an hour shopping in Salamanca for olive oil and sandals. Chris had wanted some sandals here and we found a little shop that hand makes them so we each bought a pair. There are also olive trees everywhere in Spain so I wanted to get some olive oil to bring home as it's pretty cheap here so we picked up 2 bottles. Lets hope they don't break on the way home.

Anyway we then set off for Segovia and arrived in the late afternoon. We first toured the cathedral. They are all starting to look the same though and it's getting hard to distinguish which one was which as I look back on them. We then toured the local castle and walked down the hill to a large roman aquaduct. It's pretty cool to see it in the middle of town. We found dinner at an "american grill" it was a lot like TGI fridays and was a welcome treat as it was something from home.

Today we drove a few miles south and toured El Escorial another palace of Spain's Kings and queens. It was very plain though. Chris said it looked more like a prison then castle. We then set off for the summer palace, La Granja which was built more in a french Versailles style. We got there an hour before they closed and toured it quickly. We then went out to the gardens which were very much like versailles. Lots of fountains, flowers and trimmed shrubs. We liked the gardens the most and spent a few hours walking through them. They were also setting up for a concert outside in the gardens as the Pet Shop boys are performing for free on Saturday night. Too bad we will miss it. It would be cool to see them, unfortunately we will be in Madrid. The drive over the hills from El Escorial to La Granja was amazing culminating at 5800 feet, roughly with a one lift ski resort. We never knew you could snow ski within a half hour drive of Madrid.

It was then a 40 min drive into Madrid where we just checked in and got dinner at McDonalds cause it's so late. Anyway until next time.

Anneka