The Amateur Traveler talks to Photographer Ralph Velasco about two of his favorite cities in Spain, Toledo and Segovia.
Both Toledo and Segovia are a short distance from Madrid and both offer interesting and historically significant cities with UNESCO World Heritage sites.
Ralph leads photo tours of both cities so you can count on both of these being picturesque cities that should be on everyone’s list of what to see in Spain. Ralph loves Spain even more than the popular Italy as a destination that is rich in culture, art and history, has good food and lots of history.
Segovia, North of Madrid offers such sites as a Roman aqueduct and a strangely Austrian looking castle or alcazar as well as the beautiful Segovia Cathedral.
Toledo is even closer to Madrid and is the former capital of Spain until it outgrew this hilltop walled city. Toledo is the home of Toledo steel and has the souvenir shops to prove it. It also has a fine alcazar and cathedral as well as former mosques and synagogues. You can see works of art by El Greco in situ in some of the local churches.
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Show Notes
PhotoEnrichment.com
Alcázar of Segovia
The Alcázar
Aqueduct of Segovia
Old Town of Segovia and its Aqueduct
Plaza Major (TripAdvisor)
Parador Hotel Segovia
Hotel Don Felipe (TripAdvisor)
Getting from Madrid to Segovia
Tapas
Getting from Madrid to Toledo
Church of Santo Tomé
Ralph Velasco – Photo Tips
Toledo’s Shopping Street
Santa Cruz Museum
Destination Toledo, Spain
Segovia Hay Festival
Zoom H1 Digital Recorder
News
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Qantas stops take-off and ejects pilot who had been drinking
Woman forced to sit in back of plane sues El Al
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3 Responses to “Travel to Segovia and Toledo Spain – Episode 337”
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Tags: audio travel podcast, castile and leon, podcast, ralph velasco, segovia, spain, toledo
Lily
Says:August 13th, 2012 at 5:22 am
Great view !!! 🙂
Kathy
Says:August 19th, 2012 at 9:18 pm
I haven’t been to Segovia, but I did get to Toledo back in 2004 (by bus, the rail line was being converted to high speed at the time). I was in Spain earlier than I had planned as I was escaping the Eurocup tournament in Portugal, which put me in Toledo for the Corpus Christi celebrations. It turned out to be a great time to be in Toledo, not only for the procession on the most important day (the ninth Thursday after Easter), but the day before, when I had the cathedral essentially to myself. The cathedral was stunning, especially the choir stalls, one tier, wooden, with the Christians reconquering Spanish towns from the Muslims, one city per stall, two alabaster tiers with Old Testament figures, and a complete set of misericords. And the Treasury had some more of the town’s El Greco’s. The ten-foot high monstrance which is usually in the Treasury was the star of the procession.
The processional route was covered with strips of cloth against the sun, the road was strewn with thyme and rosemary, and the houses were decorated with banners, plaques and embroidered shawls. It seemed that all of Toledo was in the procession – girls in white dresses, young men in white surplices, women draped in black lace mantillas, men in the robes of various societies, nurses and nuns, marching bands and marching regiments. And the prelates, of course, in gorgeous embroidered copes, escorting the monstrance on a flower-bedecked float. But some of Toledo lined the parade route, breaking into applause when the monstrance appeared. Others filled reserved seats in Zocodover Square, where a second mini-service was conducted (mass at 10:00, procession begins at 11:00, finish up at the cathedral around 2:00). Besides the procession, some of the normally-closed, Arab-style private houses were open so that you could admire the inner courtyards.
So if you’re going to Toledo, try to go for the festival. I stayed at the Santa Isabel, which was convenient, comfortable and reasonable.
Daniel Sánchez
Says:August 22nd, 2012 at 5:37 am
Hi!!
I am Dani from Madrid and first of all I want to thank Ralph for showing Spain to the world. I love the episode and I would like to add some suggestions:
– If you rent a car, you can go from Segovia to Toledo and stop in Avila (great wall – UNESCO site) and in “El Escorial” (impressive monastery from the 16th century)
– In Segovia you must taste its famous roasted pig (“cochinillo” in spanish).
– Toledo is one of the best places in Spain to taste marzipan.
Please let me update the info about Spain high speed trains that appears in the podcast (I work in this industry):
– Madrid Cordoba Sevilla or Malaga
– Madrid Zaragoza Barcelona
– Madrid Valencia
– Madrid Segovia Valladolid
– Madrid Toledo
Great episode Chris (as always), plase continue with this incredible work and thanks for sharing your travel passion with us.