Old city of Segovia and how tapas was invented

Segovia 

"Why not go to Segovia for a day?" I was busy planing my next shopping spree when my friend came up with this revolutionary idea. Go outside of Madrid? Really? Aren't you supposed to stay in one city for the duration of your holidays? However, the idea to see something else than the hellish 4-floor Primark on Gran Via was tempting. After all, you can buy t-shirts in every city but you cannot see an ancient aqueduct just everywhere. There is also a cathedral and a castle to visit but be prepared, there will be an entrance fee for the most popular places. On the other hand, you get to see a puppet museum for free, and a hostel where poet Antonio Machado lived when he was teaching in Segovia is free on Wednesdays. The museum is an interesting place to visit just to see a more traditional countryside house.

Puppets in the puppet museum

There is also a museum about the Jewish community in Spain and we got to go there for free. The museum was about to be closed when we got there, so the lady just let us in without paying the fee because we only had 20 minutes to see the exhibition. Very welcoming! After walking around for the entire day we headed for drinks before boarding the train back to Madrid. I was surprised to notice that there were security checks before boarding the train. Luggage had to go through the x-ray machine.

The aqueduct 

The trip to Segovia takes less than an hour by train from Madrid and the return ticket costs around 20 euros. On the way there you can admire the lovely countryside from the window of the train. And the aqueduct is just awesome. One cannot help but to marvel at the fact that it was constructed without the help of modern computing systems and machinery and it's still standing. How many of our buildings and how much of our infrastructure will be still standing after a thousand years or so? So, there is a lot of history in Segovia and in my opinion it's a great destination for a weekend out of the city. You can eat out, do some shopping, see some sights and hike in the lovely Spanish nature. But if you are looking for plenty of activities for your holiday, go somewhere else.

Around Segovia

How the Spanish got their tapas- A story as I heard it on the walking tour

So, once upon a time there was a good king, a clever and righteous king at the service of his people and etc. So you get it, the king worked hard, was a great politician and an even better tactician but even that kind of people need a holiday sometimes, so the king decided to head for the beach. He wanted to drink good wine, eat good food and enjoy the view. But alas, not all is how it seems. The king just wanted to relax and sit in his chair at the beach, sipping his wine, but he noticed a major irritant in this otherwise very beautiful scenario. There was sand in his wine. You drink on a beach, you get sand in your drink. That's how it goes, even for the leaders of the nation.

Tapas

The king asked the waiter to bring him a new glass of wine. The waiter produced the new glass as ordered, and all was well in the kingdom once again. Until a fly flew into king's wine. The king got upset and ordered another glass of wine. The waiter brought it but again sand got into the glass, insects got into the glass and who knows, maybe even stray cats and dogs gathered around the king in hopes of getting a sip of the wine.

This is not tapas but my lunch. Still, it's food

The king kept ordering a glass after glass and you can imagine that our good waiter might be getting a bit irritated now. What the hell brought the king here in the first place anyway? He could have gone to any other establishment with his demands, why this restaurant? But that is not something that you can tell the leader of the state if you want to keep your head attached, so the waiter came up with a clever scheme. He put a slice of ham over the king's wine glass before handing it to him. The king was puzzled and asked the waiter what the ham was about. "It's a tapa (cover), so no sand and no insects will get into the wine", the waiter answered. The king was so taken in by this new way of serving a glass of wine he decided to introduce it to his subjects all over the kingdom. That is how the Spanish got their tapas.

The best thing about tapas is that it can be just anything. Sandwiches, hamburgers, paella, whatever. We went for tapas together with my friend, we both ordered a drink and hamburgers and it was less than 6 euros. It's also very affordable. Plus you should not be drinking without eating anything. That's not good for anyone ;)