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 ;)

Madrid

Here comes a dark confession. I have always wondered why retired Finns love to go to Spain time after time. Like sure, the winter is a lot more tolerable on Costa del Sol but there are other sunny places, too, and not even that far from Finland. You could go to Italy or Greece, Turkey even. Some people even go to Israel or Northern Africa. What is the point of going to the same place when you've once seen it already? I am starting to get it. I can't imagine getting tired of Spain anytime soon. I just wish I can find a way to move there before I retire.

First of all there is the food. Eating churros for breakfast every day is possibly addicting and thanks to that I have accumulated an alarming amount of belly fat in such a short time. I told my friend about my churro binge and she was surprised. Apparently it's not that common to eat 5 churros at a time, after all. But what can you do if that's what they serve with the coffee? Churros were not the only temptation, I also ate many other things, none of them too healthy. In addition I found Don Simon's sangria and that was the beginning of a very unhealthy, abusive relationship. A liter of it is cooling in my fridge right at this moment. I need to put myself on a diet now. Only green vegetables and buckwheat until Christmas. And sangria.

Speaking about eating out there is one aspect to restaurants in Spain that is not that familiar to me from elsewhere. Waiting the tables was done mostly by men, and most of them were actually middle-aged or even older. I was surprised. In Finland and in many other countries I have visited waiting tables is usually done by relatively young women. It made me think about the differences in work cultures. Is it difficult for women to enter the labor market in Spain? Are they likely to stay at home, taking care of the household and kids, if they have them? Is waiting tables considered a "manly" job? In Australia there were male cashiers in supermarkets, another job that in Finland is mostly performed by women.

Another word about customer service. Quite often, in my opinion, the service is in a way "indifferent". I don't mean to say the service is bad or the employees are unmotivated. But it's not that false-cheery experience you are likely to get in some other places. You are treated like a normal human being, not like you are something special just because you decided to eat in that restaurant instead of the next one. 

Who can say no to churros and chocolate?

I went to hair dresser to celebrate the holidays and because vacation is pretty much the only occasion when I have time to go and get my hair cut and dyed. The experience was hilarious, the hair dresser's English was as fluent as my Spanish, but somehow we managed to communicate and the result is perfect. Maybe she just looked at my hair saw how it was done before and gathered that I was trying to explain I want the same thing. Sometimes it's good to be predictable. 

I was thinking there must be plenty of tourists in Madrid and there probably are but in some places the personnel still speak to you in Spanish even when they understand English. My very limited vocabulary expanded very fast. Now I know how to order and ask for the bill at the restaurant. How cool!

Besides the food and the occasional trip to beauty salon there are plenty of attractions in Madrid and of course elsewhere in Spain, too. I went to see the royal palace. The admission is free from Monday to Thursday from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. but be prepared to queue. It was not possible to take photos in the palace, which is sad but understandable. The tour would have taken forever if photos were allowed. Now you can only trust my word that the rooms were amazing, so strong and deep colors. The royal family does not occupy the palace, btw. Their actual residence is in a smaller palace. Well, the official palace has more than 3000 rooms. Does one family actually need that much space, even if they are royal? No. 

Almudena Cathedral seen from the suicide point area.. don't worry, I forgot my ladder home

Next to the palace there is a Almudena cathedral and a crypt. The cathedral is the only religious institute this far I have seen offers a free wi-fi, or maybe I haven't been paying attention. Seriously, I always thought people go to a church because of their religious needs, not because their need to connect on social media or flip through someone's Instagram photos. Sounds a bit like heresy to me. What would inquisition say? 

Entrance to the Royal Palace

At least have the decency to read the Bible and listen to religious music..

There are free walking tours available in Madrid, too. I went for one and it was very educating. I got the see the oldest still functioning restaurant in the world and a common suicide spot. The spot is a part of Segovia viaduct and apparently people have preferred to end their days by umping from it. However, one very unlucky suicidee once jumped from the viaduct and managed to land on a person walking on a road below. That person died but the suicidee lived on because of that soft landing. Since then a barrier has been erected on the most logical suicide spot to prevent that kind of nasty accidents. As the tour guide said, everything is manana in Spain. When people go there and notice it's going to be difficult to end the suffering, they will go elsewhere or promise to come back manana with a chair. So no more suicides. 

I will tell more about Spain later. Arrived back to Prague this morning feeling quite deflated, all I need now is a cup of coffee and some rest. And later, a glass of sangria. I'm so bad..