De mi hogar nuevo

Hello all! I haven't been able to post much because I just moved to Bilbao and I do not have a wi-fi connection in the apartment where I'm staying, but I wanted to make a post about Segovia.  I loved it there! It is about an hour and a half from Madrid, and the terrain quickly changed from arid and flat to mountainous while we were driving there.  It was a rainy day when we went, and there was fog hanging low over the mountains.  It was breathtaking; I do not have a picture of that, but I wish I did.

Here is a picture of the city from a high altitude, to give you an idea:

The sites that we saw in Segovia were the aqueduct, built by the Romans a super long time ago (I forget the year...) and a medieval castle from the 16th century or so.  The aqueduct has an interesting legend to accompany it in Spanish lore - according to them, the aqueduct was built by the devil.  A young woman in Segovia promised her soul to the devil if he would build the aqueduct, but only under one condition: he had to built it in a single night.  So the devil was building the aqueduct, and just as he was laying the last stones, a single ray of light shone through the treetops, and so he lost the deal.  Whoever actually built this thing, it's pretty cool.

Here is a picture from the front:

The aqueduct spans 15 kilometers.  How impressive!

The medieval castle that we saw was everything that you would expect from a castle.  There was a huge ditch surrounding it that I'm guessing was a moat at one time.  The most interesting thing about this castle is that supposedly, it was the inspiration for Cinderella's castle.  To be honest, I don't really see it, but maybe I would if I had seen it from the front.  Here is a photo:

It isn't a great picture, but you can get an idea of what it was like.  I am currently in Bilbao and saw Deusto University for the first time today.  I really like the city and the area where I am living - I am living in the Old Quarter, which was established in the 13th century or so.  It's been a little strange settling in, but I am really excited for our trip to Plentzia beach tomorrow!  I will post about Bilbao when I can get a wi-fi connection later this week - never taking that for granted again!