It's been a pretty long day but was well worth the trip. We took the metro, then a high speed AVE train and then a bus to reach the town. When we arrived this morning it was a bit cool and quite cloudy but within a couple of hours the cloud had disappeared and it was very hot.
The bus stopped right next to the Roman aqueduct which the town is famous for. It's incredibly impressive. It was built around 2000 years ago without the use of mortar, apparently.
We decided to grab a snack at a bakery just off the main square and ate looking across at the Cathedral. They wrapped our pastries up beautifully!
We walked through the narrow winding streets to the Alcazar which is at the opposite end of the town to the aqueduct structure (although the aqueduct proper also ran underground all the way to the castle).
There has been a castle on the site since the 12th century but the current castle was rebuilt in the 1800s after a fire. Apparently, the castle was the inspiration behind the castle in Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty...
The castle had the most amazing decorated ceilings which were different in each room.
We had a bit of time to spare as we wanted to visit a church which opened at 4pm so we decided to walk the length of the aqueduct. We wanted to get a view looking down on it. In our walk we also found the building where filtration (trapping sand, etc) and flow regulation occurred.
We walked back up through the town again to the Alcazar and then down the hill to Iglesias de la Vera cruz, a small 12 sided church built in the 13th century.
The church was very beautiful and quiet inside, with an elegant simplicity. Outside the church there were great views looking back to the town.
We headed back thought the town to catch our bus to the train station and stopped for one last look at the amazing aqueduct.
wow the view from the top is amazing! I have had a thing with aqueducts on this trip, these are very impressive :)
ReplyDelete