It pays to ask around. If you could only go one place in Spain, where would you recommend?

My young friend Matt, who has visited friends in Spain many times, highly recommended Segovia for the Roman aqueduct, castle, cathedral and charm. He was right.

We had not researched much about the town before we set off by bus from Madrid. In a little over an hour, we were exploring one of Spain’s most beautiful cities.

We could not see the aqueduct from the bus station. Told which way to go, we caught a glimpse of it before long, but it was not until we were there that we could see the vastness of the structure. The Roman aqueduct, believed to be built from 1-112 A.D., is a series of tall narrow arches. We climbed up a level of granite stairs to see where the water used to flow from the mountains 9 miles away to the city. The view was impressive. One of my favorite sites from the trip.

We walked up a hilly section of town and found one of those wonderful all-inclusive lunches, featuring Spanish wine and patio seating. We got to do one of my favorite things, take a snapshot for other tourists, a group of students from Arkansas, also enjoying the quaint city.

We walked to and around the large Gothic Segovia Cathederal and debated whether to enter. We’d seen some impressive churches already in Madrid, and how different can they look? What ninnies, we would have missed a beautiful interior and massive ceilings and stained glass. Yes, other cathedrals have these things, but again, there was something special about the age, design and scope of the Roman-influenced cathedral.

Lastly, we visited the castle of Castilian kings, the Alcazar of Segovia. Situated high on the edge of the city, it is clear that its mission was to guard the area. This romantic, medieval castle has many thin turrets, similar to the ones on Sleeping Beauty’s castle. Rooms in the castle were handsomly restored and there is a large courtyard open in the center of the compound. Husband tired of castles? He might be interested in the armory on display in this one which was once the royal artillery college.

Had we not ventured into the castle or cathedral or any buildings, we would have still loved the feel and scenery of Segovia.