THE KING'S SUMMER GARDEN & SEGOVIA

Our friends Paco and Susi wanted to get us out of town for the weekend and gave us the choice of where to go.  We chose Segovia, a 'not-so-big' town about an hour northwest of Madrid.  We got to travel up and over the Guadarrama Mountain Range on our way, and it was nice to see something besides the miles and miles of apartment buildings that blot the ground here in Madrid.  Before we arrived there I noticed that the car was leaving the main road and veering off in another direction. When, I asked what was up, Paco said that we were going to see the 'granja' (garden) before seeing Segovia.

Nestled against the northern foot of the Guadarrama Mountains, La Granja de San Ildefonso was the place chosen by Phillip V as the place to raise the produce for his dining pleasures.  There was (is) a summer palace there where the Royals would go to get out of the summer heat of Madrid. (A different king than the one that had his summer palace in Aranjuez). It sits at about 4,000 feet above sea level.  It was a beautiful, cool but sunny day!! There are massive areas of gardens, fountains,  monuments, walking paths, a labyrinth, and areas left wild for the birds and animals that frequent the area.  Some of the areas reminded us of our children  :) Here are some of the pictures from this day...

This one reminded us of any one of the grandkids,  "don't mess with me"  

There were fountains depicting the gods.
This  one is for Reagan and Angela..Diana the Huntress

Here is Poseidon or "King Triton" for the little grandkids

And here is for the hunters in the family, Dad says look at the antlers

The part for a great family outing comes next, (Devan, especially for you) the Labyrinth!

 

The sign said it would take 1 - 1 1/2 hours to go through the maze, and once you got to the middle there is a sign to help you find your way out.  We didn't have the time to try it, maybe another day.

                                                                              ON TO SEGOVIA!!!

From the 'granja', we drove on another 20 minutes and were in Segovia.  The  major attractions there are from the era in which the Romans were in rule.  I won't be difficult for you to see the difference.  Segovia sits out on the end of an 'arrow' of of land, or a point of land, with rivers on either side, with the point of land being high above the rivers and very steep on either side of the land.  The Roman fort--Alcazar--sits right out on the end of the point of the arrow.  There is no was an enemy was going to sneak up on them, nor was an enemy able to climb up and fight against them while in this fort/castle.

The major church (well, tourist-attracting wise, anyway) in Segovia is this Catholic Cathedral:

                                                 

For me, the major attraction of Segovia, is the Roman Aqueduct.  Originally over 10 miles long and containing 180 arches, it was designed to bring mountain water over one of the deep gorges  onto the point of land and thus make the fort/castle even more secure.  Besides, the ordinary folks needed to drink water also--not just the Romans!

Remember: these were put up without any mortar!!!

Somebody from that era needs to have written a book on this!!
They were quite the engineers, especially for their time.
What a masterpiece!!

If you look really close, you can see tiny holes (more like indentations) on either end of these huge pieces of stone.  They must have used some sort of pincer to grasp the stones while lifting them into place.  I would like to have watched them put these babies into place, especially the topmost ones.

On the language end of things, Sister Bake is making progress, although more slowly than she would like.  I guess we just need to bear down and 'get 'er done'!!  That's easy for me to say, I know, because I had a huge head start.  My ability to hear most of what is being said is encouraging, but my lack of speaking all I would like to say still has be stymied. We work on it every day, reading out loud from the Book of Mormon, and trying to memorize words and phrases together.  It will come--AFTER the trial of our faith, I think-------we hope!

Our mission, although not a proselyting one, still helps to accomplish God's  work and glory, which is to bring about the immortality and eternal life of  His children,  even before they come to the end of their lives here one earth.  If we can help teach correct principles of work, industry, thrift, self-reliance, and especially self-determination (where they understand that they themselves have the right, the ability, and the duty to God, to figure out how to rule themselves while in this life), then, and only then will they be able to lift themselves up and out of the levels of poverty that so often plague Heavenly Father's children, and to then enjoy life more fully, as any father would want for those  He loves.

Next week you will get to meet the wonderful people we work with, especially Lucy!