Segovia is one of the most rewarding day trips from Madrid, a compact walled city perched on a rocky promontory about 90 kilometres northwest of the capital. Its Roman aqueduct — 28 metres high, built from 20,000 granite blocks without mortar — is one of the best-preserved Roman structures anywhere in Europe, and the sight of it marching across the Plaza del Azoguejo is genuinely astonishing.
At the other end of the old town, the Alcázar rises from a cliff above the confluence of two rivers. This is the castle where Isabella I was crowned Queen of Castile in 1474, and its towers and turrets are said to have inspired Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty castle. The interior is worth the entrance fee for the throne room alone, with its magnificent gold-leaf ceiling.
Between the aqueduct and the Alcázar, the winding streets are lined with Romanesque churches, Renaissance mansions, and the last great Gothic cathedral built in Spain (completed in 1577). Segovia is also famous for its roast suckling pig — cochinillo asado — served at restaurants like Mesón de Cándido near the aqueduct. The twelve-sided church of Vera Cruz, just outside the walls, is a former Knights Templar chapel worth a detour for the views back to the city.