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한국어Madrid, Spain’s capital, honestly doesn’t have as much to offer as you’d expect. Maybe it’s because it’s primarily a political center rather than a tourist destination? While exploring the city center can be enjoyable, it pales in comparison to Barcelona or other famous Spanish tourist spots.
Of course, if you’re a football fanatic, Real Madrid’s Santiago Bernabéu stadium alone is an incredible attraction. You can also try the famous honey-glazed cod tapas and find other noteworthy experiences if you look hard enough.
Anyway, Madrid seemed a bit limiting for a multi-day trip, so we decided to dedicate one day to exploring the surrounding areas. That’s how we ended up visiting Segovia and Toledo – the stars of today’s story.
These are fairly well-known destinations that you might have heard of, and quite a few people have probably visited them. In fact, while I was setting up a time-lapse at Toledo’s scenic overlook, a group of Korean tourists with a Korean guide arrived in a van, enthusiastically snapping photos before heading off. So these are definitely established tourist spots for Koreans.
My girlfriend and I rented a car for the day and planned to visit both places. What seemed like a foolproof itinerary before departure gradually started unraveling. This is why traveling with a flexible, go-with-the-flow approach is usually better.
We had some issues from the very beginning when renting the car, but somehow managed to get a KIA wagon from the outskirts of Madrid. Our plan was to visit Segovia first, then reach Toledo’s scenic overlook before sunset.
To sum up our actual itinerary: in the morning, we drove to Segovia to see the aqueduct and take some photos. It was freezing cold, so we warmed up in a coffee shop with coffee and donuts. After exploring the town center, we had lunch featuring the traditional dish ‘Cochinillo Asado’ (roast suckling pig) along with other local specialties. Then we visited the Alcázar de Segovia – the castle that inspired Disney’s Snow White – before heading to Toledo for sunset time-lapse photography.
It might not sound like much when written out, but it consumed our entire day.
1. The Journey to Segovia and the Roman Aqueduct
The drive from Madrid takes about an hour and a half. Segovia is such a popular destination that public transportation – buses and trains – is readily available. You really don’t need to rent a car just to visit here. However, since we also wanted to check out Toledo, renting a car made sense. Getting from Segovia to Toledo by public transport is basically impossible.
If you’re planning to use public transportation, the AVANT high-speed train or bus would be your best bet. You can get off at Segovia’s bus terminal or GUIORMAR station, then take a local bus or taxi. To be honest, most people come here specifically for the ancient Roman aqueduct rather than exploring the entire city, so there’s some inevitable time waste with public transport. If time is a factor, renting a car like we did is definitely better.
There’s no dedicated parking near the aqueduct, but you’ll find paid parking lots on both sides of the road leading to it. There’s no attendant – just those European-style prepaid parking machines where you select how long you’ll stay. Each machine has an associated app you can download, or you can operate the machine manually. Pay for your estimated time, place the receipt visibly on your dashboard, and you’re good to go.
After parking and walking toward the old town center, you’ll encounter the Roman aqueduct – more precisely, the Acueducto Romano. Built around the 1st century, it’s been standing for about 2,000 years. Hard to imagine what life was like 2,000 years ago…
The weather was gloomy and overcast, which somehow perfectly matched the atmospheric mood of this place. Here’s a front view with the mottled gray sky as a dramatic backdrop.
This aqueduct, with its countless arched openings, was built by stacking stones without any adhesive. From this distance, it’s hard to grasp its true scale. There are gentle hills on both sides of the aqueduct with stairs leading up, and we followed the crowd of tourists heading in one direction.
From this elevated position, here’s the aqueduct shot at that perfect 45-degree angle.
It was impressive from the front, but from the side, the sheer scale becomes apparent. Looking at the people in the photo gives you a sense of just how massive it is. Each stone probably weighs hundreds of kilograms to several tons, but thinking about structures like the Colosseum, this probably wasn’t impossibly difficult for ancient Roman engineering. It really makes you appreciate how remarkable humanity is as a species.
Water actually flows through the top of that aqueduct. It looks like LEGO blocks that would topple with a gentle kick, yet it’s stood there for 2,000 years. Beyond the impressive timespan, the technique of fitting stones in arched formations and maintaining the circular structure through friction was apparently quite an engineering feat.
2. Asador El Bernardino Traditional Cuisine: Cochinillo Asado and More
There’s a special dish you can only get here: Cochinillo Asado (roast suckling pig). The name sounds similar to Jeju Island’s baby pig dish (Korea’s famous roasted pig specialty). Honestly, while I do enjoy meat, humans really are more cruel creatures than we’d like to admit.
Still, since we were here, we had to try it… After extensive research, we found this restaurant with a long history and tradition: 🔗Asador El Bernardino. “Asador” means grill or barbecue restaurant – basically a meat grill house. “Bernardino” is just a Spanish name without any special meaning.
I took some menu photos for translation purposes, but they’re not comprehensive, so if you’re curious, just Google it… We went with their set meal – or course meal, I should say – following that European dining structure of appetizer, main course, and dessert. Besides the suckling pig, there were other intriguing dishes, so we ended up overeating.
I’m showing the unfortunate young pig first since that’s probably what you’re most curious about, rather than the appetizers or desserts. Fortunately or unfortunately, they don’t bring out the whole pig – just the leg portion. It’s interesting that Europeans typically consider chicken legs a less desirable part, yet here we got the leg portion. What’s the significance here?
If they divided the body into four parts, this would make sense. Let’s just say it’s the left front leg…
On the right side are steamed or boiled potatoes, with sauce underneath.
The skin is crispy, but there’s a significant gamey smell – quite strong, actually. I was born with a particularly sensitive nose, but even my girlfriend, who’s usually less sensitive to smells, found it challenging. If I had brought my mom and younger sister, they wouldn’t have been able to take a single bite. Is this strong aroma in traditional dishes like this (similar to that regional specialty I had in Lyon) due to it being “traditional” cooking, or was it specific to this restaurant’s preparation method?
We struggled through finishing it. Couldn’t bear to waste it… Still, if you’re planning to visit Segovia, I’d suggest giving it a try at least once. I can’t be the only one who found this… challenging.
Finally, here are photos of the other dishes. Being a typical course meal, it included appetizers, main courses, and desserts.
The top left photo shows one of the main dishes: Caldereta de Ternera (veal stew). This was delicious – a universally appealing taste. This was the most Korean-palate-friendly dish of the day.
The top right shows the bread course and Sopa Castellana, a traditional soup from Spain’s Castile region. It’s made with garlic, bread, paprika, ham, and eggs. Visually, it looks like French onion soup minus the Gruyère cheese on top, but it tastes completely different. It’s neither particularly good nor bad – I honestly can’t decide if it’s appropriate or inappropriate.
The bottom left is Crema de Gambas (shrimp cream soup). Again, an unfamiliar taste. It has a rich seafood flavor – if you’re curious, give it a try 🙂
The bottom right shows desserts: Natillas Monjiles con Florón and Flan.
Natillas Monjiles con Florón has three components: Natillas (Spanish custard cream dessert, soft and sweet like vanilla pudding), Monjiles (traditional monastery recipe dessert), and Florón (crispy fried pastry). So the cream base is natillas and the cookie on top is florón. I’m not sure about “Monjiles con.”
Flan is a traditional Spanish dessert – a caramel-flavored custard pudding. Think of regular pudding but with a strong caramel aroma. This is why Europeans are known for their desserts. The taste is similar to French crème brûlée.
It cost about 30 euros per person, so around 60 euros total. There are quite a few Korean reviews available, so I recommend checking those out before visiting.
3. Snow White's Castle: The Alcázar de Segovia
The Alcázar was part of our original itinerary. When time got tight, we considered skipping it and heading straight to Toledo, but thinking “when will we ever come back here again?”, we rushed over. Since we just wanted to see the exterior, we headed straight to the photo spot. Search for 🔗Mirador de la Pradera de San Marcos on the map.
When you navigate to this location, you’ll arrive at a long straight road where the castle is visible on the side. You can park along this road. There is one local bus that passes through this area, but the schedule is inconvenient and infrequent. Unless you’re visiting Segovia with a rental car, it might be better for your mental health to skip this. But we had a car…!
As long as it’s not raining, it’s good weather. That’s what we decided to believe. Why pay admission to go inside? Seeing this magnificent exterior is enough.
Inside, you can apparently explore various rooms and a tower. The room ceilings are said to be elaborately decorated, the furniture is medieval-style, and there are weapons and exhibits. It was once a fortress where royalty and knights of the former Kingdom of Castile stayed. Can’t you picture it perfectly even without seeing it? Money saved.
4. Toledo: The Best Night View of My Life
It’s definitely one of the best, or at least in my top two or three.
Anyway, it’s certainly among the very best – this Toledo night view we came to see after departing from Segovia.
We had some adventures, including backing out of a toll gate on the highway. It seemed like an underutilized highway – there were literally no other cars. It felt like we had rented the entire highway. Like becoming the king of an oil-rich nation. Honestly, it was a bit scary.
Toledo is about 70km southwest of Madrid, so it’s about an hour’s drive from Madrid. Since we started from Segovia, we planned for 1.5 to 2 hours.
The sun was already setting… Would we reach the scenic overlook before sunset…? Just then:
An enormous flock of birds appeared. It was captured on our GoPro too. We had it set up as a dashcam, so unfortunately it’s not in 4K quality, but this spectacular moment was recorded.
Why only a photo and not a gif? Converting to gif creates issues with file size and quality, and uploading to YouTube – well, I’m not quite ready for that yet.
If YouTube becomes available soon, I plan to replace this photo with the actual video. May this blog grow and flourish.
We arrived in Toledo but got a bit lost because I misread the navigation. You need to go up the hills outside Toledo to reach the scenic overlook, but we mistakenly entered the city center and had to circle back. This meant we crossed Toledo’s famous San Martín bridge twice – one of Spain’s prides.
Actually, I didn’t know it was a famous bridge when we passed through. I only discovered its fame while researching for this post. Anyway, I’m someone who visited this famous bridge twice. That’s me.
Though, it might not actually be that famous of a bridge.
As mentioned at the beginning, this is already a well-known photo spot for Koreans. I shot this with a DSLR, but since I wasn’t yet skilled with camera handling at the time, I unknowingly had digital crop mode activated. I wonder how it would have looked with a 16mm wide-angle shot. Despite this regret, we arrived before sunset to witness both the sunset and the dreamy purple sky during blue hour. Most importantly, the entire transition from sunset through blue hour to deep night was captured as a time-lapse on our GoPro.
This is one of my most cherished time-lapse videos.
If I ever get around to YouTube, I want to upload this as soon as possible and embed it in this post. Like, subscribe, and hit the notification bell!! Ding!!Ding!!!Ding!!!
4. In Closing
After this, we filmed until too late, keeping us out way too late, and sadly legend has it that we couldn’t explore Toledo’s city center. We did stop at a Burger King in the city center because there were no accessible restrooms near the scenic overlook. If you’ve seen Burger King, you’ve seen the whole city center, right?
All in all, starting with the morning when we couldn’t get our originally booked cheap rental car and ended up renting Korea’s pride KIA at double the price, we spent the entire day joyfully exploring around Madrid.
In the morning: Hey! We saw the Roman aqueduct, and hey! In the evening we went to Toledo, and hey! We saw the night view too, and hey!? We did everything!
The most memorable part was the roast suckling pig. If you’re planning a visit to Segovia, I absolutely insist you don’t miss this experience. I’m confident it will open new horizons in your taste palate. Don’t miss this golden opportunity to level up your taste buds by at least three levels.
5. Additional Tips
Car Rental Selection Tips Electric vehicles are great for their eco-friendliness and cutting-edge technology, but hybrid or gas cars might be more practical when traveling with a navigation system. Charging infrastructure worldwide isn’t quite there yet, and for us simple folks, hybrid cars are pretty awesome.
Gas Stations If you rent a hybrid car, make sure to fill it up before returning it or you’ll face hefty fees in Madrid. If it’s a taxi-like hybrid, you can just go to any gas station in Spain and get it filled up. That’s what hybrids are for!
Restrooms For Segovia and Toledo, there aren’t many free public restrooms available. Even at Toledo’s scenic overlook, the facilities are quite basic. Free restrooms in the city center are also hard to find.
Meal Times Spain typically has lunch from 2-3 PM and dinner from 8-9 PM. It’s important to time your restaurant visits and breaks well, otherwise you might be left with just convenience store snacks and nothing much to do. You can eat earlier or later, but you won’t find anything fancy 😊
Weather When I visited in January, it was quite cold despite being Spain – from morning fog to afternoon sun to twilight chill – the temperature changes were significant. Even though it’s Spain, dress warmly and pack layers for winter visits.
Public Transportation Tips As mentioned earlier, if you’re using a rental car… the above tips are for the AVANT high-speed train to GUIORMAR station, then bus or taxi to Segovia city bus terminal to get to our destination. But honestly, wouldn’t a taxi be simpler than dealing with all that hassle?
That’s more detailed than necessary, so I’ll leave the rest to your judgment!