La Ruta de los Castillos

Geographically speaking, Segovia is situated in a fantastic locations for many different activities and the one we chose last week was a visit to several different castles.  We began the day by visiting a monastery at Santa María La Real de Nieva where we were shown how religious scenes were carved at the top of different posts to teach the local people of whom the majority were illiterate.  We continued on to a winery where we were shown the entire process of wine making from the growing of the grapes to the bottling and we were then allowed to sample several wines.  Continuing on we made our way to the Castle of Coca which is a perfectly restored castle we were allowed to tour.  Lunch followed in a town called Turegano  at El Zaguán where we dined on sopa casteallana (castillian soup), judiones de La Granja (Great White Northern Beans with local sausage) and finally cordero (lamb).  Bellies full some people walked up to the local castle and then we boarded the bus to head to Pedraza - an entirely walled in city.  A fantastic day!  
Here are more photos from each visit:
Santa María
Viñedos Nieva
Castillo de Coca
Turegano