Spain Day 2 - Segovia here we come!

We arrived in Madrid early Tuesday; retrieved our luggage from a different carousel than we were originally directed to and then met up with Mitch and Sharpie.

Pleasantries were exchanged, caffeine consumed and we picked up our very banged up van and got on the road to Segovia. I was a bit delirious but volunteered for the 'hot seat' (aka co-pilot/map navigator/dj role in the front seat) simply to get it over with!

Segovia is a wonderful combination of Seina meets Bologna with narrow, winding, hilly one way streets that are a bit difficult to navigate in a small European car never mind in a van! Kudos to Mitch for driving! We checked into our hotel, dropped off the car, our bags and a sleepy Mr. RRR and headed to town.

First stop was Jose Maria, a restaurant famous for its Castilian fare and cochinillo, better known as roast suckling pig!

And almost as impressive as the 21 day old pig served tableside was how Jose Maria himself wheeled the pig into the dining room and then proceeded to quarter the pork using the side of a plate in lieu of a knife.

A woman seated next to us had motioned for us to snap a photo as Jose entered the dining room, however, I was a bit taken by surprise by the petite chef's butchering methods. So much so that I jumped and missed the photo by a good second and a half!

Being a lover of all things swine, I did not expect the flavor explosion that happened when I had the cochinillo. The skin was crisp without being crunchy and was quite tasty.

The thin layer of glistening fat was a subtle addition to the overall excellence of the dish and the stringy tender pork was hands down

the best pork I've ever had! And the best part (besides the porcelain skills of Jose) was the extra bit of au jus gently spooned over the pork by our server. HEAVEN!

Other delightful dishes to note were RRR's monkfish with asparagus, Sharpie's gazpacho (one of many gazpacho's to come), Mitch's Iberian ham with crusty tomato enhanced bread and Sharpie's melon soup with ham. Yes, she (unintentionally) ordered soup followed by soup.

NOTE: She will have more success with the menu translations as the trip progresses...

After lunch and a bit more wandering , we ventured to the Catedral de Segovia, one of the last Gothic cathedrals built in Spain. We lit a candle for our parents and marveled at the beauty of the church.

We walked for a bit more and decided not to hit the Segovia must see tourist attraction, the Alcazar - I knew I was going to be too exhausted to appreciate it!

Instead, we headed back to the hotel and enjoyed some of the best sangria of the trip on the patio of our hotel. I started to enjoy the lounge chair a bit more and eventually headed to bed a bit earlier than the group.

Of course I was wide awake at 4am and ready to tackle day 3!