Experience the best of Segovia

Segovia stands on a rocky ridge above two rivers, about 1,000 metres high on the Castilian plateau, and its old town is listed by UNESCO along with the Roman aqueduct. The aqueduct, built in the first century AD, strides through the town on more than 160 granite arches, held together without mortar. At the ridge's western tip, the Alcázar rises like a ship's prow with slate-roofed turrets, and the cathedral, among the last great Gothic churches built in Spain, anchors the Plaza Mayor.

The twelve-sided Vera Cruz church lies outside the walls, and the old Jewish quarter and Romanesque churches fill the streets. Eleven kilometres away the palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso has formal gardens with fountains, and the medieval village of Pedraza lies to the north-east. The Sierra de Guadarrama mountains offer walking and skiing.

Roast suckling pig, cochinillo, so tender it is cut with the edge of a plate, is the signature dish, with judiones, large white beans stewed with pork, and ponche segoviano, a sponge-and-marzipan cake. White Verdejo wine from Rueda goes well with it. Winters are cold with snow, summers are hot and dry, and spring and autumn are gentle.