Old Town

From the Plaza del Azoguejo, steps beside the aqueduct ascend to the upper town. From the top, a street to the right leads to the Plaza Colmenares on the east side of the old town. In this square is the church of San Juan de los Caballeros, once the place of burial of the leading families of Segovia, now deconsecrated and occupied by the Museo Zuloaga, with works by the painter Ignacio Zuloaga and the potter Daniel Zuloaga.

In the Plaza de San Pablo, a short distance west of Plaza Colmenares, are two fine noble mansions, the 14th Century Casa de Lozoya and the Palacio del Conde de Villares, once the seat of the Inquisition.

From the Plaza de San Pablo, Calle San Agustín leads to the Provincial Museum of Art (pictures, engravings), housed in the Casa del Hidalgo.

Calle Cervantes climbs steeply up from the aqueduct to the western part of the old town (alternatively, take the steps beside the aqueduct and turn left at the top) and the Casa de los Picos (so called after the faceted stones of the facade), the 15th century palace of Pedro López de Ayala.

From Casa de los Picos in Segovia, Calle Juan Bravo, lined by shops, bars and restaurants, leads to the picturesque little Plazuela de San Martín (on the right, above the street). In the center of the square is a fountain, with two figures of mermaids. From the steps up to the square, to the west, can be seen a house with a four-arched gallery between two larger houses. This was the birthplace of Juan Bravo, one of the leaders of the rising of the Comuneros. To the left is the massive Torreón de los Lozoya (16th century).

Northwest of San Martín is the Plaza Mayor, the lively center of the old town, with pavement cafes and a bandstand in the middle. On the north side is the plain Ayuntamiento (Town Hall; 17th C.), on the southeast side the church of San Miguel (by Gil de Hontañón, 1558), which has a fine high altar of 1572 and a number of tombs. Isabella the Catholic was proclaimed queen in this church.

North of the Plaza Mayor, in the slightly sloping Plaza de San Esteban, is the church of San Esteban with its tall tower, which consists of six segments relieved by arches and is topped by a steeple with a weathercock. Like most of Segovia's Romanesque churches, San Esteban has a loggia or atrium in which meetings of the guilds were held.

Close to the Palacio Episcopal is the Plaza de la Trinidad, with the Torre de Hércules and the church of La Trinidad.