January 6 is a public holiday in Spain. Even though already at January 5 a lot of places are already closed. Especially tourist ones. Thus I was struggling to find something still open (:

Fortunately I didn't have to go too far away: Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso was open and welcoming tourists.

It wasn't allowed to take pictures inside the palace (I never could understand the logic for such prohibitions). It was interesting there, but not interesting enough to take pictures.

It was literally freezing outside! I was wishing back the warm weather.

After the palace I returned to Segovia. Even a cathedral was closed. However I still was very happy to walk there.

Just a few people were on the streets, but the city was impatiently waiting for evening celebration.

There were a bit more people around aqueduct area and there was already a scene. However the construction was so huge, the scene didn't affect the photos at all :)

The blocks are giant. It's hard to imagine how the thing was built almost 2000 years ago. And it's still here!

It was quite chilly, however some children already enjoyed an ice cream (:

Parking is way too expensive! Thus you see cars parked insanely close to each other. Fortunately the hotel I stayed had a parking for me, however they ask 15 euro per night. It's still cheaper than a city parking. Almost any attractive for tourist town in Spain has issues with parking.

Someone just had 65th birthday party.

Spanish really love to put banners and congratulations ads to their houses.

Segovia city center is located on hills. A lot of buildings seem just 2 floors from the street, but really are 4 to 5 floor buildings. The secret is in "hidden" floors going down the hill. Like on the photo.
Due to height difference the fog might take over a city in a few minutes and then quickly disappear like nothing happened.

I started my way to main celebration event in a heavy fog, but it disappeared pretty quick.

There were a lot of people in city center. I had impression that most of them were locals.

The square was divided by a fest to a audience and actors parts. So people inside the action performed a kind of carnival walk. I saw multiple times people on different sides of fence smiled or even greeted each other like they are old friends or at least good neighbors. It's so cool when locals make something like that for locals.

Children were trying to get to the very fence border. At the end of carnival they were holding a bag to collect some sweets from carnival members (:

I discovered the most unpleasant surprise for the day right after the event. All those people were going to have some dinner in local restaurants. I tried about 10 places, but everything was fully booked. Nobody had a place at all.
Fortunately I got in a small talk with Lebanese guy, owner of a restaurant. He understood my situation and was able to find a small place for me if I make it quick enough. He told me that everything was busy due to celebration and it happens every year these days. People book weeks in advance. So tourists have to be careful and take care of it in advance. Otherwise you have a good chance to stay hungry. Shops are already closed.

After a good dinner it was fun to enjoy local events with locals. It wouldn't have been that fun if I was hungry :)