What cultural etiquette should I know for Segovia?

Segovia is a city of about 51,000 people, and it behaves like it. Walk into any shop on Calle Juan Bravo without a 'buenos días' and you'll feel the temperature drop. The greeting comes first, always, before you ask a price or pick up a menu. Among acquaintances, the standard dos besos applies. Two air kisses, right cheek first, barely touching. With someone you've never met in a formal context, a firm handshake and steady eye contact. Segovians tend to be more reserved than their Madrid neighbors 90 kilometers south. You'll notice it on Plaza Mayor, where conversation hums at a lower pitch than anything you'd hear on Madrid's Gran Vía. Don't mistake quiet for cold. A second meeting at the same café on Plaza Mayor usually brings a warmer greeting.

Meal timing trips up visitors from Northern Europe and North America. Lunch in Segovia runs from 2pm to 4pm. Restaurants near the Aqueduct on Plaza del Azoguejo and along Calle de Cervantes fill by 2:30pm on Saturdays. Dinner service rarely opens before 9pm, and 9:30pm is more typical. Show up at 7pm and you'll find locked doors or an empty room with the chairs still stacked. The cochinillo asado at Mesón de Cándido (Plaza del Azoguejo 5) is carved tableside with the edge of a ceramic plate, not a knife. The skin cracks audibly. The meat underneath is pale and tender, almost falling apart before the plate touches it. A cochinillo meal for two costs €50-70 at most sit-down places. Don't reach for bread before the eldest person at the table has started. Water and bread appear without asking, and both show up on the bill.

Segovia Cathedral, the last Gothic cathedral built in Spain (construction started in 1525), turns people away at the entrance for bare shoulders and shorts above the knee. This is enforced, not suggested. Carry a light scarf in your bag if you're visiting in summer when temperatures reach 30°C. The Monastery of Santa María del Parral, founded in 1447, follows the same rule, though the monks tend to be gentler about it since fewer tourists make the walk. Inside any church during a service, silence your phone and do not photograph. La Vera Cruz, the 12-sided Romanesque church visible from the Alcázar's north terrace, still holds masses where photography is banned outright. The Alcázar itself is less strict on dress, but the 152 stone steps up the Torre de Juan II are worn smooth and cold even in June. Closed-toe shoes with grip matter on that climb.

Tipping follows the broader Castilian norm. Service is built into the listed price at every restaurant. At a sit-down meal, leaving €1-2 in coins on the table is generous. At a bar counter where you've had a café con leche and a pincho de tortilla, rounding up to the nearest euro is enough. Taxi drivers expect nothing. The social error that draws the fastest reaction in Segovia is noise. The old quarter inside the city walls is residential. Families sleep above the restaurants on Calle Real. Raised voices echoing off granite walls at 11pm near Plaza de San Martín will earn a sharp '¡silencio!' from a balcony above. Never snap your fingers to summon a waiter. Raise your hand, or say 'perdona' when they pass your table.