Day 68: Toledo, Spain

Another fabulous day trip from Madrid and another day of amazing Spanish weather! We got a 12 noon bus to Toledo and got there 50 minutes later. At first we only had the very rough map in the guidebook, but luckily Frank has an infallible sense of direction so he got us successfully into the city walls.

The first interesting sight was the Iglesia Santiago Arrabal:




Here is the main gate of the city, called la Puerta Nueva de Bisagra:




Our favorite part of the city was its narrow, winding streets. There were garlands and flags decorating some of them - not sure why but the effect was very festive. I should note that Toledo is the only place in the world that my father has ever gotten lost, which says a lot. More than any specific sight, we just enjoyed wandering around the city and soaking up the atmosphere.








Here is a view from the city walls out into the surrounding countryside:




Some gorgeous hydrangeas in someone's window:




This is the Church of San Juan de los Reyes, which, for some reason, is decorated with the chains worn by Christian prisoners from Granada released on the reconquest of their city. The church was originally a Franciscan convent founded by the "Catholic Kings", Fernando and Isabel, to celebrate their victory at the battle of Toro.




Here is a closer view of the chains:




This is the exterior of Toledo's cathedral, which is also beautiful inside but we weren't allowed to take pictures. We also visited the church of Santo Tome to see El Greco's "The Burial of the Count of Orgaz" - which was stunning - but we couldn't take pictures of that either. In fact, most of the sights were either closed for renovation (the Alcazar) or for the day (El Greco museum) or we got to visit but couldn't take pictures (cathedral and the synagogue Santa Maria la Blanca). However, you can take my word for it that the city is beautiful, and as I said, we enjoyed wandering the streets more than any particular building or museum.




The Alcazar (fortress) of Toledo is undergoing renovations, and although there has been a fortress in that spot for centuries, after numerous fires and attacks almost nothing remains of the original. Here is what it looks like from the outside:




We went to the Museo de Santa Cruz expressly to see some El Greco's but it turned out that the paintings were in another exhibit up the street at the El Greco Museum and that was closed because it was Monday. Although we were disappointed (ok, I was disappointed), we did get to enjoy the beautiful interior patio with its fountain.




After one last view of the main plaza, la Plaza de Zocodover, and an ice cream for the walk, we made our way back down to the bus terminal and back to Madrid.




If the day wasn't great enough, I was able to meet up with my favorite Madrid friend - Carolina - who met us at a fabulous restaurant for the appropriately late Spanish dinner (we met her at 9:30 and didn't leave till about 12:15). It was so good to see her - it's been about 3 or 4 years - and I finally got to practice my Spanish for a few hours. Frank was a very good sport and let us babble on mostly in Spanish the whole time and he actually understood a lot of what was said!

Tomorrow is our last full day in Madrid before we leave my favorite city in the world and head out on our Spain road trip. I can't believe how fast it's going!

ILM