Olé, Toledo!
Today's day trip was to Toledo. Bel had school, so it was just Ange and I. We took the train to Toledo -- it was a fast trip, about half an hour. When we got out of Toledo's train station, we decided to walk to the city center. Bel told us it would be far - about half an hour or so - but we didn't realize we had to walk uphill. It was a tiring trip, but the view along the way was nice. You could see a lot of the residential and commercial areas from up.
Toledo is gorgeous; it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was one of the former capitals of Spain and it's a melting pot of three religions: Christianity, Islam, and Jewish. All over Toledo you can find traces of these three cultures.
When we finally reached the city-center-ish, we stopped and sat to take a rest. Then we decided to go to the Cathedral first.
After having been to Venice and surprisingly not getting lost, I thought Toledo would be easy to navigate. It wasn't. It was partly our map and partly that it was just so confusing! It took us awhile to find the cathedral.
The cathedral is gorgeous. I liked it much better than the one in Segovia. We went inside, looked around, etc. I thought it was a shame that you couldn't admire the cathedral because there was no plaza in front of it. The roads were narrow and there were buildings all around the cathedral. But when we exited and turned to the right, lo and behold there was the plaza. We got a beautiful shot of the cathedral.
After the cathedral we went to look for the Iglesia de Santo Tome. Before I continue let me tell you (if you haven't figured it out yet) that Toledo is a very very hilly city. We went up and down and left and right and finally just stopped and asked for directions. We ended up at a place we had already passed, but soon found it. Santo Tome is a famous church in Toledo because it was built specifically to house El Greco's "Burial of Count Orgaz". It was actually really interesting but I think Ange and I were too tired at this point.
I then wanted to see the Mezquita of Cristo de la Luz. (In Toledo, you're 'supposed' to see the Cathedral (Christianity), the Mezquita (Muslim), and the Sinagoga (Jewish). We followed the signs to the Mezquita and walked in that direction. Instead of stopping for lunch we bought sandwiches (a tortilla de patata sandwich for me!) and ate on the way. Well, we got lost. Very lost. We were just walking aimlessly for a bit and when we finally found out where we were, we realized we were walking in the opposite direction. We turned and tried to go another direction but ended up back in Santo Tome. We weren't too disappointed as Toledo was impossible for us to navigate. But we just decided to head back to the train station since we didn't have much time left.
Toledo is a lovely city, but I don't think I'll be heading back too soon. It's probably best to go with someone familiar with the city. And wear good walking shoes! I wasn't aware of how hilly Toledo was. And the roads were made of cobblestone too! Walking downill on a cobblestone roads in ballet flats is not easy on the feet.
So we took the train back to Madrid and met up with Bel. We then decided to go to the mall. (Don't worry, Mama. We won't shop a lot. We're only planning to shop in two cities - Madrid and Barcelona.) The mall had all the stores which made it so much easier to shop. It had Primark too (a brand we "discovered" in London on our last Eurotrip which is unbelievably cheap). We shopped for awhile then headed back to Madrid to catch the second half of the Barça-Madrid Champions League game.
On our way home, we stopped to get some kebabs for dinner. (Here in Spain, they call shawarmas, kebabs. Weird, but it was yummy.) We just decided to watch the game on tv at the apartment. It's not exactly safe for me (a Barcelona fan) to watch in a bar in Madrid. Unless the bar is neutral. We drew, but Barça advances to the finals! :-) Perfect way to end the day, I'd say.
Then Ange and I showered and packed our bags because they next day we were off to Lisbon!
Toledo is gorgeous; it's a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was one of the former capitals of Spain and it's a melting pot of three religions: Christianity, Islam, and Jewish. All over Toledo you can find traces of these three cultures.
When we finally reached the city-center-ish, we stopped and sat to take a rest. Then we decided to go to the Cathedral first.
After having been to Venice and surprisingly not getting lost, I thought Toledo would be easy to navigate. It wasn't. It was partly our map and partly that it was just so confusing! It took us awhile to find the cathedral.
The cathedral is gorgeous. I liked it much better than the one in Segovia. We went inside, looked around, etc. I thought it was a shame that you couldn't admire the cathedral because there was no plaza in front of it. The roads were narrow and there were buildings all around the cathedral. But when we exited and turned to the right, lo and behold there was the plaza. We got a beautiful shot of the cathedral.
After the cathedral we went to look for the Iglesia de Santo Tome. Before I continue let me tell you (if you haven't figured it out yet) that Toledo is a very very hilly city. We went up and down and left and right and finally just stopped and asked for directions. We ended up at a place we had already passed, but soon found it. Santo Tome is a famous church in Toledo because it was built specifically to house El Greco's "Burial of Count Orgaz". It was actually really interesting but I think Ange and I were too tired at this point.
I then wanted to see the Mezquita of Cristo de la Luz. (In Toledo, you're 'supposed' to see the Cathedral (Christianity), the Mezquita (Muslim), and the Sinagoga (Jewish). We followed the signs to the Mezquita and walked in that direction. Instead of stopping for lunch we bought sandwiches (a tortilla de patata sandwich for me!) and ate on the way. Well, we got lost. Very lost. We were just walking aimlessly for a bit and when we finally found out where we were, we realized we were walking in the opposite direction. We turned and tried to go another direction but ended up back in Santo Tome. We weren't too disappointed as Toledo was impossible for us to navigate. But we just decided to head back to the train station since we didn't have much time left.
Toledo is a lovely city, but I don't think I'll be heading back too soon. It's probably best to go with someone familiar with the city. And wear good walking shoes! I wasn't aware of how hilly Toledo was. And the roads were made of cobblestone too! Walking downill on a cobblestone roads in ballet flats is not easy on the feet.
So we took the train back to Madrid and met up with Bel. We then decided to go to the mall. (Don't worry, Mama. We won't shop a lot. We're only planning to shop in two cities - Madrid and Barcelona.) The mall had all the stores which made it so much easier to shop. It had Primark too (a brand we "discovered" in London on our last Eurotrip which is unbelievably cheap). We shopped for awhile then headed back to Madrid to catch the second half of the Barça-Madrid Champions League game.
On our way home, we stopped to get some kebabs for dinner. (Here in Spain, they call shawarmas, kebabs. Weird, but it was yummy.) We just decided to watch the game on tv at the apartment. It's not exactly safe for me (a Barcelona fan) to watch in a bar in Madrid. Unless the bar is neutral. We drew, but Barça advances to the finals! :-) Perfect way to end the day, I'd say.
Then Ange and I showered and packed our bags because they next day we were off to Lisbon!
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