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| Toledo |
Our last day in Castile (the autonomous region of Spain
where Madrid is) was spent in Toledo, a small town just South of Madrid.
Everyone always talks about how gorgeous it is, so we figured we’d give it a
try.
Getting there was pretty easy; we got to the train station 2
hours before we wanted to leave, grabbed a 20 euro round-trip ticket, and sat
around drinking coffee til the train left. It was only a half-hour trip, but
Sean and I both took cat naps for some reason.
Once we got there, it was about a quarter-mile walk to the
city, which was fine and totally doable. The quarter mile walk into the city
center, on the other hand, not so much. Toledo’s built on a hill, and the Moors
and early Spaniards weren’t fans of escalators apparently, as it was a bit of a
climb. Nothing bad, but it was a HOT day, so we were puffing a bit by the time
we got to the top.
On the way, though, we took a little time to admire the countryside and mountains surrounding Toledo. Toledo sits across a gorgeous river from a series of either tall, craggy hills, or short mountains (however you want to view them), and the bridges across the river are pretty enough in their own right.
Anyway, first stop was the Alcazar, a castle that had been
used as a military based by everyone from the Moors several centuries ago, to
the Republicans fighting the fascists in the 20th century. Today, it’s
a military museum explaining the history of the Spanish army. I wasn’t as
interested as I thought I would be (Swords, guns, and cannons: yay! History of
the army uniform: not so much). Sean loved it, though, so I let him finish and
I did what I do best: get lost.
I LOVE wandering around old cities and seeing what I find,
so I did that here. Toledo reminded me a lot of the ciutat vella in Barcelona.
Lots of narrow, windy roads which are just as likely to end in a dead end as in
a bright, open plaza. The city also had the genius idea of hanging sheets over the narrower roads, meaning it's really easy to duck out of the sun if you're so inclined. Anyway, I wandered for a while, then went to the Church
of the Jesuits, for the sole reason that it had a set of towers I could climb
to get a view of the city. Not the best panoramic view I’ve seen, but still
pretty.
After that, I met up with Sean again, and we wandered to the
Synagogue of St. Mary the White, which was having an art show centered around
the theme of strengthening bonds between Judaism and Christianity.
We went shopping for souvenirs after that. Toledo is famous
for two things: swords and damascene (steel which is engraved with gold or
silver, then baked so it turns a shiny black). Sean and I both considered
getting swords, then we backed down for two different reasons. Sean because he
realized it would forever brand him as a geek. Me because I realized I probably
wouldn’t find a genuine piece of Spanish cutlery after the third shop selling Lord of the Rings replicas. I did,
however, find a really nice piece of damascene that shows the city of Toledo
from across the river.
After that, we stopped at a café where all the desserts were
made by nuns. The café wasn’t staffed by them, however, unless habits have been
replaced by nose piercings and iPhones with pink cases. We then wandered the
city for a bit more, then headed back to the train station, stopping to take a
few more photos along the way.
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