Toledo

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 20^th 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.

Food in Santiago, Madrid, and Toledo

So, I figured I’d cram food from Santiago, Madrid, and Toledo into one post, partly because they fit together nicely and two are fairly short, but mostly I’m ‘cause I’m a wee bit lazy.

Santiago

We only ate three real meals in Santiago. Dinner the first night was the fanciest and, true to form for me, the one I enjoyed the least. I got the roast lamb, which was so-so, but really dry and waaaay too much. Thought that was funny, as most meat in Spain moo’s (or baa’s or bleats) when you cut into it. Dessert (chestnuts cooked in chocolate with whipped cream) was excellent, though.

Lunch the next day was HYSTERICAL. The restaurant/bar we stopped at was managed, waited, bused, and cooked for by one Spanish man who didn’t speak a lick of English and didn’t have the time (or patience) to repeat himself. I asked him to repeat the options for the first plate, and he just patted me on the shoulder and said (in Spanish), “I bring you the soup. It’s good.” Then scurried off. He did the same thing for the second plate (grilled ham). Funniest part was later. I understand Spanish quite well when I’m not on the spot (i.e. it’s not being spoken to me), so when the table of tourists next to us was ordering, I heard him say, “I’ll bring you the ham. It’s good! I just ordered it for them (points at us) too!” Dessert was Santiago tart, which is like a slightly lemony, slightly nutty pound cake covered in powdered sugar.

Dinner that night was tasty, if somewhat hard to find. It turns out the ‘third holiest city on Earth’ kinda shuts down on Sundays, so we had trouble finding an open restaurant. We ended up just eating at the café in our B&B. Sean and I split an order of croquettes (one of my favorite things ever, by the way), and I got an order of morcello, Spanish sausage made from blood and rice).

Lunch at the train station the next day was basic, though special, ‘cause it was my first Iberian ham of the trip. I kinda had an addiction to that stuff last time I was in Spain.

Madrid

Dinner the first night in Madrid was…interesting. Asked our hostelier for a rec (which had worked PHENOMENALLY up til then) and he sent us to a strip of Indian restaurants nearby. Now, I love Indian food, but the Spanish don’t really like spices and ABHOR spiciness (‘spicy sauce’ in Spain means ‘tangy’ to someone from the States). You can’t really do Indian food that way. The curry was ‘meh’, not bad, but way too sweet. The wine also tasted like it was equal parts bad white wine and water.

Lunch the next two days was just bocadillos (sandwiches on crusty baguettes) at cafés en route to the art museums. Tasty, but nothing special. The dinners were both great, though. For my birthday, we went to an Asturian restaurant called Casa Lustra, that I’m convinced was trying to kill me. Got the Menu de la Casa, which was a pot of Asturian stew (chorizo sausage, pork fat, beans, and kale), grilled salmon, a half-bottle of wine, and a Asturian pastry (whose name I didn’t pick up). Quite tasty. Especially since Sean bought it for me =D

Next day was less tasty but more fun. We went to the Market de San Miguel and wandered around grabbing up tapas. Was a bit pricier than going to a restaurant, but it was a lot of fun just wandering around picking stuff that looked tasty. I got seafood paella (meh; he scooped some up and microwaved it), venison sausage (meh; microved again), tinto de verano (dry red wine mixed with lemon soda on ice; sounds weird, but is really tasty), a salmon and crab salad pintxo (tapa on toast; not bad), a pistachio cookie (om nom nom), and lemon gelato with chocolate chips (=D).

Toledo, we pretty much skipped food for whatever reason. Only thing we had to eat was some espresso and pastries at a bakery (which I think had its baked goods supplied by nuns in a convent), where Sean got a waffle with ice cream and I got a mazapan (no, not marzipan) cake. When we got back, we were kinda starving, so we went to a tapas bar called Lateral that the front desk recommended. Awful waiters (the guy said it was over an hour wait outside, without mentioning that the inside of the restaurant was empty), but great food. We got jamon croquettes, patatas bravas, stuffed peppers, and a pintxo that was essentially tuna salad on toast, except it was made with bonito instead of tuna, and had grilled asparagus on top. For dessert, I got “crepes castellanos con dulce de leche,” which is a fancy way of saying mini pancakes topped with caramel and whipped cream.

Don't know what my last meal in Madrid will be, but sammiches at the train station are a strong contender.