Last night for dinner I had a fried calamari sandwich. Our
tour guide had mentioned it before and the restaurant was famous for it. It was
really good and we got little beers too for a euro. Our guide said the dirtier
the ground is, the better the restaurant because the Spaniard just throw their
napkins and other things on the ground.
Today we left Madrid for Toledo. It was only an hour bus
ride, and it was nice to see some of Spain outside the city. None of the
apartment buildings look very pretty, and I never saw a single family home. One
thing I liked where these one trees. They were evergreens, but they are the
tree you would draw, a round ball at the top. They looked so perfect. Also on
the way we saw two different john deere signs and a john deere tractor, which
was funny. I’m not quite what they farm though. Once we got to Toledo, we got a
guide on our bus and we took a tour of the city. Toledo is surrounded by a
river on 3 sides and is very hilly. We went across this very old, very
beautiful bridge and up a big hill. From there we could see the entire city of
Toledo and it was breathe taking. Madrid was really interesting, but it those
five minutes in Toledo it was already much better! The air here too is much
more refreshing. We drove around the city
a little more and then got off for the walking portion of the tour. We crossed
another of the bridges and went to one of the old cathedrals. For a while
Toledo was the capital of the state, and Queen Isabelle and King Felipe went to
this cathedral. Remember what happened in 1492? Columbus sailed the ocean blue.
But also in that year Granada was taken over by the Spanish from the moors. On
one side of the church there are lots of chains hanging up symbolizing the
citizens that were freed from the moors. The inside was so pretty. There was a
courtyard with orange trees and other plants in the middle. All around the
courtyard were store carvings in the walls, like unicorns, a flying dog, a
human with a money head covered by a monk-ish shawl sitting on a toilet and
lots of others. I am not kidding about those!
They must have had great imaginations in the 1400s. Then there was also
the sanctuary part. There was a beautiful mural in the front and there were
lots of carving of the Toledo coat of arms, which consists of a two-headed
eagle. There was also a second story around the courtyard and it has a few
lions, and interesting patterns on the ceiling. It took 200 years to build the
whole thing and it was amazing.
Next we went to the synagogue from a long time ago. It as
used as a church for a while too, and now it is just open to the public. The
inside was very detailed and pretty. One of the coolest parts was just walking
through the cobblestone streets. We started off on a fairly wide street (well
for an old European town) and then went to narrower streets. We got to one that
I would say was probably 12 feet across at the max and I thought finally a
street cars can’t come down. Sure enough a moment later a car squeezes through
with only a couple of feet to spare. I would never want to drive around
here! We walked around a little and then
got to the big cathedral. It is huge and so detailed! It took 300 years to
build. They had the last supper scene above the huge arc entrance as well as
many other figures around the outside. One interesting thing I learned was
about these huge doors to the cathedral. There is a small doorknocker at the
level of a regular person and then there are two much bigger doorknockers above
reach. Those are for the people on horses. They are bigger because if they are
on horse they are more important.
We also went to a very tiny church that had a painting by El
Greco. It was made up of two halves. The bottom had a bunch of Spaniards in
black with white collars, two other people holding a dead man. Also featured in
El Greco’s son. Then the other half has an angle taking his soul to heaven,
which was light and showed more of the his Italian style, from where he was
born. It was a very big, very interesting painting.
One funny thing our guide was telling us was that when he
was learning English he always mixed up angry & hungry and chicken &
kitchen. He would go into restaurants, rub his stomach and say ‘I’m angry’ and
‘I want to eat the kitchen.’ He was very entertaining, so knowledgeable, and so
proud of his city!
For lunch we found this little restaurant off a little
street. We had the menu of the day and picked eggs with shrimp and mushrooms,
croquettes (which we like really creamy mashed potatoes with ham and cheese),
and I drank tinto de verano (which I believe is red wine with lemon lime soda).
It was all delicious! Lunch lasted for about an hour and a half, we enjoyed out
food, talked, and just relaxed (the European way). We strolled around a little
more and then it was time to see to meet the bus and return to the hotel. Right
not I’m back and watching the pregame show for the big Madrid Barcelona futból
game tonight. Tomorrow Sevilla plays Madrid, in Madrid. It’s too bad they weren’t
in Madrid when we were, but I’m sure I’ll get to one while I’m here!
Some different things about Spanish hotels
-To turn on the lights you have to put your keycard in a
certain slot. This ensures when you leave the room the lights are all off. How
smart & energy efficient.
-We have two twin beds right next to each other, kind of
strange.
-There is a phone in the bathroom. I have no idea why.
-The shower door isn’t much. There is one small pane of
glass that reaches less than half the length of the tub
Some different things about Spain in general
-the napkins are like tissue paper
-you have to ask for water and sometimes you have to buy it
-you have to ask for the check
-Surprisingly they drive on the same side of the road as us
Again the wifi is being very spotty, so I’m going to hold
off with the pictures. I’ll try and post them soon!
