Toledo

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!