Day 3 - Toledo!

So I have a story to tell and it begins and ends with the same two words---HOLY TOLEDO! I now understand the meaning of that phrase in more ways than one. (And I'm not talkin' Ohio here, either.) Let's begin.

Holy Toledo, we slept until 830am and the train we want to take for Toledo leaves at 1020am---haven't showered and gotten ready, haven't eaten breakfast, haven't downloaded pics to our home computer from day before, haven't grabbed our day packs and hit the Metro to ride to the Atoche Renfe train station, haven't bought tickets---probably not going to make it at that time. We gave it our best shot and skipped breakfast at the hotel with two granola bars in our packs instead. . .but we made it to the station after 10am and it soon became apparent that we would be taking the 1220pm train instead. So, first we ate some more food at a cafe in the station. Then we went to buy the tickets and found out we had to take a ticket to buy a ticket! Holy Toledo, we were number 574 and they were at about 537! We seriously questioned whether we would make the 1220pm train. . .

. . .but we did indeed make the 1220pm with a few minutes to spare (it took a little less than an hour to have our number called to purchase the ticket!) Above you see the train station in Madrid, then in Toledo, then a bridge that crosses the Tajo River outside of Toledo (which I snapped a photo of from the bus that we took from the station to the main square in Toledo.)

So the best buy today was the 2 euros we spent on a Toledo map. We would've been toast without it. Oh, by the way, Toledo sits a top a hill. It is a city FULL of small winding cobblestone roads that go up, then down, then up, turn a corner, then down, then up, make a sharp left, climb stairs, and down, all the while changing street names. . .get the picture. In fact when we finally did find a place it was like high fives all around! Oh, it is truly one of the most unique and beautiful cities I have been in, but wow can you get lost. The map saved us, but without a compass and the ability to "rise above it all" to see where you are and get your bearings, let's just say I came up with a great business plan for renting GPS systems for Toledo tourists. Now add the little fact that they had an unusually high temperature today---up to 104 degrees---and you can say it with me this time, Holy Toledo! Luckily they do cover many of the streets with a long sheet to give shade as you will see in a picture below.

Just for proof on the temperature thing. This photo shows the celcius reading around 9:00pm as we were headed back to the station. It shows 36 celcius (times by 9, divide by 5, and add 32.) That is 98 degrees (yep, 98 at 9 pm!)

The other meaning of "Holy Toledo" may be the fact that it is so stunning, that the cathedral took almost three hundred years to build and is one of the largest Catholic churches ever built, and that the Moors (think Arab), the Jews and the Christians have all fought on this very hill for rights to the city (sort of sounds like the holy city of Jerusalem, huh?) Unfortunately I cannot show you all that we saw, mostly because we were not allowed to take pictures of El Greco's paintings in the churches, or the Santa Maria Blanca synogogue that has symbols of all three religions, or the inside of the Cathedral. Similar to the Sistine Chapel in Rome, those things will only be stored as memories. But here are some of the things I did take pics of:

Slow day in the fountain department---I only saw one. But here are a few things I ate:
Marzapan with yemas (a yolk like candy) inside, gazpacho (cold tomato and cucumber soup) and Croquettes stuffed with jamon (ham).

Time to rest our weary feet and say goodnight (and maybe one more, Holy Toledo, I'm tired.)