SIDE TRIP TO TOLEDO

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Today I traveled to Toledo, west of Madrid. It is a nice side trip and the round trip bus fare was cheap. The town of Toledo is absolutely beautiful. It is situated in the rocky cliffs along the Rio Tajo. I toured the area by train originally, along the Carratera de Circunvalacion and then retraced the path along the Rio Tajo after visiting the Catedral, which was amazing as well and contained 20 El Greco paintings including the famous painting, The Spoliation. The weather was odd and rained a little, but did not rain and was sunny at the same time. It reminded me a lot of Ireland, only I my face looks sun-kissed after Toledo. I went by some of the original walls and remains of aqueducts and bathing buildings. The city also has Roman circus ruins and a model of El Greco’s home. I was amazed at how bloody some of the history of Toledo is and how some of the place names came from such things as the legend of a decapitated woman. In fact, the main plaza I visited, Zocodover, used to host inquisition bonfires and house the corpse of people who drowned in the Rio, like an ‘open-air’ morgue. The town has numerous gateways into the main center which are the original passageways. One of the gates, the Gate of Jews, was constructed with the gravestones from an Arab cemetery. Toledo has important religious history like this as well. The pictures speak for themselves; the town of Toledo is gorgeous and was worth the day trip. I am also quite happy to be back in Madrid, however and excited about tomorrow’s northern excursion.

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