Toledo

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Toledo

We are beginning our last full day today. It will be another hot one, 108F! What may save us however is the cloud cover and the very low humidity.

Today we drive to Toledo, the former capitol city of all Espana. Toledo was the seat of power until 1650’s when the capitol was moved to Madrid. Toledo of old is beautiful. Close to the origin of the Tagus, the same river that flows all the way to Lisbon, Toledo was a fortified city built on a hill and surrounded by walls.

The city was very defensible, with a river on one side, a mountain on the other and 25 foot walls all around. The city is still home to 70,000 people who live and work within the ancient walls.

Toledo is noted to hand tooled jewelry and of course Toledo Steel the finest steel in all of medieval history. It is still considered today blades of the highest quality. The jewelry is all hand worked in patterns of gold and silver using the same techniques of 500 years ago.

We visited the cathedral and saw works of El Greco everywhere. He was one of Leonardo’s students and due to a physical infirmity; he painted in dark colors and macabre scenes. He was never a favorite with neither the ruling families nor the church as his paintings were too dark. Of course after his death he was recognized as a master and now his paintings are worth millions.

We left the town proper and visited a shop where they made swords and jewelry according to tradition. The swords are beautiful and most are dull bladed in keeping with the laws against selling sharpened swords, making these only for decoration. Rick was tempted several times but they just did not have the perfect sword so he did not buy one. I honestly thought he would as I know he likes sharp objects.

We convinced Bozo, our tour guide that we needed more time in Toledo to shop and he promptly complied giving us some more time to shop and dine. We found a sandwich shop in the town square and dined on the run. Rick did buy a small sward in one of the town stores so he finally got a sharp object to take home.

All too soon it was time to return to Madrid and our hotel for some much needed rest. The temperature remained over 100 all day in Toledo and we were more than a little hot and looked forward to a shower and a nap. It was not to be.

Our hotel was a NovoTel, a high quality chain. The hotel was well kept and clean but water was an issue. It seems that some pipes broke somewhere in the hotel and many of the rooms were out of water, ours being among the unlucky ones. Well at least is cool on the room so we took a nap with hopes the water would return before we left for our farewell dinner.

The water fortunately came back on about 5PM so we were able to shower and dress for dinner back in Madrid. As this was an optional dinner not all of the travelers decided to come so we bid good bye to some whom we did not think we would see again and headed off once more to the bus.

Dinner was in a restaurant from 1953 in a home built in 1850. The restaurant was quite small and we took up almost all the tables. This was a bit of a special dinner with free flowing wine and opera singers as entertainment.

We dined on goose liver pate, duck or steak or lamb, and fruits, ice cream or cheese cake for dessert. The food, the wine and the music was wonderful but this too came all too soon to an end.

Tonight was also the night of the big Spain vs. Portugal semi final soccer match. This is an all time rival game. Our bus driver was from Portugal and our tour director from Spain so we were all interested in the outcome.

During a break in the dinner, I went outside to find a bar and see the current score. Luckily there was a bar next door, unfortunately it was a gay bar! I of course did not know this until I went inside and tried to get the score. It was half time and the score was 0:0. I left quickly, not without a few raised eye brows and returned to my family and the rest of the meal.

By the time we left dinner for the short ride to the hotel the score remained 0:0. When we got to the hotel the lobby TV was the main attraction with an excited group watching the game and cheering when something exciting was happening. Unfortunately after two 15 minute overtimes the score was still 0:0. This now called for goal kicks to determine the outcome.

Unfortunately for Portugal, they missed one goal too many and Spain will go on to meet the winner of tonight’s game between Italy and Germany. I was told that Portugal was now rooting for Italy.

We said our goodbyes again and headed off to our room to pack and get ready for the journey home. The trip was over but the memories will remain forever.

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Photos

Toledo
Main Medieval gate

Toledo
Panoramic View

Toledo
Panoramic View

Toledo
Cathedral Bell Tower

Toledo
Cathedral Front doors

Toledo
Cathedral Interior

Toledo
Bishops Tombs

Toledo
Jewelry Craftsman