Blogs from Toledo, Castile-La Mancha, Spain, Europe

We decided to take a few days to get away from the boat and see a city in Spain that we have not been to before (and there are a lot of them yet to discover). We picked Toledo even though it would take 3 train rides to get there, but found that the connecting times would be short and make for an easy trip. Toledo is one of the UNESCO World Heritage sites, so we knew already that there would be plenty of history to absorb. We started off with a short bus ride to the train station in Cartagena. We know we can walk there as we did that the day we bought the tickets, but with the heat decided it was definitely worth the 2.40 euro total for both of us to ride ... read more

Bonjour à tous, Je n'en connais pas la raison mais la nuit dernière plus un bruit, ni dans la rue, ni dans l'immeuble. Un miracle. Que la nuit à été bonne. Ce matin je retrouve ma voiture, je programme les visites, que je n'avaient pas faites hier, car trop excentrées. Les Arènes de las Ventas. Elles sont ornées des "azulejos" carreaux de faience décorés, peints avec les armoiries de toutes les provinces du pays. Construites en 1931, elles peuvent accueillir 23 798 personnes, et considérées parmi les plus grandes du monde. Le nombre de corridas, a considérablement augmentés, passant de 4 par an, au siècle dernier, et 30 aujourd'hui. Dans un autre style j'ai fait le détour pour avoir un aperçu du Stade Santiago Barnabeu. Sa capacité est de 81 044 places, et est la propriété ... read more

13 décembre 2017 : Il est l'heure de rentrer à,la maison. Sur le chemin du retour nous faisons étape à Tolède.... read more

The following day, we went to Toledo which was about an hour drive southwest of Madrid. Toledo is this old little town on a hill that is surrounded on three sides by water and the fourth side by walls. Due to its position, it was very easy to defend and was the capital of Spain for a long time. For many years it was home to three different religious groups all living in relative harmony - Christians, Jews and Muslims. Because of this harmonious living arrangement (granted, this didn’t last forever but prior to the late middle ages/early Renaissance), there are influences from all three groups. Apparently, many of the builders at the time were Muslim which meant that many of the buildings – religious buildings included, were in the a more Arabic/Moorish style. These tended ... read more

Up early and off to Madrid to return our home exchange partners' vehicle and pick up a rental car. Even with gps it was a bit trying getting around and out of Madrid. Once out of the city we enjoyed a one hour drive south to Toledo. Our boutique hotel was located in the old city on one of the narrow winding streets, so we parked in a local parkade. The parkade was a ten minute walk uphill on narrow cobblestone streets in 38c heat!! We were very happy to get into our air conditioned one bedroom apartment. After a short rest, we went out and wandered the maze of narrow streets. It is easy (and fun) to get lost here. By arriving later in the day, we seemed to miss most of the big tour ... read more