Blogs from Toledo, Castile-La Mancha, Spain, Europe - page 20

After what seemed like a whole day of flight, accross the Atlantic, over Great Britain and parts of Western Europe, with an overlay in Munich, our plane touched down in Madrid, Spain at 1000pm/22:00 on October 6th. This is my first trip to Europe. First trip out the U.S. really. I have found comfort in learning that there are people in my group who have had the same worries and felt anxiety as I have. While I was still at home, everyone´s question was always, "When are you leaving?"..."Aren´t you excited?" My answer was often, "I´ll be excited when I get there." Well, now I´m here. And, yes, I am excited! The feeling of being here hadn't really hit me til today. We visitied Toledo, España´s first capital city. Madrid, in comparison to Toledo, is like ... read more

Toledo We took the train from Port Aventura to Madrid where we picked up the car in the train station. Some of you may have recieved the photo of us free falling on the newest ride at Port Aventura, it was pretty scary stuff, but fun! Navigating out of Madrid was a challenge, but we made it. Hope we find the train station in two weeks to drop off the car! Toledo is fabulous. We stayed at a bed and breakfast hotel on the outskirts of Toledo with a great view of the city. The shops were diverse and we managed to pick up some nice things here. The best thing was driving the mini through the tiny streets of the city and also around the circumnavigation road. We are off to Granada tomorrow.... read more

Just a short, comfortable one hour drive from Madrid to reach this impressive city of 3 cultures. I have to admit that I had my expectations of Toledo, having seen too many paintings of the Spanish city. Yet, I was still awed by its sheer beauty. This place shouldn't be missed, and should be in everybody's list to visit after Madrid. Through many narrow alleyways, we passed many houses with Moorish balconies. These 'extensions' served as 'peek out' places for Muslim women staying indoors and preferring not to be seen. I can just imagine them sneaking a look into the vibrant street scene in Toledo's narrow alleyways while fiddling with their worry beads. City of 3 Cultures The mixture of artistic styles speaks volumes on how Arabs, Christians and Jews once lived together in this former ... read more