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Published: January 25th 2009
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Atocha Train Station
Not your typical train station. Today I took a day trip to the city of Toledo. Most of us in the program wanted to go before we started getting busier and so some of us took the train at 10:50 and others at 12:20. I made it to the train station in time for the 10:50 but due to a miscommunication with the first group I ended up missing it. It was ok because then I hung out with Ari, Sezen, and Jarrad who had also arrived late. We bought our tickets for the second train and then hung out in the Atocha train station, which apparently has a tropical rain forest display in the center.
The train was only 30 minutes long and a little under 10 Euros each way. It's amazing how as soon as we left the city today going to Toledo and yesterday going to Escorial that the outskirts quickly turn into wide open farmland and hills. When we got there, we saw Tom and Ellis at the station. All 6 of us took taxis to the top of the hill to Alcázar, which is a famous fort most recently used during the Spanish Civil War. Renovations were supposed to be
completed by last May according to Ellis' guidebook but in true Spanish fashion, they were running behind schedule. Since we were up high we got some great pictures of the city out of it though.
Toledo is a great walking city and so we just wandered around to the highlighted destinations. I went with Tom and Ellis to a cloistered monetary which we toured. We stopped for some lunch at a cafe and I had eggs over fried potatoes which was excellent. The plate came with seven different sauces! Afterwards we met up with Mark to a Catholic church where El Greco's most famous painting, The Burial of the Count of Orgaz. It was beautiful. Then we went to a museum about the use of torture in Spanish history. Some of the contraptions were terrifying! I actually learned more there about the Spanish Inquisition there than anywhere else because it explained the process people underwent and the collaboration between the church and state.
Afterwards we went to the Santa Iglesia Catedral Primada, the famous cathedral in Toledo. I went in with only Ellis because it was 7 Euros (Toledo was surprisingly expensive- everything cost a few Euros here
and there but it all added up). Almost immediately we decided it was worth the money. It was very impressive! We weren't permitted to take photos but Ellis snapped a quick one of the amazing display behind the altar. The cathedral also had a collection of priceless gold and bejeweled religious items which made me feel like I was at the Vatican!
Unfortunately, I did not get to tour the well known mosque and synagogue in Toledo which I wanted to see because the city is known for having all three religious populations coexisting. Since it was a Sunday, things closed earlier than normal. Before we took the bus back from the main square to the train station I got a 2 Euro chocolate sundae from a nearby McDonald's-my family's treasured snack while we're on the road during vacations!
I was supposed to go to mass at the church near my house but we took the 6:30 renfe home and I didn't have enough time to go all the way back. Instead I traveled a few metro stops to the Almudena Cathedral, which I saw during our Old Madrid tour. I was a little late but was glad
I made it. Again, during communion people just kind of wandered up. Most people never even went and I didn't go because no one in my section went, thinking the Eucharistic Minister was going to come to our section separately. Apparently just no one wanted to go and so I felt a little silly after that but now I know to just go up whenever I want.
For dinner Patricia made tomatoes with salt, olive oil, and vinegar (I can't wait to make that at home!), mashed potatoes with marinara sauce on top, and some kind of chicken thing. She said it was chicken anyway, but it was cut in slabs and kind of grainy. It definitely looked like tuna. I ended up eating it all anyway even though it was the first thing she'd made that I haven't particularly loved since Carmela told us to always eat what we're served. I can't say the same for the salami sandwich she packed me for lunch, though.
During dinner we had an interesting conversation about religion again, since I was confused about fewer people taking communion here in Spain. We also talked about the Jews in Spain. I learned
that during Spain's neutrality during WWII, Franco admitted Jews who wanted to immigrate to Spain escape Hitler. She said she knows she probably has Jewish ancestors on both sides of her family like many Catholic Spaniards. Patricia said one of the families she lived with in the US was Jewish and she was surprised how much they had in common. She said she dated a Jewish boy for a while and her siblings used to call her "Judia" (the Jew) as a joke. I was laughing really hard because some of my friends jokingly call me the "resident Jew" at the Newman Center because I've taken classes on it for my religion minor and oftentimes get mistakenly called Jewish at GW. Then Patricia gave me a book called "Los Judios Españoles" which she bought in Toledo which is about the history of the Spanish Jews. I probably won't be able to understand much but maybe I'll peruse it once I have some free time.
Tomorrow we don't have school because it is the feast of the patron saint of students in Spain. Even though my university is public, we have off from class. Patricia explained there are about 12
or so national holidays when people get off from work, most of which are religiously based such as the Assumption, Immaculate Conception, Good Friday, and Feast of Santo Santiago/St. James who is the patron saint of Spain. At 10 am my program has a tour of the Spanish Senate.
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anonymous
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The church you and Ellis visited is unbelievable!! It looked amazing