Toledo

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Geo: 40.042, -3.59986

On Sunday, by 8pm you would not have believed we were on the same campsite. One by one pitches emptied and a quiet hush descended on the place, so a good night's sleep was at last a promising possibility. Unfortunately, the barking dog behind us is still here and judging by the way the pitch is set up they are here for the long-haul.

We set the alarm for Monday morning so as to get an early start to visit Toledo (25 miles away) which had been highly recommended by a number of people and before 9am we were on the road driving across the dry, arid landscape. Parking in the city is tricky, but one suggestion was to seek out the underground car parks which have escalators nearby cut into the rock face to transport people up and down the steep hill on which the city is constructed, so that's what we did, and at the top of the flight of escalators we found the tourist info office to obtain a map including our places of interest.

First stop was the cathedral which, once inside, is quite unlike any other we have visited being a wealth of artistic styles and creativity - such a riot of detail that you are constantly craning your neck to look up at carvings, paintings or stained glass. There is a charge for entry but it does include an audio guide providing some interesting background information along the route - flash photography is not permitted so no pics, I'm afraid, except for the exterior ones.

The city is famous for its connection with the artist El Greco, so again with my school days and History of Art studies in mind, I was keen to see some of his works firsthand and the cathedral has quite a collection - some I recognised. We also went to the Santo Tome district where next to the small church is a separate gallery housing just one of his works and reputed to be one of his finest - 'Burial of the Count of Orgaz'. It attracted a great deal of attention from several tour groups, and we queued briefly to get in but once inside we didn't consider it worth the entry charge. An audio guide or an explanatory leaflet about the complex painting might have helped us appreciate it more as it does contain a lot of detail.

With nothing else on our list we took to browsing and strolling the narrow, cobbled streets. Many shops are clearly geared to the tourist market, selling various items for which Toledo is famous such as swords, and the intricate gold and black decorative metalwork. We succumbed and bought some of the local wine, marzipan delicacies and sheep's cheese, before taking the tourist train ride which took us on a route outside the city from a different angle, appreciating the various influences on its development.

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