Day Trip to Toledo

Hi everyone!

For my second post, I'll be sharing my adventure to Toledo, a historic city about an hour from Madrid. Here are a few facts in case anyone is interested in history: it was the capital of the Visogothic kingdom many years ago, specializes in sword making, and is known as the "City of the Three Cultures" because of the influences of Christian, Jewish, and Muslim culture over the years.

I met my new fellow Au Pair friend, Jessica, in Madrid's centre bright and early, as neither of us were completely sure how to get to the bus station. Together we successfully figured out the metro and easily arrived to our bus. We were able to ride the bus for free with our metro cards, so that was certainly a plus!

After a short bus ride, we arrived to the bus station in Toledo. We had made no plans for the day and were excited to just wander around and see the sights. 

It took a bit of googling to figure out how to get to the centre of Toledo, where all the action is. We soon figured out that the town is basically perched on top of a hill. We tried to wait for a bus to take us, but ended up taking lots of escalators to reach the high point of the city (thank goodness they weren't stairs!) 

We started off by going to the main square, Plaza de Zocodover, and got a pastry and coffee to start the day. Without any direction in mind, we aimlessly walked around until we found something interesting. The first building we found was a library, so we decided to check it out. We started on the top floor and were able to see where we were in the city, and picked out a few buildings to check out later. There were also tons of old preserved books to look at. 

Afterwards, we headed out of the building and ended up finding one of the city's main attractions, the cathedral. I was in awe of the beauty of the huge building. The beautiful stained glass ceilings, architecture, and gold detailing made it a highlight of the day for me. 

Next, we stumbled upon a rooftop garden of sorts that provided great views of the city. 

There is a river that splits the city in two, so we headed to the bridge to check out the views next. 

The bridge is high above the water and gives a great spot to look at some of the old castle-like buildings. Next on the agenda was lunch, and after a very small and overpriced pizza (and who knew water could be so expensive!), we decided to be true tourists and go to McDonald's to try a new ice cream flavour. 

We hiked up steep hills and down cobblestone streets, sometimes finding ourselves completely alone among the residential areas. We always found our way back to touristy crowded streets full of shops with lots of souvenirs (mostly swords) for sale, bakeries, and unique art stores/museums. Eventually, we found the Synagogue of Santa Maria La Blanca to enter and look at, which was beautiful. 

 

More wandering around, getting lost, and seeing beautiful historic buildings was in store for the rest of the day. We were exhausted and headed home around 6:00 p.m, making for a full day in Toledo!

To recap, Toledo is a great place packed with culture and castles, and lots and lots of stairs and hills. It was very cool to see such an old place still intact. It was a great day filled with lots of walking (around 25,000 steps according to my phone), and exploring with my new friend!