Pamplona to Madrid to Toledo Spain (June 28-30, 2024)

To arrive in Toledo from Pamplona as we did, we had a stop in Madrid. It’s a very large station and took a while to find our connecting gate. It was managed.

Day 1:

Madrid train station
Toledo Train Station

I have to say what we can see of Toledo is magnificent, but certainly not for the frail or weak-legged! No matter where you walk there is a hill to climb,

Our first look at Toledo

Our walk from the train station to our hotel was of course uphill and absolutely amazing. We had no idea what each of the buildings were but there were so many impressive ones. We couldn’t wait to find out.

Almost to the hotel
Finally found our hotel, the Hotel Santa Isabel

We checked into our hotel and took a break. And then had to check out the town.

We took a small train ride around the entire town, including outskirts so we could get a better view of the city.

Our hotel had a rooftop patio with views of the cathedral and palace. We popped up there just as the lights were turning on. It was magical!

The cathedral
Alcázar de Toledo, a fortification touched by kings, Arabs, Romans and who know…

Day 2:

We decided to get up early and walk the path around the river to see what we could. It was a cool morning with a nice gentle breeze and perfect hiking weather.

Good morning Toledo!
The bridge
The Rio Tajo (river)
The path surrounding the city
Looking across to the highway that appears a little uneven…
The trail. We keep finding them!
A hand-pulled ferry
The steps leading us back into the city
The Monestary of San Juan de los Reyes showing the chains soldiers were hung with to honor them after they died in battle. Not quite sure how this went…
Carvings on trees
This carving is art
Roman or Moors perhaps?
Tracie
The trail continues
Puente de San Martin
The bridge
Big beautiful wooden door
An interesting building
A little dog barking at everyone who walked by disguised as a flower
Stepping into a doorway to give the vehicle room to pass
A cafe run by nuns who specialize in marzipan. The little nuns reminded me of my childhood days…
After our walk we went back to our hotel for breakfast. This was cheese toast with an egg and tomato jam. Not bad!

We then joined a walking tour. Toledo is an ancient city set on a hill. The capital of the region, it’s known for the medieval Arab, Jewish and Christian monuments in its walled old city. It was also the former home of painter El Greco. The Moorish Bisagra Gate and the Sol Gate, in Mudéjar style, open into the old quarter, where the Plaza de Zocodover is the main meeting place.

What was interesting about the architecture throughout the city is because of the reuse of building materials, often you can’t tell by looking which culture built which building.

Buildings like this reuse materials from buildings torn down as well as painting the stones to make them appear older than they are
This building was abandoned, in very bad shape and took over 30 years to reinforce and remodel
A photo of what shape it was in. Today it is used as Air BnB apartments
Underground tunnels which connect throughout the city. Every home and building has an underground but today they are blocked for privacy
Inside the tunnels
The Moor bricks. However even when you see these bricks on a building it doesn’t mean it was built by them

Tour over we were starving.

Tapas potatoes with bacon and cheese – what could be better?
A small item to note… both in France and now in Spain we love that the caps to disposable bottles are secured to the bottle. They will be recycled with the bottle instead of trashed or littered

We toured the cathedral and will later do a night time lumina thing. We are unclear as to what it actually is but it sounded interesting

This was a little strange and the most unusual piece of art I’ve ever seen. I’m not sure how i feel about it
Dragons
Massive doors
Gold in the walls

Now we have the night time tour. It was a light show of sorts outlining some of the primary walls in the cathedral and told the story of the building and rebuilding of the cathedral. It was in Spanish and we didn’t realize until too late that there were language ear devices so we could have understood. Oh well – we could figure out the story but it would have been nice to hear the whole thing. Lesson learned… always ask about the language!

We thought photos would be amazing. No filming allowed once the tour began
It was pretty…
Full darkness and lighting from our hotel. It gets dark so late here that we’re usually in bed!

The day is done. We are exhausted and will leave Toledo in the morning for Barcelona, our last stop. It’s so hard to believe that we’ve been in Europe for nearly a month. We have seen so much and are excited to finish in Barcelona.

#ToledoSpain2024

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