After a great nights sleep and a solid breakfast, it was time to hit the road. Instead of going directly to Madrid, we are going to Toledo first to see the city and then go on to Madrid. The last few days have had some respite from the heat wave but we are going right back into it today.
On the way to Toledo, we made a stop to see the town of Ávila. This medieval city has ancient Romanesque walls that surround it. It was a pretty view and straight out of an old movie. After this, we made a quick stop to get something I've been so excited to eat here: Churros con Chocolate. I've had a churros or two at breakfast and they were great, but having the thick chocolate drink to dip them in took it up a notch. It was waaay too rich of a drink to have on its own, but just perfect to add more flavor and texture to the delish churros. I'm sure I'll have it again in my next three days in Madrid because YOLO. Then it was back on the road again heading to Toledo. Once there, we made a quick stop for a wonderful panoramic view of the entire city and to be super corny, "Holy Toledo", it was pretty. Hardee-har-hat. I couldn't resist saying it at least once. Everything is so old and made of stone, it's up on a hill with the the Tagus River below and surrounding it.
We made another quick stop at a Damascene workshop. We watched a demo on how to make a sword from the metal and how to make jewelry by inlaying steel with gold, silver and copper thread. It is very detail-oriented work and frankly, looks like it would be boring to do over and over again as the craftsman. In the shop there they had all kinds of swords and knives which were awesome to pick up and kind of play (and pose) with. From there it was into the town square for lunch and I hate to admit it, but I caved and got McDonalds. I'm not going to lie, it was really good. The only time I ever allow myself to eat McDonalds is at an airport, but I had to make an exception since I've been needing some "American" food. When I was through eating, I walked around a bit and the highlight of my walk was finding the "American grocery store." It was stocked with all kind of goodies from the USA like nerds, twisters, Reese's. Duncan Hines cake mix, Cheerios, JIF peanut butter (as well as Peanut Butter and Company), pop chips, and soooo much more. I wonder if there is a large American population in Toledo that buys goods there. I didn't think there was, but who knows. I could have bought everything there, but controlled myself!
After exploring a bit it was time for a tour of the Cathedral of Toledo. Yup, another cathedral. At this point in the day, with Micky D's sitting in my stomach and triple digits temps again, I wasn't feeling it at all. The tour guide was actually quite good with a solid mix of humor and information but I was just zonked a bit. This cathedral was the 11th largest in the world and of course was enormous with gothic architecture in the columns and arches and beautiful stained glass. We were taken into the dressing room with its painted ceiling (done by an Italian artist) and a giant Greco painting. We will be seeing more Greco tomorrow at the Prado museum in Madrid, but before than, it was off to the Casa del Greco, Santa Tomé to see the most famous Greco painting, "The Burial of the Count of Orgaz" which shows his depiction of heaven and earth. I had barely ever heard of Greco before but he is super famous here in Spain for all his artwork and I am looking forward to seeing more of it tomorrow.
I was happy to head on the air conditioned bus to Madrid for my final Spanish city of this trip. I was really tired after those tours and was aching to get back on the bus. A little into the ride I fell asleep and next thing you know I wake up in front of the hotel in Madrid. Yes!! The hotel in Madrid is very centrally located; it's legit across the street from the Prado museum which I am visiting tomorrow with a tour guide. I really enjoyed the Louvre in Paris with a guide because he just showed the important stuff so I am looking forward to this tour and hopefully it will be in a similar manner. Anyway, once I got settled, I got my map of the city and headed out on my way. I wanted to go right to Plaza Mayor so I made my way there. Right away, I just loved the vibe of this city. Maybe it was the urbanism of it or the reminder of America (there was even a Steak and Shake), but I felt like I was back in New York. My cousin lived in Madrid when she studied abroad in college and loved it, and within my first ten minutes of walking around, I could easily see why.
I walked past the Puerto deal Sol to the Plaza Mayor and admired its beauty minus the very large crain in the middle of it. Then I just kind of wandered around a bit before heading back to the hotel for dinner. Dinner was mediocre with pumpkin soup and fish and potatoes. And lots of bread. I left with another girl before dessert to walk around the city a bit. There is quite a similarity here as in New York with the Nigerians selling counterfeit bags, beats, and even Nikes on the street. And as soon as they see the cops, they scoop it up and walk away. I thought it was so funny how almost identical this was to NYC. And for the record, I did take a peak at the Nikes from a far. I was tempted. Naturally. On the walk, we continued back to Plaza Mayor then saw an awesome food market, Mercado de San Miguel and went inside and totally regretted our decision of eating dinner at the hotel. Everything looked amazing and the place was jumping. We then made our way to the Royal Palace and yet another cathedral. I have a tour of the Palace tomorrow and my last cathedral and then will check out more of the city in my free time. My cousin gave me some recs of places I hope to see.
I watched the sunset over the Palace as well as some guys playing a game on segways. I named it Segway-Croquet-Hockey and it was fun to watch. Before I left I asked them what it was called and they said they were on the national Segway Polo team and the games are sponsored by Steve Wosniak of Apple. I have yet to verify their story but Wos is kind of a weird dude so maybe it is true!
We made our way back to the hotel by 10:45 and by then it was time to get stuff ready for my Madrid run tomorrow and the full day ahead. I'm pretty pumped to see more of Madrid tomorrow and see more of what seems like another awesome city.
No comments:
Post a Comment