Trip to Spain, Part 2: Toledo

On Tuesday, we were traveling to Toledo on a 12:20 train, so we got up and had a lazy breakfast at the hotel, then packed up and took the Metro to the train station.  The high speed train we were taking has a separate departure gate with security like an airport.  We were a bit early, and had to wait about 45 minutes to board.  The train was a AVE train, which travels at about 200 kph to Toledo.  I think it is capable of faster speeds than that, but the trip is only 30 minutes from getting on the train to getting off the train.

We took the taxi to the Hilton Buenavista Toledo, where Rasila and I had traded our timeshare to get 3 night each for us and Roger and Julia.  We checked in, then walked into the local neighborhood for lunch, which we found and enjoyed.  I had calamari, eggs, and French fries, Rasila had a delicious chicken.  We stopped at a supermercado and bought some water, juice, and wine on our way back to the hotel.  We split a bottle of wine before taking a taxi to the old city for dinner.  We ate at a recommended restaurant from Rick Steves’ book where we selected off the Menu Del Dia (menu of the day).   We took a cab back to the hotel where we had a drink on the patio overlooking the Tajo river before retiring.  When Rasila and I got into our room, we discovered a dessert tray!  It had an apricot pudding, 3 small chocolate mousses, and some dried fruit candies with a large bottle of water.  I think it was because of the Hilton membership, because Roger and Juila didn’t have one.

The next day (Wednesday), we ate breakfast at the hotel, which we didn’t do again since it was 21 euros each!  We ate up once we discovered the price.  We then walked to the old city, which had some Roman ruins on the way.  We head towards where we thought they were, but ended up at the Plaza de Toros (bullring) and Hospital Taverna instead.  The bullring had a concert that Friday starting at 10 PM, more evidence of the late nigh Spanish culture.  We walked by the Bisara gate and up the hill into the city.

We first toured the Cathedral, which was very impressive.  Rick Steves’ had a good self tour which pointed out some things we would have missed other wise, like the hats of the Cardinals rotting over their burial sites in the church and the seven deadly sins in one painting.  From there, we walked down to the Jewish end of town to check out the 2 synagogues.  The first, the Sinagoga de Maria de Blanca, was used by Napoleon as a stable in the 18 hundreds but is being restored.  The second is a Sephardic Museum as well.  It is called the Sinagoga Transito or Transit Synagogue.  It was built by Muslim workers under Catholic permission.  We tried to then visit one of the Mosques, but it was closed for siesta, so we had lunch at this wonderful pizzeria, where the wall was covered with awards from pizza competitions in Italy.  By the time we made it back to the mosque, it was closed for the day, so we went to the Plaza Zocodover and tried to take the Zoco Train, but it had just left.  We had a beer while deciding whether to leave and come back, when we decided we need to stay instead of making the trip.  We wandered by Alcazar looking for a back entrance to a restaurant we saw a sign for, but couldn’t find it, so we ended up walking back up the hill and going down the alleyway to it. It ended up being an excellent choice!  It was about 5 years old and had restored the building so you felt like you were dining outdoors in some ancient ruins.  Very cool atmosphere.  We took a card for Mark and Sabrina so we could send them there when they visit.  We took a cab back to the Hilton, where unfortunately, no dessert tray was awaiting us.

The next morning (Thursday), we decided to eat in town, so we walked to restaurant we had had lunch at, but they were not serving breakfast that day, so we continued walking until we found a café.  After some discussion in our poor Spanish, we ordered something grilled, which turned out to be a grilled croissant with butter and marmalade.  It was delicious!  We then walked up to the Roman Circus ruins, which were impressive.  I realized I had left my guidebook at breakfast, so I headed back and they had kept it for me.  We then took an escalator built into the hillside up to the city.  We stopped for another café before heading to the Victorio Macho museum, which also had the Greco paintings from El Greco’s house, which was being remodeled.  We then had lunch at a café, where we had a selection of tapas.  From there, we went to see the mosque we had missed previously.  We then decided to head back to the hotel for a siesta before dinner.  On the walk back, we went by another mosque which was being excavated and found our restaurant for dinner which was at the old Bisgara gate, called the Hostel del Cardenal.  After a quick nap, and a change of clothes, we took a cab back to the restaurant and dined elegantly in an outdoor patio seating with the gate rising above us.  It was a great atmosphere.  The house wine was a cabernet, which was unusual, and it was great.  We managed to catch a cab that was dropping someone else off as we were leaving and took it back to the hotel.

Tags: Espana, Toledo