´Wild Dogs´
Trip Start
Aug 27, 2001
1
3
14
Trip End
Dec 13, 2001
Toledo and Madrid,
Spain and Canary Islands
Saturday, September 1, 2001
Since our train mishap from the other day, we have learned from our mistakes and now take departure times a little more seriously. With out much trouble (except for me jumping on the train just as the doors were closing), we caught the train to Toledo yesterday. Fairly cheap (1400 pts/roundtrip). The train station was our first impression of how incredible Toledo would be. Though only constructed about 75 years ago, it was decked out in a Moorish facade. Very cool. We decided to trudge up to the Old City on foot rather than to take the cab. The old city is situated in the middle of Toledo and is well fortified with both a stream and wall surrounding it. The roads within seemed to always lead uphill and proved to be quite the formidable maze. Once we got to the centre of the Old City, we stumbled across something called the 'Imperial Train'. Sounds great, hey? Well, not really. With such a pompous name, it really wasn´t too impressive. It was a small tram that meandered around the city and spouted out some garbled info over the intercom. The one benefit was that we saw more than we could of on foot.
Once off the tram, that´s when the bizarre incidents began to emerge. As we sat down and cooled off in the shade, we noticed a black and white spotted dog emerge from nowhere. He immediately headed for the nearest flower bed. At first, he did the usual marking of his territory bit and then quickly he lost all inhibitions. He began tearing up the flower bed. Flowers were thrown all over the place, and it seemed after every time a flower came loose he would strike some smug pose.
Julia, Jordan, and Kristen in Toledo
With back foot completely extended and one front paw crooked,he would freeze for seconds and then continue on. We erupted into laughter with all others around us.The wild dog scenario didn´t end there. After leaving the plaza, we stumbled across three dogs: 2 German Shepards and 1 beagle-like dog. However, these weren´t your ordinary dogs. They were clearly the 'dog Mafia' of Toledo. They strode through the back roads as if they owned the place. With the German Shepards falling behind the beagle, you could easily tell who the kingpin was. Evidently they answered to nobody.
About an hour later, all these incidents culminated into one. We came across the same plaza, where we had seen the flower-hating dog, and, sure enough, there were all 4 dogs - together in the same plaza. It was a stand-off with the Mafia on one side and the rebel dog in and amongst the flowers. Well... the flower-dog just lost it and went bezerk. Barking up a storm, jumping in water fountains, and posing for the others, meant only one thing to these other dogs: he would not be tamed. So the Mafia slinked away in defeat.
For us this was clearly the hi-light of Toledo, but the architecture and the lay-out of the land was something else as well. I would highly recommend a day trip there. It´s fun to just lose yourself in the streets and be engulfed by the history of the place. Although we learned next to nothing on the 'Imperial Train', we gained so much by just venturing off on our own.
-Madrid-
Today was our last full day in Madrid and I can´t say we´re disappointed by this. Although it´s big and there´s so many streets to go down, we really haven´t found it too impressive. There really aren´t that many must-sees. Yes, there are the museums and the palace and what not, but that just didn´t interest us. Basically, we´re trying hard to find something to do in a day. Today consisted of us walking for a long time... sounds very similar to the other day doesn´t it? However, we´re very excited about going to Malaga tomorrow. It´s situated on the southern coast and we are very fortunate to be staying in a timeshare while we´re down there. Supposedly it has all the amenities, so we´re going to make good of it before we´re subjected to hostels again. Did I already mention that we´re very excited for this? Kristen and Jordan will be joining us for this leg of the journey as well, but will be heading out sooner than us.
That is all for now. Take care of thyself,
Chad
