Toledo
Trip Start
Jan 28, 2008
1
30
83
Trip End
Sep 18, 2008
Toledo,
Spain and Canary Islands
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
´Hola´
´Hola´. ´
´Um...dos noches por favor?'
´Sí, blah blah....
...and at that point our limited Spanish failed us.
Luckily for us, our aged hostess was an animated talker. In fact, she had probably starred on España Play School in her early years. We were able to play charades and learn how much our rooms would cost, plus where the local super market was and what time she went to bed and locked the door
More beautiful old buildings in Spain...
!Toledo´s claim to fame is its varied Roman and Medieval history. The small town is perched on a hill top and is surrounded by a wide river and rockey cliffs that act as a natural moat and fort. There are still many old Roman, Visigoth and other culturally representative buildings such as churches, city walls, city gates and castles. The modern Toledo folk happily drive their funky cars and flash mopeds through the labarinth of cobblestoned laneways past towering church spires and over centuries of secret tunnels and long-forgotten building foundations.
Walking around Toldeo has been a magical little experience. I don´t think we walked home the same way twice. And a few times I felt lucky we found our guesthouse at all! The narrow streets are lined with look-a-like 3 storey buildings, wall to wall, which makes navigating by skyline impossible. The first evening I wished I´d left a trail of pebbles like Hansel and Gretel. The next evening I had a flashback to a childhood film ´The Labarinth´ with David Bowie and half expected some crazy puppets to jump out at me juggling their own heads!
We only chose a few of the historical sites & museums to visit. Our first stop was the Santa Tome which is home to some long dead noble´s tomb. More famously, there is a large wall painting inside the church above the tomb. It is called The Burial of the Count of Orgaz, and was created in 1586 by El Greco. Neither Cam nor I are art buffs, and we had never heard of this bloke until we hit Toledo. He seems to be a bit of a favourite though. So, we paid our 2.30 Euro each to see the artwork. We had to wait about 30 minutes before an English speaking tour group came in, so we could listen to the explanation
Modern technology - Cam phones home
! The tour leader was really funny, and we actually got a lot out of his talk. It definately pays to be patient.The next stop was a small Museum about the Visigoths. But it was being renovated, and didn´t have any English information, so that was a bit of a waste. By midday we ambled down to the bank of the Rio Taja and follwed it to a Castle. The beautiful old building had been converted into a YHA! We pretended to be staying there and gave ourselves a tour but it wasn´t that exciting inside. Afterwards, we went to the Santa Cruz Art Gallery and spent over 2 hours looking at all the paintings by famous Spanish artists. There was more El Greco, plus Migeul Prieto and other names...After our busy day we sat down to eat our late lunch of cheese and bread, our staple budget diet.
Toledo is also famous as a sword and knife crafting region. There are heaps of shops selling replica swords. I never realised it was such a tourist market. The sword choices were hilarious, and included replica´s from classic movies such as Conan, Sparta and Hercules. More recent additions include swords from Blade, Braveheart and Lord of the Rings. My favourite though, an oldie but a goodie, was Excalibur! There was no Arthur in sight though!
Stopping at local tavern for dinner, we ordered the only thing we could in Spanish...´A hot dog´. And went home to bed, wishing a ´Buenos Noches´ to our hostess, who was still wearing her red dressing gown.
