29 Mar

We got off to an early start this morning bound for the Atocha train station and then Toledo! It took a rather longer time to find the proper ticket office than I reckoned and thus we made our train with a slightly smaller comfort zone than I would have liked. Our cabin wasn’t terribly full, and we were rather lucky to find a small group of four American ladies traveling in the seats near us. We quickly rearranged our seating arrangement such that both parties could sit with their respective members. We chatted briefly and discovered that they’ve been in Spain for some time now and that one of them apparently acts in London. She divulged that information to us after I told them I was studying abroad there. She amusedly said that since I had not been to see her performance, any hope of friendship between us was lost. I was a little bewildered by this behavior and simply attributed it to thespian eccentricity and possibly some alcoholic influences. Between them they possessed a decent command of Spanish and consequently managed far better in gastronomical and sightseeing affairs than we did. Oh well. Upon our arrival in Toledo, we wished them a pleasant trip and I suspected that, Toledo being a tiny town, we would probably run into them again before the day was out.

Not wanting to make a trek up the hill into the town proper, we hired a cab at the train station that took us to the top in a matter of minutes. Toledo was formerly the capital of the Spanish empire and when you’ve seen the place, it’s rather surprising to think of it as such after seeing Madrid. Madrid is much like London in that it has preserved a good deal of its regal past and maintains its diminished regal present quite well. Toledo does not invoke images of austere majesty but rather quiet, floral scented evenings spent wandering its narrow, winding cobblestone streets while listening to the drifting notes of street musicians playing on its many squares. The whitewashed walls give the place a refreshingly cool, clean feeling that turns exuberantly joyful when sunshine clings to them.

Our first destination was the Alcazar (or fort) Toledo is famous for. After circling the entire complex searching in vain for the opening, we inquired of a nearby police officer as to the possibility of visiting the fort. He informed us, in broken English, that the place was closed to the public for renovations. Oh no! That plan having failed, we headed instead to the next item on our list, the Cathedral (nearly every Spanish city has its famous church).

This cathedral reminded me of some we had seen on our Central Europe tour. Gothic (I believe) style with tall, delicate arches and beautiful stained glass. We were impressed not only by the finery of the church architecture but by the remarkable art collection. Mostly Spanish and religiously based, the paintings were nicely arranged among other valuable church artifacts.

Upon leaving the Cathedral and emerging once more into the light of day (it was a beautiful day!), we headed for a tourist center to get more information about the city, and especially to find a good place to eat. The woman at the tourist office was very nice and even gave us a set of free posters! Apparently, El Greco’s most famous painting, "Entierro del Conde de Orgaz," is found in one of the churches in this city. We decided that since we were here, we might as well see it. I wasn’t as impressed as I hoped I would be, and what was worse, is that we had to shell out several Euros just to catch a glimpse. Lame. You really shouldn’t have to pay to go inside a church. Once we left San Tome, we were all hungry so the first order of business became finding a place to eat.

We ended up choosing this little place in a quaint, sun-drenched square. The staff was quite helpful in pointing out vegetarian selections. Mom got a paella (hearty rice dish indigenous to Spain) while Dad and I got pizzas. I think she made the better choice. It was nice to eat in that square and listen to the voices of other tourists walking by. We still had some time left to us after lunch, so we decided to look for some souvenirs. The whole day, I had noticed swords, daggers, and small arms being displayed in many souvenir storefronts. Along with delicious looking confectioneries and elaborate dining ware, weapons seemed to be the local pride of this place. That being the case, I was determined to take a dagger home with me.

I saw some nice ones in a few of the stores we visited, but concerns over security on the trains stayed our purses until one shopkeeper repeatedly assured us that there would be no problem. People bought this things all the time, she said. I found a beautiful and elaborate dagger for 12 Euros. If security took it from me, I would be sad and disappointed but it would not be a big loss. We decided to chance it.

We still wanted a good night in Madrid so we left for the train station immediately after buying the dagger. As we walked into a square where the taxis dropped people off, I just had to stop and shoot some panoramic video. The scene was just too perfect. A sun drenched square with happy children running about and tourists busily taking pictures. Gorgeous! Toledo truly managed to charm all of us in a matter of hours. As we took our taxi back to the station, I shot as much video as I could before the memory card became full.

We were a little early for our train so we had to wait for a while. The ride back to Madrid was uneventful and we first headed to the nearby Retiro Park. It was still afternoon so the sun lit the place up brilliantly. We walked around here for a couple of hours before catching the Metro back to the Plaza del Sol (Plaza of the Sun) which was near our hotel. Dad and I decided to get some gelatos before joining Mom at the hotel. They took a nap while I took some time to update my blog and take care of pictures. After they woke up, we freshened up a bit and went in search of an Indian restaurant Mom had looked up before leaving.

I found the place on my map but misjudged its distance from two metro stops. We ended up getting off at one that looked much closer to the restaurant on the map than in real life. We just kept on walking until finally we found it. Food was pretty good and since a light rain was falling, I was determined to enjoy it to make up for all the trouble we had in finding it. We left and found the truly nearest Metro station very quickly.

What happened on our way back to the hotel from the Plaza del Sol I will never forget and do not desire to record it here. Suffice it to say the experience nearly ruined our vacation and that the rest of the night passed quite, shall I say, disagreeably and it was late before we finally laid our troubled and angry heads to bed. Cheers for the day, but not for the night.