"Holy Toledo" (Oct 11th-13th)

Did you know that one of the speculations of the origin of the phrase "Holy Toledo" actually came from Toledo, Spain. It likely started from the Sephardic Jews (Jews of Spanish origin) who eventually immigrated to America. According to them, Toledo was the most holy Jewish city in Europe. 

For those of you like me, who until that weekend knew little, to nothing, about Toledo, let me fill you in.  In a few words;, Faith, Swords, and Art. :) 

But really, Toledo was Spain's former capital and is a historical melting pot of many different cultures; Roman, Visigoth, Moorish and Christian. It is built upon the rocks an hour south of Madrid and is very well protected by intruders on three sides by the Tagus River, the longest river on the Iberian Peninsula.  It has been preserved so well, it truly was a site to see.  

One of my favorite aspects of the city of Toledo was that it is known for being the city where the three religions, Muslim, Jewish and Christianity, lived together in harmony.  It was one of the only places in Europe, especially in Spain where the Jews weren't persecuted.  

I had the pleasure of going to Toledo with my roommate Patti and our friend Kristen from our program.  We arrived in Toledo early evening Friday, October 11th, down below the historical city and made the trek up the mountain all while enjoy the beautiful views.  We checked into our hostel which was actually pretty nice, which for me it isn't easy to say because I can hardly stand staying in hotels (yes, i'm weird I know).  That night we just walked around the city and took photos during the sunset. Absolutely breathtaking.  Afterward, we found a place near the main square, Plaza de Zocodover, we shared a pizza and had some tinto de verano.  

After asking many many people and going in circle's we finally found a pub that had been recommended.  We ordered the local brewed beer called Domus, which here they had two different varieties, Regia y Aurea, the latter which was an India Pale Ale and had some unusual spice flavors in it that actually made it pretty good, different, but good.  The decor was great, postcards from all over the world downstairs and upstairs some retro/antique signs, golf propaganda (my favorite), pool table and lots of history of the titanic (random, but cool).  


Originally, the plan was to head to Madrid halfway through Saturday so we didn't really plan out our day as well as we should have.  There is simply too much to see is so little time.  

First, you know those little trains that they usually have at zoos, or amusement parks or such attractions that show you around; very "touristy"? Ya, wellllll we took one of those. I know, I know, shocking, but it was actually a great way to see some of the biggest historical landmarks and to get around the city without getting lost again.  It took us down to the river and around the entire city, getting to see the old walls, old bridges and old ruins from the ancient aqueducts.  It was amazing, very blessed to be able to see this city.  

Puente de San Martín

View of the city from the tour

Kristen and I

After that we hit up the Santa Cruz museum and the Army Museum which was the site of a huge Artist Fair, with local and regional artists selling and displaying their trademarks; jewelry, sculptures  furniture, you name it.  It was in the courtyard of the museum, so after walking around a lot and resisting to buy everything, we made our way into the museum.  Supposedly, you are supposed to save about three hours at minimum to see this museum, and that isn't a joke.  This place is huge and goes through every historical time period in Spain.  It was very interesting, but at this point we still thought we were going to try and make it to Madrid and had to rush, but we got to see some very cool armor and swords.  After this craziness, we finally decided Madrid was not an option, there was still too much to try and see, it was getting late and there weren't many busses left and we were exhausted.  
So we stayed.  There was one little problem though.  Our hostel.  Was booked and so was every other hostel in the city ¡Ay Dios mío! But we lucked out.  The hotel next to our hostel had availability and for what it was, the price was reasonable between the three of us; it even included buffet breakfast (so yummy)!

Patti and I with our "globos" swords

We made it to the Cathedral, inside was closed, but took pictures outside and messed around for awhile.  Then, I really, really wanted to make it down to the Puente de San Martín to take more sunset  pictures.  For those who don't know, I'm a little obsessed with sunrises and sunsets, if ya don't believe me check out my instagram ;)  haha) We made it down there in the nick of time.  This bridge was constructed across the Tagus river in the late 14th century by Pedro Enorio to allow access to the old town from the west. Its very impressive.  

After that, we headed back to O'Brien's Pub.  Met and chit chatted with some people in the pub for quite awhile, we didn't really know much what else to do for the night, since not being locals and the town seeming pretty quiet at night, we didn't really know if there were any discotecas or clubs.  We ended up chatting with the bartender most of the night and he told us where we could actually find some fun discotecas in the area.  Patti and I joined him and his friends and went to the discoteca.  It was really fun.  More or less like those in Granada, but I'm almost 100% sure we were the only Americans there, which was kinda of cool.  When it was closing, we were talking with our friends and all they wanted was to keep asking all these questions about the states.  It was pretty funny.  

The next morning was whirlwind of emotions, stress, exhaustion and not knowing where to go next.  We had a very yummy and large breakfast and headed to the Cathedral for mass.  It was the first time I've attended a Catholic mass and it was pretty interesting.  We arrived a little late and it was a little hard to follow in Spanish, but Patti attends a catholic church so she knew the routine more or less.  It was a great experience, and it was inside the massive a beautiful Cathedral.  




Also, we still hadn't made it to the famous El Greco museum, home of the artwork of yes, El Greco, whose actual name is something really hard to write and say.  We knew we had to make it here in order to complete the trip but we were running out of time because we had to make sure we could get to the bus station in order to catch the one and ONLY bus to Granada for the day at 12pm.  Literally with like 45 minutes on the clock till we need to turn around to get back to the hotel to check out and catch a cab to the bus station, we booked it through the tiny streets winding around Toledo looking for this museum, finding all these hidden treasures I wish we would have had more time to explore.  At last! We found it! Thankfully it was free at this time, so we got tickets and probably did one of the fastest walk throughs of a museum I have ever done.  I'm a little disappointed we saved this for the end and didn't really get to enjoy it, but i'm still happy to say I've been there and got to see some of El Greco's masterpieces. 

We then found a cab, took probably the scariest/fastest/most amusing cab ride of my life.  I honest to goodness thought we were going to crash/die/run over pedestrians/scrape the walls of the narrow streets/or all the above.  Needless to say, we didn't, but it was very exciting.  

Thanks be to God, we made it back to our hotel in time to check out, find another taxi and make it to the bus station and catch the bus back to Granada!

Phew! Not only was the experience itself exhausting, but this blog has taken me too many weeks to actually sit down and write.  Hopefully you stuck with me and made it all the way to the end, but all in all, it was a fantastic and breathtaking experience and I'm very glad I went! 

Historical facts found here: Rick Steves' Europe