Toledo

     Yesterday I made a spontaneous visit to Toledo.  Toledo has been on this list since my arrival, but it has been easy to postpone given it's close proximity to Madrid.  The idea to visit was sparked when having drinks on Saturday night with a friend in town from Valencia.  This friend, Julio was an attendee of the Calpe/Oktoberfest adventure and we have since kept in touch.  Despite the fact that he is significantly older, we get along fantastically and laugh with each other non-stop.  In addition to always buying my drinks he also took me out for a  Peruvian lunch last Monday... but back to Toledo.
     Julio offered to drive which is 100 X better than taking a bus ( because to catch a bus I would walk 20 min to the metro, ride 30-40 min to the bus station and pay 15 euro for a roundtrip ride).  We departed from my house at 9am and made it to Toledo by 10:30.
     The first glimpse of Toledo is incredible.  Spain is all about some "doors" or "puertos" and have usually been constructed at various entrances of towns or important spots in larger cities.   The little fiat chucked itself up the steep hillsides and we parked somewhere near the top of the city.   Toledo is like the Rome of Spain, only you can walk through the entire town, traversing the cobble stone streets.  The city is packed with cathedrals, Synagogues and Mosques demonstrating an interesting historical diversity of Christians, Jews, and Muslims.  It is also a walled city, like Segovia that sits high above a beautiful river ( rio Tájo) providing beautiful sites inside and outside of the city border.

   When I spoke with my aunt Bonnie about Spain, she told me that Toledo was her absolute favorite place in Spain.  She then proceeded to show me her earrings from Toledo that she managed to hold on to for over 30 years now.  The jewelry that is unique to Toledo is made with a technique that involves plating detailed gold or silver string to form pictures on a black background (that I think is iron, but I really have no clue).  I had forgotten about this encounter until we passed by a little shop where an old man was making this type of jewelry.  I saw a beautiful necklace with a beautiful bird and flower design and thought it would be nice match jewelry with my aunt : ).    While purchasing the necklace, Julio and I are having a lovely conversation with this man about how he makes the jewelry and he asks where we're from.  Usually I just say the United States, but this time I mentioned North Carolina.  He then pointed to his postcard collection and told me he had a postcard from N.C.  Of course I had to have a look to see where exactly that postcard came from, ignoring the fact that the postcard stack was compiled of at least 200 postcards.  I finally found it and asked if I could take a picture.  My shennanigans tickled this little old man to death and he gave me some postcards from Toledo so that someday I could have 200 postcards.

After wondering around the city for awhile longer we finally started thinking about lunch.  It's still a problem for me that lunch happens around 2:30.  I had enough problems back home when I actually ate a decent breakfast (and not these cookie things they have here) and had to wait until 12:30.  Now I'm waiting six hours on a belly running off the fumes of either cookies, churros or some toast.  We found a nice looking restaurant with a decently price menu al día.  As usual, this means a first plate, second plate, bread, drink and coffee or a pastry.  Since we both asked for wine, the waiter brought us the whole bottle (this is the second time I have had this privilege).  My Castillian soup with chorizo, beans and a poached egg came first and the plate of veal followed shortly after.   They had arroz con leche (which is just the best)  as a pastry option so I ordered that.  The portion was huge and I was already full AND we didn't finish the bottle of wine,  which seemed like such a waste to me.  But I didn't want to be super buzzed and have to help the boys with homework later, and the full stomach was enough to deal with.  

From lunch it was time to get in the car and head home.  On the way to the car we noticed a YMCA.  That was the first international YMCA that I have seen and it made me think of all my wonderful Americorps friends and all of the good times spent at the Y (although in reality I judge this organization harshly... and that's another blog).  Upon our exit we had just enough time to pull over and take a few pictures from the bottom of the town.  After a siesta like ride back to Madrid, I arrived home with plenty of time to have snack ready for the children and continue on with my "work day".  

It was a tough Monday, really.  All the excitement from the weekend and the adventure had me too exhausted to go to Spanish class today.  I have to rest up and pack for Morocco on Thursday!  

Cheers to adventures