Last Stop, Toledo

DAY 13 of Spring Break; DAY 8 on Southern Spain Tour with Mom:

Toledo is Spain's former capital sitting high on a rocky perch protected by the Tajo River. The Spanish Government has forbidden any modern exteriors to preserve the history. Rick Steves says, "Toledo remains the historic, artistic, and spiritual center of Spain."

"Welcome to Toledo"

City perched up on a hill

When we arrived in Toledo the first thing on our minds was to find lunch. We went to a local Ceveceria which was recommended by our hotel. For the first time I tried venison, a typical Toledo dish, which was dry with not much flavor but I can say I tried it now. 

Afterwards we toured the Cathedral of Toledo which is one of the 1,000 places to see before you die, checked that off. After all the cathedrals I have seen this semester and in my life, I've decided that I like cathedrals like the Notre-Dame or National Cathedral which you enter in the back, walk down a long aisle and the altar is at the end. I'm not a fan of the choir and high altar being boxes in the center and just having the rest around it, not the best, effcient use of space. But the 500 stained glass in this cathedral appeared brand new! Mom and I also decided we liked the gothic high altar here more than the one in Sevilla, it's easier to look at and interpret. Also, this altar was made of real gold on wood! It tooks us probably around 2 hours to explore the whole cathedral. One of the most unique aspects was the transparente behind the high altar. It is a hole cut into the ceiling to let a sunbeam brighten mass. The baroque masterpiece displays the life of Jesus from birth to the Last Supper high above. 

There is not much else to do in Toledo after the Cathedral. I mean Mom and I could have rode around in this cheesy, white, trouist train around the city wall. No, thank you. And the Alcazar was closed for renovations. So we walked around to Plaza de Zocodover, this word derives from the Arabic for horse market, the city hub, finding the famous mazapan produced by Santo Tome. This almond-fruity-sweet dessert was very interesting, like nothing I have ever tasted before. I can't say that it is my favorite dessert though. 

This was the day where we were getting tired of touristy things and just weanted to be able to chill. Fortunately, Rick Steves recommended a pizzaria not far from our hotel so for dinner we just got pizza and huge glasses of beer, perfect!  

Huge glasses of beer, Cheers!

DAY 14 of Spring Break; DAY 9 on Southern Spain Tour with Mom:

Today was our last official day of our vacation. In the morning we toured the Santa Cruz Museum which was free! It originally was an orphanage and hospital built in 1495. Now it functions as a museum holding a big collection of El Greco and stones from B.C. There are two parts to the musuem, the main building and the cloister. The cloister is an example of the Plasteresque style, ideal propotions, round arches, and classic columns. On the bottom level of the cloister were grave stones and other stone work from early A.D. and one or two from B.C. It is so hard to wrap my mind around just how old that is. One of their temporary exhibits upstairs was about all the different porcelains from all over Spain which are gorgeous, the only downside was everything was in Spanish. In the main building they had huge tapestries hanging, hundreds of years old, all done by hand with such detail. I was surprised at the state they were in for being that old!

Santa Cruz Museum

The Cloister

For lunch we just got tapas and then caught a train back into Madrid. In Madrid we just shopped around and hung out. The next morning we had to get up early for me to catch my flight back to Bilbao and Mom to fly back to the States. We had a very successful trip and a lot of fun!! I could not have asked for a better Spring Break! I was so glad that I was able to see my Mom and it definitely helped me get through the last month in Spain. When she left a part of me wanted to go with her, but I still wasn't ready to leave at the same time because I still have so much to do in Bilbao.