Toledo

One of the wider streets in Toledo.


A peak at the Cathedral from one of the narrow streets.


See the Basset Hound on the balcony? He barked at everyone walking by. What fun!



This is Toledo from the road. The Tajo river curves around the city in a U shape.

Toledo
From Madrid, we went just a little south to the historic city of Toledo. Toledo used to be the capitol of Spain. It’s a natural fortress with the Tajo river running along three sides. This protection also made it difficult to expand. That’s why they moved the capitol to Madrid. The entire city of Toledo is a Unesco World Heritage Site. It’s a very cool city made up of a labyrinth of cobble-stoned streets.

Our walking tour of Toledo started with an explanation of the phrase “holy Toledo!” Apparently, Toledo was considered the most holy city in Europe by the Sephardic Jews who lived there. Toledo was also a Roman city, then Visigothic, then Moorish before the Christians recaptured it in 1085. Obviously, there is a lot of history here!

The main Cathedral was truly spectacular. The bright colors on the altar are original. It was recently cleaned and they think the dirt actually preserved the colors. There is one place with a skylight that artistically illuminates the gilded Eucharist scene. This was a late addition to the Cathedral and many people thought the hole in the ceiling would weaken the structure. But it was built with care and caused no damage. The Sacristy is practically and art museum with mostly El Greco paintings.

After the walking tour, we headed out for lunch. The tour guide recommended a place in a small square just a few blocks from the main square. This tucked away little place was serving some local favorites. We had venison stew and a pork stew with lots of bread to soak up the sauces. We also found the local marzipan shop. Marzipan is a local treat and it’s quite different from the overly sweet, sticky stuff you’ve probably had. This was rich and baked so it was tender and moist, but not sticky.

Our group met for drinks on the roof of the hotel that evening. The tour guide had all the things to make Tinto de Verrano, a type of sangria. Here’s the recipe:

½ cup red wine (cheap wine is fine for this!)
¼ cup sparkling water
¼ cup orange or lemon lime soda
Splash of vermouth
Serve over ice with slices of orange and lemon

After the happy hour, we walked over to a restaurant where some people said they had a great lunch. We knew the name and approximately where it was, but we didn’t have the address. Most people find Toledo very confusing, but Dennis and I were pretty successful. We aimed in the direction we thought it should be, walked around a few of the side streets and voila! We had a fabulous dinner with some of the best red wine ever. We ordered the house wine, but when the waiter came and opened the bottle in front of us, we were a little concerned. Not knowing how expensive the wine was, we stuck to a single glass each. When we got the bill and saw that it was only 3 euros, we almost ordered more! Dennis had another typical Toledo dish, the partridge. I ordered the “acorn-fed Iberian pork.” Both dishes were fantastic. As we left, we grabbed a card to give to our tour guide. A good restaurant like this is too good to keep to ourselves!

So, after a rough start with the Spanish tapas, we were finally finding excellent food. Toledo was a lovely city and I could have spent another few days here for sure. Most of the streets are too narrow for cars, so it’s mainly a pedestrian town. And with little shops selling marzipan, knives, and beautiful gold-inlayed damascene it was fun to shop between sights. This was by far my favorite city on this tour!

PS - Per the last comment: The Spanish people are more into walking than biking. There were a few bikes in the big cities, but not like the Netherlands!

Madrid

The Royal Cathedral in Madrid.


The bear and the tree are symbols of the city. This statue was on the corner of the pedestrian street that our hotel was on.


Dennis at the Royal Palace overlooking the rest of the city.


From Barcelona, we took the high-speed train to Madrid. On the train we really saw how wonderful the Spanish people are. The train had assigned seats, but Dennis and I were in a row without windows. Since we wanted to see out, we switched seats with the lady behind us. At the next stop, another person was supposed to sit in our row. The first lady explained the seat switch to him and he gladly sat down in the row with no windows. By and by, the lady got off and ANOTHER person came to our row. The guy explained and again, we were allowed to keep our good seats. That was pretty nice!

Madrid is right in the heart of Spain and is the capital. It’s a nice city with lots of pedestrian-only streets and beautiful squares. The squares and open space are relatively new. Jose Bonaparte (brother of Napoleon) tore down many of the Catholic buildings to create the squares from their courtyards. The Catholics were not happy but it makes for a nice walking city.

The first afternoon, we had time on our own. Dennis and I went to the Royal Palace. It’s a huge and beautiful building modeled after Versailles. It’s actually still in use and is therefore furnished. It’s rare because the furnishings are mostly original. Versailles is no longer original since the French Revolution when the people looted the place.

For a nice afternoon snack, we tried the typical Spanish treat of churros and chocolate. The churros are similar to what you get in the US, but without the sugar. The chocolate is really where the difference is. The Spanish chocolate is thick like a chocolate pudding, but more rich and less sweet. The little place that serves the churros and chocolate is tucked into a small alley. They have lots of outdoor seating and they only serve one thing. What a cool place!

That evening, the group got together for a dinner. The appetizers were good, but everyone agreed that the main courses were pretty bad. We had to choose between the ox-tail stew or cod. Dennis had the ox-tail and I chose the cod. Both dishes were painfully salty. If they weren’t so salty, I think they would have been good. Oh well, another disappointing meal…

Our hotel was on one of the main pedestrian streets. Since it was Saturday night, we sat out on the sidewalk café and drank sangria and watched the Madrilenos on their passeo.

In the morning, we had a walking tour of the city that included the Prada Museum. The guide showed us many of the famous paintings and explained their significance. Dennis and I were astounded that all of the paintings were religious or of royal families. How could there be so many paintings of Jesus and Mary?

For dinner, we got together with another couple who were also struggling with the cuisine. We decided that paella would be a nice change of pace from the tapas. I had checked a bunch of menus that afternoon as Dennis and I walked around. Lots of places advertised paella on large posters. Oddly, most of the posters were the same. Soon we noticed that they all had the same corporate logo on them. We realized these restaurants were serving frozen paella – not what we were after! We started checking the menus at smaller restaurants looking for REAL paella. Finally, right next door to our hotel, we found a menu with a note that you will have to wait 40 minutes for an order of paella. So this is where we went.

We had to wait until 8:00 for the restaurant to start serving dinner. But in the end, it was worth the wait. This was one of the best meals we had on the whole trip. The rice was savory and a little spicy, and caramelized on the bottom of the pan just the way it should be. The restaurant was not beautiful but the owner was very good to us. He didn’t speak much English, but we got by on my high-school Spanish. Again, we were impressed by how friendly and polite the people were.

So, Madrid was cool. They speak regular Spanish, are friendly and welcoming. The food is getting better, too.

News Flash

Dennis has already found a job! The stats of his job search are pretty remarkable. He interviewed with 6 companies. He got three offers, one rejection, and the other two were still in play. He interviewed 9 times. The whole process took less than 5 weeks and we were on vacation for 2 of them. He is supposed to start work on Wednesday which means his time as a Man of Leisure is seriously limited.

His job is with a company that runs a popular website that compares product features and prices. They are located in Utrecht – just a 25 minute train ride from home. Since we picked a house that’s only 4 blocks from the train station, it should be very convenient. And the company is next door to the train station in Utrecht.

More later….

Barcelona

This is the Ramblas were people stroll in the evenings when it's cooler.


Here are the hams hanging in the market.




This is just one small part of the Gaudi Sagrada Familia.



This is one of the historic Roman gates to the city.


The first stop on our tour was Barcelona – a sunny city on the Mediterranean Sea and home to Gaudi and Picasso. We had an easy flight and found our hotel without any problems. Of course, we had the advantage of not being jet-lagged like the rest of our group! The tour group was 24 people from the US and Canada. Our leader, Amanda, is also American but lives and works in Madrid.

The first evening, we went out as a group for our first taste of tapas. Most of the tapas were fried – calamari, fried artichoke hearts, and fried cheese. There was also a small plate of paella, a yummy potato salad, and tortilla, which is potato layered with egg. All in all, the food was pretty boring.

The next day, we started the tour in earnest with a walking tour of the Gothic Quarter and Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia. The Gothic Quarter was cool because it was the old Roman city with narrow streets and all the historic buildings. Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia was a bit disappointing. Apparently, it’s been under construction constantly since it was started. So, you have to look past the workers and the scaffolds and junk to see what’s going on. Of course Gaudi was known for his “more is more” philosophy so there was a lot going on. Actually, when you looked at each section individually, it was quite beautiful. The whole thing was designed to show his love for God. No public funds have been used in the construction. It’s all funded by entry fees and donations. That’s part of why it’s taking so long.

After our long walking tour, we were set free for the rest of the day. Dennis and I grabbed some sandwiches at a small shop and then went on to the Boqueria Market, a beautiful food market. The fruit sellers make all sorts of fruit juices which is really refreshing on a hot day. The seafood was stunning as well. But what we really noticed were lots of shops selling Serrano ham. The ham legs were just hanging from the awnings. When someone orders, they shave thin slices off the leg. Some of the ham is 150 euros per kilo! We tasted a mid-priced ham and just got a couple euros worth. It was tasty but rather dry and chewy.

For dinner, we tried some more tapas and also had sangria. The tapas were mostly French bread with some toppings like ham, cheese, or seafood. Really, the tapas thing seems to be over-rated. But with the dinner restaurants not opening until 8:30 or 9:00, we didn’t have a lot of options. Since it’s so hot during the day, the Spanish go out very late. In the evenings, they walk outside (called the paseo) to meet their friends and get some food. They eat tapas as a snack before their main meal.

Our other problem with the tapas was that the menus were not in Spanish – they speak Catalonian in Barcelona. So the menus were not helpful. We tried sitting at the bar to get a better view of the tapas on display. That way we could point to what we wanted and not have to know the name. But you also don’t know the price…

The coolest part about Barcelona was the Rambla, a mile-long pedestrian boulevard stretching from the waterfront to the main square. It’s full of little shops and kiosks, street entertainers, tourists, and pick-pockets. The people- watching was fabulous! We chose to spend more time walking the Ramblas rather than seeing the Picasso museum. Neither of us are big Picasso fans.

In a nutshell, Barcelona is beautiful, warm, and sunny, but the language barrier is difficult. It seemed pretty touristy along the Ramblas. The tapas here were not so great.

Home from our Holiday

We arrived home last night from 15 days in Spain and Portugal. We've managed to pick up the cat from the kennel and go grocery shopping and the laundry is started. I haven't downloaded the pictures yet. I have several hundered to go through, so please be patient.

The trip was fabulous. It was warm and sunny almost all the time. Now that we're home, it's definitely feeling like fall. The air is crisp and cool! Spain and Portugal look a lot like the southwest US. Along the coast, it's more humid than I expected, but the land was pretty dry. The food varied from really good to pretty bad depending on what city we were in and what we ordered.

Since we visited so many cities, I think I'll describe them one at a time in the posts. That will give me time to go through the pictures, too! But to give you a bit of background, we took an organized tour through Rick Steves - you know, the guy who does the travel programs on public TV? Anyway, there were 24 people on the tour. We mostly traveled by bus which enabled us to see some of the small towns and the countryside. The tour leader was really good about explaining the food and culture at each stop. We usually had about 1/2 the day to tour as a group and then we had the other 1/2 day to go off on our own. It was nice to have the free time to see what we wanted at our own pace, or just to get some extra rest. Afterall, it is a vacation!

But after 15 days of cities and cathrdrals and palaces, I'm glad to be home. After a while they start to all look alike! And I'm a bit tired of all the city noises, too. It's nice to be back home where it's quiet and everything is green!