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!