Our first stop during our tour to the province of Castilla, antiguo Toledo is a step back in time with twisted cobble-stoned streets winding their way between shops of jewelry and swords and Don Quijote paraphernalia.
Toledo is probably my favorite "little old city" in Spain so far. That probably has something to do with the fact that it has this great little park that's quiet and looks out over the river and the surrounding hills. And for those that know me, I'm a big fan of the nature stuff. You can keep your big cities and shopping districts for yourself. But I'm getting off-topic. Toledo is a city of a combination of religions. I really don't know/remember everything they told us but basically there's been a mix of Jew, Christians, and Muslims in the city for pretty much all of its history. Or something along those lines.
The first afternoon/night that we were there we had free time to wander the streets before we all met up again to visit the cathedral. Huge and freezing cold, my favorite part of this cathedral was a room with portraits of the different bishops that had presided in the cathedral. Unfortunately no pictures of the inside.
The next day we visited a beautiful church that originally had been a Jewish synagogue built in the moorish style that was later changed into a Catholic church and today stands in disuse. I absolutely love the moorish style with the arches. I think one of the really unique parts of this building is that from the outside it's pretty plain-looking but as soon as you walk in, you're hit by the incredible beauty in the simple white arches.
Afterwards we visited another cathedral with a completely different style. Commissioned by Isabel la Católica, this cathedral has the mark of los Reyes Católicos all over it, including their motto of "tanto mota," which is short for "tanto monta, monta tanto, Isabel como Fernado" which loosely translated means "Isabel is just as much sovereign over Spain as Fernando and vice versa."
Isabel was the queen of Castilla and Fernando, her husband, was the king of Aragón, and after they got married, they pretty much united the country for the first time. The cathedral was originally built with the intention of being the burying place of Isabel and Fernando, but in the end they were buried in Granada (which I'm going to see in a few days! woot!). The cathedral is extremely ornate and a little much for my taste, but whatever.
While there, our professor/chaperone for the trip, Chelo, picked up some bodyguards. And yes, she's really that short. For comparison, Nate, the guy on the right, stands at about 6-2.
And here she is again with all the ESDES guys.
Afterwards we had free time for the afternoon before leaving for Segovia. Brittany and I wandered around in search of cheap lunch which was almost impossible. But luckily, our search took us to the edge of the town to the aforementioned park. And luckily again, we found a kebab place nearby that was open and bought some amazing falafel wraps. We took them with us to the park, found a bench in the sun, and proceded to sit and eat and sun ourselves for the next hour or so with an amazing view in front of us.
It took quite the effort to get ourselves up and moving again to make it back to the hotel to leave with the group.
Oh, and on the way back to the hotel, I met my knight in shining armour. Too bad I had to leave him in Toledo.
On the way out of Toledo, they stopped the bus at a scenic overlook and let us take pictures of the city and the hill it's situated on.
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