Day 1 in Toledo

After an uneventful flight with a change in Philadelphia, it felt good to leave the April Vermont snows and arrive some place fairly warm (well, upper 60's).

We rented a car at the Madrid airport (just barely big enough for us and our bags), and headed out to Toledo. We're staying at the Hesperia Hotel which is a bit nicer than we're used to, and worth it after just a half a night's sleep on the plane. Since it includes free wifi, we'll try blogging as we go. We also tried out Skype through the wifi and it works great.

We got checked in and showered by 12:30 and took off to see the city on foot. Almost right outside the hotel is a lovely park, just outside the gates to the old city.

We took a number of snaps as we walked around the the old city, with incredibly narrow twisty streets going up the hill to the Alcazar:





We ate a light lunch at a rather peculiar bar/restaurant overlooking the river Tajo (which surrounds the city on 3 sides) and the Academia Infanteria (which used to be in the Alcazar).



We spent about 1 1/2 hours in the Cathedral and Jordan took lots of bad pictures, some of which can be saved. The chancel of the cathedral contains an amazing series of bas-relief carvings of scenes from Jesus' life. The Sacristy is a veritable art museum, with Goyas, El Grecos, Zubarans, Rubens, Van Dyck, Velasquez, and others. In a very relaxed atmosphere; they're very matter-of-factly just hung on the wall. Here's one snap of the Cathedral:



One of the whole charms of the place is the mixture of cultures. The mosque with the peculiar name "Cristo de la Luz" is under renovation/excavation. (The story is that the Muslims, upon taking the city in the 8th century, found a statue of Jesus with a burning oil lamp in a niche. Rather than desecrate it, they walled it up with the lamp still burning. When the Christians re-took the city in 1085, they discovered the statue behind the wall, with the lamp, of course, still burning. The mosque:



Finally, on our way back to the hotel, we got a good view of the old city walls:



We'll try to update as convenient.

Tsau for now.