Day 2 - Toledo/Madrid

Me on a side street in Toledo

Toledo, cathedral in background

Outside of Toledo

One of the bridges crossing the canyon-river that surrounds Toledo

Street in Toledo

Castle on a hill outside of Toledo

Street in Toledo

View from the outskirts of Toledo

Street in Toledo

The main bridge of Toledo

Before I get to Toledo I should start where I left off on the last post. Last night we met 2 German guys who are staying in our hostel. They both study Economics so obviously Blaze got along with them well. We all ended up meandering around the maze like streets of Madrid on a Friday night and let me tell you, it was amazing. Street after street after street there are just huge churning masses of people and music and smells and drinks and this goes on ad nauseum until you feel like you are one with the masses, totally forgetting that you are an American tourist in a foreign place. Madrid on a Friday night. Highly recommended.

The plan was to get up this morning around 7:45 and catch the 9:20 train to Toledo. This would have been a perfect plan had the streets of Madrid and one too many mojitos not consumed us until 3 am the night before. The alarm went off much earlier than was welcome and for some reason unknown to science or biology Blaze hopped out of bed and was perkier than a kid in a candy store. I remember being extremely annoyed and wanting to put off Toledo until the next day and go back to sleep. Somehow Blaze managed to drag me out of bed and I went, albeit unwillingly. We walked over to the metro, took it to the central train station "Atocha estacion" and bought our tickets to Toledo. This is where Blaze began using the "lo mismo" phrase. It means "the same". I ordered breakfast and Blaze orders after and says "lo mismo". I order train tickets and Blaze says "lo mismo". Eh kinda funny I guess but I digress. So after going in and out of consciousness on the train ride over to Toledo, I finally wake up to the voice on the intercom and realize through a hazy headache that we have arrived. A shopowner at the train station was sure to tell us to "sale al dereche", leave the building to the right. As we started walking towards the city, I realized how incredible this visit was going to be. The area is slightly elevated from the surrounding countryside and the vistas in all directions were spectacular. The entire city is surrounded by a river, we went across the main bridge. The air was clean and cool and the history of the place just started to sink in. My headache began to fade, or it just became less imporant. We started climbing up the narrow streets, taking alot of stairs and getting pretty high up. We made our way to the cathedral in the center of the city and I was immediately awestruck. All bad thoughts and remnants of a headache left my head, the power of the place was intoxicating.

The inside of the cathedral was the most amazing and beautiful thing I have seen so far. The building of the cathedral began in 1226 and was finished around 1504. I am not a religious person and I oftentimes am quite cynical and judgemental about ostentatious religious displays and customs, however, this place immediately commanded huge amounts of respect and reverance. Upon entering, your eye is quickly drawn upward toward the vaulted ceilings and stained glass windows. The scale of the place is shocking. There was a service going on with medieval style singing and it echoed and filled the massive halls. Incredible.

The rest of the day was spent seeing the sights around Toledo, we must have walked about 20 miles today. The city is too beautiful for words to describe. I still have not found a cable for my camera, so pics of the cathedral and of the vistas will have to wait. The pictures above are from Blaze's camera, you can get a decent idea of the feel of the place from them. We got back to the hostel around 6:30 and fell asleep until 10. Its about midnight now and we are heading out again to join the masses in the streets. More later!

Connor