Toledo (better as a 1-day train tour from Madrid)
Trip Start
Jul 03, 2009
1
8
10
Trip End
Jul 29, 2009
Where I stayed
Toledo, Castile-La Mancha, Spain and Canary Islands
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
We grabbed a cab this morning to get to the train station promptly – about a 5 min ride – since I knew there was a 10:30 train to Madrid. We have to go there first, then buttonhook back a half-hour on a later train to reach Toledo. I can't remember buying a train ticket before; I've always had a EuroPass good for a bunch of trips over a few weeks. This trip, there were only going to be about 4 train trips in all. I find the cost of trains now is high: we spent 125 Euros [a bit over $200] from Cordoba to Madrid which is a 90-min trip. We got a Madrid map, arranged for a hotel there the next night (we are cancelling our 2nd night in Toledo so we don’t have to rush to the Madrid airport that morning coming up from Toledo on a 5:30am train….that was just too much to risk going wrong), and bought our return train ticket for 7:30pm tomorrow since we saw on the big schedule board in the station that 2 afternoon trains were already sold out. THAT’S when it sure helps travelling with someone who can spot that stuff…..Susan’s a wiz!
Toledo is a wonderful image. At the train station, we jumped on a tourist bus that cost just 5 Euros each for a 24 hour ticket on an open-top double decker bus. We always sit in the lower deck, though, right under the air conditioner vent by the back door; we learned that fast. The tourist bus stops at a viewpoint ("mirador") which gives you a postcard look down at the ancient city. The Rio Teja river meanders around three sides of town which is perched on a hilltop. It’s 40-41 degrees today; a temperature that hot makes one walk with purpose and with a destination in mind: we found a bar and quaffed a cold beer.
After checking into our hidden hotel – that is, after an extended search to find the place – we discover we have no internet. Again. (Hotels advertise as having WIFI, but few places deliver.) Also the air conditioner is broken. Now we have a problem. It’s going to be a miserable night tonight. I’m in a lather already. But the best story is to come that evening:
We meander in the 36 degree 7:45pm heat and find a restaurant that looks cool inside (no outside patio in this weather) and a "menu of the day" which is a set menu for, usually, about 10-12 Euros each. We finish our gazpatcho cold soup and I’m working on a tomato salad and pork chop…..Susan has a veal stew…..suddenly, in her soup, is a black beetle the size of a tablespoon, no lie, on it’s back doing the backstroke with all 8 legs a-going. Shiiiiit! Susan flicks it out of the stew onto the table cloth..…we both yell…..the couple who just arrived across the aisle leave like their horse just came in. When pointed out to our waiter, he gives a Euro shrug and takes the dirty dishes away! I told him to take away my uneaten pork entrée; I’d lost my appetite. While finishing our 1-litre jug of tinto de verana, I mentally figure out how much I’m prepared to pay (drinks only). I ask the waiter the waiter for our bill but he says “Nada”. We leave, wander home, and prepare for a warm night ahead.in our humble abode. Ah, Toledo...
July 22, Toledo to Madrid
One week to go; we’re in the home stretch of this journey through Spain. We got off on the wrong foot with Toledo – complete with a BIG black beetle swimming in Susan’s stew yesterday and no air conditioning in our hotel during a heat wave. Today was a new day and outlook.
We stored our 2 suitcases and my backpack with the hotel after a breakfast there, and headed outside. A thermometer showed 30C degrees at 9:45am (later it reached 41) but it felt quite pleasant until about noon. We thought we’d head over to the Cathedral first thing since this is the tourist heart of the city. Our plan was to wait until a tour group tramped by; it took 5 minutes. Once buried into a group of about 25 tourists fresh in town from Madrid, we were swept along from museum to monument to mosque, without paying a nickel at the door, with running commentary along the way. Ha! I suspect the tour guide knew but there was no fuss. I even asked the odd question. An hour into it, we started to descent a switchback, Toledo’s version of the Grouse Grind…..ok, must to going over to the ruins of the Roman Circus (chariot-racing oval)…nope, we turned a corner and there was their TOUR BUS. Ayyyy. Payback: we had to tramp up the switchback and carry on independently but it was an educational morning.
We entered a very-hard-to-find small Church next that had some great El Greco paintings in this humble place, also a convent. I saddled up to a young nun and asked if the Church was closing since it was close to 1:30pm (they re-open 4-7pm) but she said all was OK, and to finish our visit. I said with sign language and one word that I was from Canada. She mirrored back “India” with a big smile. Connection. At one point, you look down through a window in the floor onto the casket of the painter resting in a basement stone grotto. Cool. I put my palms together when we left and said bye-bye to India.
At this point, we’d been to 2 bars with a nice selection of tapas at the second one. Typically, I dumped some oil or something on my shirt so the waiter gestures to 'hold it’ and rushed upstairs….down a minute later with a spray can that, when sprayed, powders to white after drying and removes the oil spot like magic. Nice guy.
We did a bit of window shopping but other than a few ceramic pieces, we’ve not really picked up anything. Toledo is a knife & sword capital, famous for the weapons the Conquistadors took to the New World. But ever since I’ve been in the country, if I see a small shop that sells knives, I asked for an “automatica”. The shop owners all draw back a bit and say “No, no. Police say no.” I bought one here 40 years ago but….things have changed now that Franco’s Fascist government is gone. An automatica is a stiletto: the blade comes forcefully out of the front of the knife when the button on the handle is pushed. I like them better than a switchblade; a stiletto with a recoil gets more respect in the train carriage when you peel your orange…
We climb onto the 7:30pm train with pre-purchased tickets (it was a sell-out) and in 30 min. we were back in Madrid. Then, after lining up a hotel near the airport from a booking kiosk in the train station, we get on a secondary train to get into the northern suburbs…..then switch to the Metro to land at Terminal 1 of the main airport, the same place we need to be at tomorrow morning. A 12 Euro taxicab later, here we are at the Hotel Osuna, sort of a Holiday Inn. We’ve been waiting for over an hour now for a pizza and mixed salad to share…..I could eat the doorknobs….then lights out.
On to maybe the highlight of this Spanish trip: Marrakesh, Morocco, a world away.
