More Moorsville
Trip Start
Aug 23, 1996
1
369
559
Trip End
Ongoing
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Toledo, Spain
Sunday, November 25, 2007
The Place
My main man Maxi from Madrid, the Spanish travel advisor that everyone should use has always said to me, as much as I have always told you that you need to go to Madrid, actually, not far away is a better place, and I know you will like it. It use to be the old capital, and this place has a name, and its name is Toledo
Toledo
Once the train had arrived, we jumped out and the station was built in a Moorish way. I was amazed. The Spanish were doing retro before retro was hip !!! Down the road, we got our first glimpse of Toledo, and it looked good, real good in fact. None of this Segovia bullshit, this was the real deal. We entered through a few old gates, and ended up at our first old church that was now a museum/art gallery. In through another gate, and we were now up at the main square, which use to be the souq. Just up from there was the Alcazar, but it was closed and had been for many a year, so hit the streets instead. We had a map and we tried to use it, but got lost. It was kind of like being in Fez, just a load of little sreets/laneways. We found an old Mosque, but it wasn't open on weekends. Next was the Cathedral, but they were having mass practically all day, so no Tourists. I did try my best dodgy Spanish, but they said I was Portuguese and to go away, so I did. And then we were lost. We were going around in circles, and as my life is one faiytale, I did seriously think about leaving a trail of crumbs, but I couldn't find anyone who would sell me bread !!! The only way to work it all out was to go up. We found a church that would let us climb its steeple. The views were great and all around were buildings built in the Moorish way. Once down, we found a sign that was pointing in the direction of the synagogues, so being a good jewboy, we headed in that direction, but then obviously I didn't have my jewdar working today, because we became lost again !!! Another circle was completed, we tried various lanes, then I spied a street named Samuel Levi, and I knew we were close, then it appeared, a synagogue, but it was all locked up. A couple of hundred metres down the road, another appeared and this one was open. My jewishness inside was elated, so we paid and entered. It was pretty sparse inside, but it put my Judaism at ease until the next time. Around the corner was another Cathedral, but it was covered in scaffold. As we were looking, we saw an old gate. It was good, but the walls were better, so we followed them until we came to a 15th century gate. So Moorish. Just up from there was the Puerta del Sol. Another Moorish gate. I could have been in any Muslim country. This did not feel like Spain !!! We had one last Mosque to find. It was only small, but undergoing a restoration, so the insides were a bit of a mess. Outside the gardens were overgrown, but the layout was so similar to Granada or Sevilla or or or any Moorish gardens in Spain. We decided to finish off Toledo by walking the rest of the walls, and as I said before about not being in Spain, these walls just made me think I was in Kairouan or Sfax in Tunisia. Lucy felt the same. We were blown away. Toledo was amazing !!!
Madrid Again
We hit the calamares bocadillo again, well I did. Lucy wanted to get Islam out of her, so she had jamon iberico, and what a way to do it !!! And as our weekend was finishing, we had some more vino tinto as a goodbye to Moorsville, I mean Spain.
And Finally
There's not much I can say. Maxi was right. He said go, so we did, and if you are ever in that part of Spain, don't be a fuckwit like me and leave it till tomorrow, go now because tomorrow is to late.
Comments
Awesome!
Toledo is one place in Spain I would love to go! Looks beautiful!
Re: Awesome!
It is one the best places I have been to in Spain