You can enjoy the best of Toledo in 2 days …IF….

You are prepared to walk …. a lot …. up and down a lot of hills … steep hills

Toledo is located on a mountaintop, with sweeping 150 degree views. The city is nestled in a bend in the Tagus River, surrounded by the river on three sides.

Toledo used to be the imperial capital of Spain. It was a natural fortress, flanked by the river and mountains. However, there was no space for a growing population, necessary for an imperial capital. In 1561, the Spanish court was moved to Madrid, precipitating Toledo’s economic decline. This is good news for tourism today. Once Toledo became an economic backwater, there was no incentive to tear down and rebuild its historic buildings. When you walk through the historic centre, it is like you time travelled to another century.

Toledo is a top tourist destination and a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Toledo is often referred to as an open-air museum

Visit Toledo and step back in time

Toledo is a half hour train ride from Madrid

We arrived in Toledo by train with all our luggage, intent on finding a cab into the historic centre. However, when we walked into the station, we stopped. it felt like we had entered a museum. The whole station is built in the same style as the historic city. Clock towers, carved arches, stained glass and Moorish tiles decorate every surface. If you want to skip the historic tour of Toledo, you can just take a few snaps of the train station and go shopping instead. Good shopping in Toledo!

Toledo is a very popular destination so book your train in advance

The train station in Toledo is classified as a monument

Be a time-traveller when you enter the main gates of Toledo

The cab ride from the train station took about 20 minutes because most of the historic city is closed to traffic. We had to drive all around the ancient walls to reach the back entrance for cabs. This was a great introduction to the city.

Most of the streets in Toledo are pedestrian-only

We took a free walking tour of Toledo

There are free walking tours in English every day. Our excellent tour was almost 3 hours. At the end, the tour guide asked us to contribute what we thought the tour was worth. Was it worth the price of a movie, a drink in a bar, lunch? We threw in 15 euros each. Definitely worth it!

You can book your walking tour in advance:
https://www.freetour.com/toledo/toledo-free-walking-tour

The tour guide introduced us to the three distinct cultures that populated historic Toledo: Christians, Jews and Arabs.

The building in the photo above was designed in the same style as the Great Mosque in Cordoba (which we visited later in our trip).

You can explore Toledo at night

It is easy to get lost in Toledo, even in the daylight. We used Google Walk but it had a hard time navigating us through the ancient streets.

This street sign told us that we were entering the Jewish quarter. Jews were expelled from Toledo and all of Spain in 1492.

This is the Jewish Quarter in the daylight

The Synagogue of Santa María la Blanca is the oldest synagogue in Spain

The Synagogue is a living symbol of cooperation among the three ancient cultures in Spain: It was designed by Islamic architects. It was constructed during the Christian reign in 1180. It was built for the Jews. Today, it is owned and preserved by the Catholic Church.

The Synagogue is magnificent, with its gleaming white arches

This Catholic Church is just down the street from the Synagog

I love weddings. We arrived at this church just as wedding guests were arriving for a Saturday afternoon wedding.

Tourists clapped when the bride stepped out of the car

The Church was open to tourists during the wedding ceremony

Tourists stayed at the back of the church so as not to disturb the wedding ceremony

Is glamping your style?

Charles V was a glamper. This was his tent during his campaign in Tunisia. It is made of wool and cotton.

This tent is in the Museum of the Army, housed in the Alcázar of Toledo.

Norman liked the visit to the Alcázar much more than me. He found the Army Museum very interesting. Since this is the only picture I took inside the museum, you can tell that this was not my favourite destination.

Take time to stroll the streets of Toledo

After visiting the Catholic Church, the Jewish Synagog and the Arab Alcázar, it was time to stroll through the streets of this open-air city-museum.

You never know who you will run into when you stroll the streets of Toledo.

We encountered Miguel de Cervantes, author of Don Quixote. This classic is the first modern novel. It is considered to be one of the greatest works of fiction ever published. The story follows the adventures of Don Quixote as he travels the country, reviving chivalry. He does not see the world as it is. He views the world through the eyes of a chivalrous knight

When first published, Don Quixote was usually interpreted as a comic novel. After the French Revolution, it was popular for its central ethic that individuals can be right while society is wrong. In the 19th century, it was seen as a social commentary. Many critics came to view the work as a tragedy in which Don Quixote’s idealism and nobility are viewed by the post-chivalric world as insane, and are defeated and rendered useless by common reality. By the 20th century, the novel had come to occupy a canonical space as one of the foundations of modern literature.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Quixote

You can follow the adventures of Don Quixote on The Windmills Route Tour of La Mancha, that starts just outside Toledo.

Have you ever wasted your energy tilting at windmills?

What is on your shopping list in Toledo?

Toledo has a long tradition of manufacturing swords and knives, dating back to Roman times.

There are many shops selling knives and swords but I don’t think these souvenirs would make it through airport security in my carry-on.

Toledo is also known for its marzipan

Marzipan is easy to get through airport security

There are fabulous vistas of the river below Toledo

Norman wanted to walk down to one of the famous bridges that crosses the river that sits at the base of the city. This sounded like a great idea to walk down to the river but I struggled with the idea of walking back up to the city. We set off, walking down, down, down.

It was a lovely walk down to the river

From a distance, this looked like an apple tree. I thought it was a very strange place to find an apple tree.

Surprise! It is a pomegranate tree

The view from the bridge is spectacular and peaceful

This is the bridge that sits at the base of the city, outside the walls that surround the historic centre

The bugs loved the late afternoon sun

This is not dust on my camera. The bugs danced in the afternoon sun

How could we get back up to our hotel in the centre of the old city?

There is a little train that runs from the bridge back up to the centre of the city.

We decided that 20,000 steps was not enough for the day and decided to hike back up, instead of taking the train. After just one gentle rise, I regretted our enthusiasm for the hike. Luckily, just at that moment, we spied a fleet of tourist buses at the base of the mountain. We followed the tourists as they exited the buses and discovered a series of escalators built inside the mountain that takes you straight up to the city centre. There are 6 very long escalators. The escalator-route is the best way to get back up to the city after a long day of walking!

The escalators are free

Time for a glass of Spanish cava to toast and celebrate The Best of Toledo

I hope you enjoyed The Best of Toledo

Next week, we are off to Seville and Cordoba