Day 55 – 2 September 2023 – Madrid, Spain – day 4

Toledo, the ancient capital of Spain is first on the agenda today, around an hour south of Madrid. As we drive out of Madrid we stop outside the Madrid Bullfighting Stadium, Plaza de Toros, opened in 1929 & the site of bullfights in Madrid. The stadium is the largest in Spain & capable of seating more than 23,000 people. It has a Moorish design & has ceramic tiles decorating the exterior. It is a large & imposing building. Our local guide points out other places of interest as we drive through the old part of Madrid, located on the highest hill around. We pass many beautiful old buildings & he explains what some of them are & a little of the history.

Before getting to old Toledo the bus stops for a comfort break, but as there are no (or very few) public rest rooms you have to go into cafes/restaurants etc. This time it was an old original jewellery & sword manufacturing place where they explained how they make the exquisite Spanish & Moorish jewellery & of course the toilets are downstairs where they have a big room displaying swords & jewellery to tempt tourists to part with their cash.  Ron decided that Tereza deserved a nice souvenir.  The toilets were nice & clean too.

Toledo is an old hill fort, (luckily they have several escalators to take people up into the old city) originally a Celtic settlement then the Romans invaded & built a fortress on the hill surrounded on three sides by the river. Later invaded by the Visigoths, then the Moors, then the Christians. It has had a very troubled past & the architecture of the city reflects all of these cultures in the buildings inside the city walls. These days the city outside the walls is significantly larger than inside. Toledo was the old Spanish capital for hundreds of years before one of the monarchs decided to move the capital to Madrid. The Cathedral in Toledo is the largest in Spain as Toledo was the capital & it had the largest Cathedral.

We drive through the new city of Toledo along the Tagus River & look at the imposing walls surrounding the old city, they are very tall & solid looking. There are some very large & imposing looking buildings that we see in the old city. We stop near the river & the ruins of one of the old stone bridges before catching a series of escalators to take us up into the old city. We are certainly glad that we didn’t have to take the stairs, there are hundreds of stairs up multiple flights. The only vehicles allowed in the old city are the cars of residents.

In Toledo we walk down narrow streets with overhanging balconies before the street opens out into a small plaza with an important building. We walk up & down hills on cobble stone streets & one majestic looking building after another. At one point we come across a group of monks walking along, we also see some nuns dressed the way they used to, in black habit & black veil head dress. There are monasteries, convents, universities, churches, municipal buildings, all stone & all very old. Plus lots of cafes & bars & shops. Then we reach the Primo Cathedral, the Primary Cathedral of all Spain, it is massive.

Inside the Primo Cathedral the centre is dominated by a huge choir stall with inbuilt organs. The decorations are ornate & the carvings are plentiful & amazing. Then we see the altar, it is massive, with the gold story display behind the simple altar dazzling with gold. Our local guide explains lots of things in the church, including that all the side chapels were financed by very wealthy people so that they could be buried inside the church. So much money. The places where the Cardinals are buried inside the church are marked by their scarlet hat hanging above the crypt. Right in the back of the church we see the most holy of the objects inside, the Monstrance, a large gold, silver & precious jewel structure that is used for important religious ceremonies, originally made around 1500.

We wandered the streets a bit more before arriving at the Plaza Major & having a bit of time for lunch. We sat & ate in the shade, then I had a gelato & we gathered again for the walk back out of Toledo & down another different set of very long escalators to get back down to the bus. Another hour back to Madrid & then Prado art museum.

Our guide this time (we had a guided tour last trip) explained things a little differently & again we enjoyed seeing the work of the Spanish masters from a slightly different perspective. Back to the hotel for a short break & a refresh.

Dinner tonight was again at the same theatre restaurant as our last tour, although this time we had the whole restaurant to ourselves. The food & drink was just as good & the entertainment was superb. We all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves & the singers got the group involved with singing & dancing. It was a thoroughly enjoyable evening. Back to the hotel, shower & bed. Another great day.