Nowhere near enough time in Toledo - Spain/Portugal Road Trip Part 12

 24 hours in Toledo gives just a flavour of its treasures

View across Toledo’s rooftops

The wait to get here was so worth it! The city is described as an ‘open air museum’ and it is easy to see why. Our 24 hour visit really just gave us a taste of what the beautiful medieval city holds. It is a place where you can see its Jewish, Islamic and Christian past. Many of the buildings have been taken over and Christianised with the take over by Alfonso VI in 1085, but their history is clearly seen in the architecture. The city felt completely safe in the old town, which is where we stayed, and this allowed us to carry on ‘sightseeing’ at night too.

Río Tajo looking down from the walls of the city

Given that there are 33 museums and monuments, we knew we would only see a fraction of it in the time we had, so stuck to soaking up the atmosphere and the beauty of the buildings from the outside. I definitely wanted to visit the synagogue as I hadn’t yet, on this trip, been able to get to one. The Cathedral is the most expensive we have seen in the 7 weeks of travelling, so we took a sneaky look inside and decided that was for ‘next time’. It is however considered one of the most extravagant in Spain so I think

once inside the entrance fee will be worth it.

Panorama of the cathedral buildings

 

The building was quite magnificent and was incredibly photogenic, so the images can speak for themselves. We were lucky to catch some sun here on the afternoon we arrived, so we wandered around the narrow lanes and photographed as much as possible knowing that the next day rain was forecast. 

Plaza del Ayuntamiento opposite has a small pond with some unfathomable art work in it, we think meant to represent roots but not certain, however, it provided a fantastic reflection of the the cathedral. Suddenly as I took the picture a tour group looking over my shoulder all started to take the same image.

Getting our bearings and the obligatory ice cream, we sorted out where we would like to eat later and found the places we wanted to see the next day, then headed back to get ready for the evening meal, which we had promised ourselves was going to be a lovely meal out. 

The meal wasn’t quite what we planned…Spanish eating times are so incredibly late and we couldn’t wait to eat at 9 when the restaurant opened, so we headed for a pasta pizza place on the recommendation of Trip advisor and whilst it was great food, I was somewhat over dressed, more like over ‘ear-ringed’ actually! 

The rest of the night was then used to explore Toledo all lit up. It was beautiful, the photographs give a hint of some of the sights and it felt like we had the city to ourselves as all the tourists had left.

The Eagle of Toledo - Federico Martin Bahamontes

Mesquita del Cristo de la Luz - once a mosque now a church

Puerto del Sol one of the gateways in to the city

The walls of the city are extensive and again like many places we have visited it involved many steep up and down climbs to walk around. We walked for about 2 hours and only really saw a fraction of the side of the city we hadn’t done the day before. Coming across the ruins of a Roman bath was a surprise as there is nothing on the maps to say that they were there.

Heading to the Muséo Sefardi to see the synagogue, the park we crossed gave us fabulous views down to the river below. I really was falling in love with this city and was feeling great sadness at having so little time.

View from Transito  Gardens

The museum and synagogue was under renovation! We did however get to see the main prayer hall, which is what I wanted to see; the lady recognising my disappointment tried to see if we could have a cheaper ticket by asking Pi if he was over 65! He was most put out. The roof and walls were quite beautiful in the 14th century hall and the mudejar tiles on the seating transported me back to Portugal. I simply cannot get enough of these tiles!

The woman’s gallery was the only other part we could see, this contained some artefacts and history of the Jewish people in Spain.

The tie-beam roof and plasterwork decoration on the walls inside the Synagogue of El Transito

Synagogue de Santa Maria la Blanca

Around the corner is the Synagogue de Santa Maria la Blanca, with Mudéjar designs. This building was from the 13th century and it’s Islamic influences were clear to see. Stark inside, with nothing other than walls to look at, it is stunning. It has five naves and horseshoe arches; the decoration was exquisite. 

Time was running out so we reluctantly plodded back to Daisy. We stopped at a tiny coffee shop we had seen the day before, which had just enough space to step inside and order, so cute. Pi then indulged me one last library visit opposite the car park, which is at the back end of the Alcazar. It was clear that I was delaying our departure as there is so much more to explore, however with the time we had we were not now doing anything justice.

We got back just in time… we went into the car park in the dry and as we came out and the heavens opened. Knowing we had to drive through Madrid too made it even harder to leave. Madrid is one of the worst cities we have driven through, at times there are 6 lanes with exits off both sides of the motorway; really quite scary stuff for me anyway. Pi did magnificently, as ever, even declaring that it wasn’t bad at all!

Last stop in Spain was a lovely site we have visited a few times, Camping Riaza about an hour north of Madrid. The lady remembered us from seven years ago and it was good to be back. The weather was definitely changing and suddenly t-shirts and shorts looked out of place. A little town we stopped at before getting to the campsite felt wintery, with the lovely smell of wood smoke fires.  A storm in the night nearly brought down Daisy’s awning as it buckled under the weight of the water; 3 am is not a great time to be dealing with rain! Despite the rain it’s a brilliant site, in beautiful countryside with fantastic facilities and as ever we vowed to come back and spend more time in the area rather than just passing through each time. 

So for now it was goodbye to Spain and time for the final leg of driving up through France to complete the journey.