I managed to wake up in the morning, at 8:30am to take the metro to our meeting point. This would be Chulo's first mini vacay with me; needless to say, I was a bit nervous carrying along a 3 month old puppy. I put him in my purse and off we went. When I got to the train station, I found my friends, 4 other Fulbrighters. We stood in the long line to get our tickets for the 10:20 train, only to find out that it was sold out. We had to wait until 12:30 to leave. So, we killed time by walking around the neighborhood, playing with Chulo, and found a cool book fair. When it finally came time to board the train, I was nervous for Chulo because there was a security point. To my relief, a small dog in my purse was not, and will never be a problem in Spain. Onward! Chulo was sitting in my lap, when this Brazilian couple, along with the rest of the train, turned their attention to my puppy. I was caught off guard when the couple took him out of my arms to go sit with them. Awkward. The train ride flew by, only thirty minutes, and before we knew it we were in Toledo!!
As we stepped off the train we could see the whole small, mountanous, beautiful town before us. We hesitated not, grabbed some maps, and headed uphill. Uphill is no exaggeration. We had to climb up a million "stairs" (really, the side of a mountain) just to get to the center of the city. We stopped to take pictures of the beautiful views around us, but our main goal was to find food. We were famished, and had heard about the good eats in Toledo. After wondering around the town for about an hour, we finally settled on a cute restaurant uphill, with terrace seating outside. Chulo was on his best behavior, but was trying to snatch our food. In Spain, for lunch, you can always order the menu del dia, which includes appetizer, main dish, dessert, and wine for a set price. Perfecto! The red wine was delightful, and just what I needed. My appetizer was a grilled veggie mix with a warm tomato sauce. The main course was roasted chicken "a la Toledo" in a special cinamon-like sauce. Delicious! After stuffing our faces, we decided it was time to really explore the town.
We walked up and down numerous hills and narrow, stone laden streets. We went to see the famous catherdral, which looked like it was about a thousand years old. Gothic style, with gold adornments all over, extremely high celings, and an altar made of ivory. Outside of the cathedral, a wedding had just taken place. A young, seemingly rich couple, drove off in a navy blue Rolls Royce. We sauntered on and saw the House of Greco, famous painter, and began our search for mazapan, a typical Toledian treat made of almond paste. In one of the bakery windows, we saw a huge replica of the cathedral, made completely out of the mazapan paste. Amazing. I had never even heard of this typical almomd paste treat, but I decided to indulge and buy a whole box. Delectable!
Our next venture was finding the famous mosque. We searched up and down, walked forever, got tired, sat down, and still no mosque. We ran into a 90 year old woman with a cane and decided to try our luck asking her for directions. She was more than happy to walk us right up to the door! The mosque was nothing like we had hoped. It was small, old, and dusty. However, we walked across a rusty bridge, and stumbled upon a castle-like structure and a fabulous view of the whole town. We sat and enjoyed the veiw for a while. When we walked back to the center of the city, we noticed some kind of celebration being set up. Out of curiousity I asked what was happening, and was informed that it was the 20th anniversary of Star Wars!! There would be a parade, and music, and a show too! I tried to contain my laughter. These spaniards were going all out for this Star Wars business! They were even dressed as the characters! We moved on.
We found another great view by the national library and the royal palace, Alcazar, and we sat some more. Our time in Toledo was winding down, so we inquired about the one thing we had left out of our trip.....churros y chocolate!! It is very typical here to have a very thick rich cup of chocolate and a plate of churros. Fresh. Very tasty. We found a cute bar closer to where we had to catch our train, and sat there for a while; very content with our churros y chocolate, and with the Holy Toledo!
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