Day tripping

Tuesday we took a day trip to the town of Toledo, Spain. It was wonderful. The town itself is declared a World Heritage site because for its extensive cultural and monumental heritage as one of the former capitals of the Spanish Empire and place of coexistence of Christian, Jewish and Moorish cultures. The city is just beautiful. It climbs upward though the hills and has hundreds of small streets twisting left and right, up and down all throughout it.

Andy and I just wandered through the sunlit streets for hours. It was a gorgeous day and we had no real plans on where to go. So far during the trip we had been to tons of churches and cathedrals, but the Santa Iglesia Catedral Primada was by far my favorite. It wasn't anything too spectacular on the outside, but inside ... wow. It was really much bigger than it looks from the outside and the murals, stained glass windows and amazingly elaborate chapels dedicated to the different saints. There were many different rooms inside, all decorated with different art and even a room with all of the uniforms of old bishops and priests. My favorite part was the retable which was done in Gothic style and represents the passion of the Christ and ascension of the Virgin Mary. We once again were not able to take photos inside so I have no pictures of it, but it was beautiful. (here's a pic of it from Wikipedia)

After that we went to another religious building, this one a Jesuit church. It is popular for it's great view of the city. It almost seemed like a hidden treasure because there weren't many people inside and it was hidden among the winding streets of the city. Little signs pointed the way to the stairs which took you up to the top. The view was perfect!

After that we just wandered and wandered and ... ran into a castle! There was a market near it and a pretty little park so we walked around that for a while. Then we decided to take a new route back to the train station and go more spectacular views of the city and all the beige and white rooftops with the countryside surrounding them. It was a perfect and beautiful Spanish city.

That night we went to a restaurant called Tapas Bar for dinner. I got smoked salmon and it was very good. We also shared a pitcher of Sangria, which was delicious. After that we checked out a party at a club for international students but the drinks were over priced and we were pretty tired from walking around Toledo for hours so we headed back to the hotel to get some shut eye. Barcelona was yet to come.