What a beautiful city! Toledo is known for the melding of the cultural influences of Christians, Muslims, and Jews, and those influences were evident everywhere we went. The views of the city were spectacular, and the day was not too chilly, so the walk from the bus up to the town square with our local guide, Carlos, was enjoyable. Carlos was very entertaining and made the walk very interesting.

We strolled over The Puente de San Martin, (St Martin’s Bridge) which features five arches. Only very few bridges in the world were that long at the time of its construction in the Middle Ages. The bridge has been rebuilt almost in its entirety, with two end towers, which gives the bridge a strong structure. In 1921 it was declared a National Monument. The bridge crosses over the river Tagus, which river on the Iberian peninsula. We will no doubt see the river again when we arrive in Lisbon, Portugal, because it flows 626 miles from mid-eastern Spain and empties into the Atlantic Ocean in Lisbon.

Little shops and restaurants line the cobblestone streets, and the unique architecture, doors, and windows of the buildings were beautiful to see.

The monastery of St. John of the Monarchs was one of our first stops. It was founded by King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to commemorate the birth of their son. It was also built to be their final resting place, but they ultimately did not get buried there, but rather in Granada. The church itself is notable for its decoration of the coats of arms of the Catholic Monarchs, which were featured on both sides of the monastery with an eagle holding the coats of arms.

We walked through the Jewish Quarter which is entered via a gate. The streets are mazes and it is easy to become lost in them. We visited the Synagogue of Santa Maria which was built in the late twelfth or early thirteenth century, and is considered the oldest synagogue building in Europe that is still standing. The building was converted to a Catholic church in the early 15th century, but there is a small Star of David carved into the wall inside the building, which is still present.

Toledo has a long history in the production of blade weapons, which are now common souvenirs of the city and many shops along our walk were selling them.

After the walk, we said goodbye to Carlos, and met at the Plaza De Zocodover with many shops and restaurants surrounding it.

Our guide escorted us for lunch to a restaurant that served pinchos. This was a fun experience. All of the offerings were lined up on the counter, skewered with a toothpick in each one. I chose avocado on a hearty slice of bread, a sandwich of jamon with cheese, and on Jaunjo’s recommendation, a pork and paprika dish. Everything was delicious. You don’t pay until you’ve finished your meal and then you take your empty plate to the cashier and the cashier counts the toothpicks on your plate and that’s what you pay. What a fabulous idea.

We then found a marzipan shop and bought some candies and then it was time to get back on the bus for the long drive to Granada.

The bus ride took us through beautiful scenery with rows and rows of olive trees as far as the eye could see. Spain produces about half the world’s total olive oil, making it the world’s leading olive oil producer and exporter.

During the bus ride our guide gave us a taste of marzipan and played some Spanish classical music tapes as well as some Spanish favorites and we all took a little siesta.

We stopped at a cafeteria after about two hours into our ride and our guide arranged for us to sample manchego cheeses and crackers which was a nice surprise. The cheese was delicious.

Right before we arrived in Granada, I spotted a huge rainbow that arched across the sky…hopefully foretelling good luck for our trip.

We checked into our room and then made our way to the buffet for dinner with the group. It was a wonderful day and we’re looking forward to tomorrow touring Granada. The author Washington Irving was enthralled with Granada andI the Alambra and wrote the novel “Tales of the Alambra” which I’m going to look forward to reading.

The gate to the Jewish Quarter

The monastery of St. John of the Monarchs

Synagogue of Santa Maria

The star of David

Toledo, Ohio is the sister city to Toledo

Our guide with manchego cheeses

Before I regale you with today’s touring excerpts, we were told by our local guide this morning that the stormy weather we experienced when we arrived on Thursday from the airport was actually the worst storm that Madrid has seen since weather records were recorded. I told you… it was a huge storm!!

Anyway, today we visited El Escorial, which was built between 1563 and 1584 by King Philip II. (We were not allowed to take any photos inside the buildings, but I do encourage you to google the site and see the amazing art works!)

The  El Escorial is the largest Renaissance building in the world.  El Escorial was both a Spanish royal palace and a monastery, although Philip II is the only monarch who ever lived there. The building took over 21 years to complete, and to this day, when a job takes longer than necessary, “la obra de El Escorial” is a proverbial expression meaning “something that takes a long time to complete”.

The building itself, made from granite, is quite austere and definitely did not have the makings of an ornate palace.

El Escorial has been the burial site for most of the Spanish kings from the last five centuries, and we went into the different crypts…of which there are many…to visit with the kings as well as the queens, princes, and princesses.

The floor plan of the building is in the form of a gridiron. This gridiron motif surfaced many times in paintings, upholstery, tapestry, etc. that we saw on the tour, and it was symbolic of St Lawrence who, in the third century AD, was martyred by being roasted to death on a grill. YIKES!

We toured many beautiful rooms, and admired the stunning frescoes and tapestries (some created by Goya), that adorned the walls. Since today was Saturday, we couldn’t go into the church since weddings were taking place, so instead we were invited to rooms that visitors normally are not allowed to visit.

Philip lived on and off in the Escorial for 14 years. We visited his bedroom and the bed where he died, which prior to his death, allowed him a view of the high altar, and to see mass being celebrated while in bed.

Today, El Escorial is a UNESCO World Heritage site and functions as a monastery, basilica, royal palace, pantheon, library, museum, university, school, and hospital.

It was a lot of walking, so we were grateful when the tour ended and we were back in the bus. We had a quick lunch and then it was off with the guide for a tour around the old city of Madrid.

The architecture is amazing and the balconies that are on almost every building are beautiful.
We finished off the tour in a pastry shop and we were served thick hot chocolate along with churros to dip in it.

We have a very early day tomorrow, so we had a quick dinner and it’s off to bed. Interestingly, the Spaniards have their lunch or main meal at around 4 pm and dinner doesn’t start until around 9 or 10. The restaurants become very crowded at those times, so having an early lunch as well as dinner today, benefited us very well.

The old city of Madrid

After breakfasting at the hotel, we boarded our bus for a tour through Madrid. We saw the Royal Palace and walked the grounds of the Plaza de Espana, the city’s main square. The day was a bit chilly, but the sun finally came out and it was lovely walking around.

Our guide, Juanjo, told us a lot of history about Madrid and told us many interesting stories. He also told us that Spaniards eat lunch around 3:00 in the afternoon, and therefore, dinner isn’t started until around 9. The restaurants open early to accommodate tourists, but stay open late for the Spaniards, who don’t eat much beef, preferring to eat fish and chicken and they eat a lot of vegetables and fruits. Olive oil is a big commodity and Spain manufacturers and exports most of the olive oil in the world. He said, however, olive oil is getting very expensive to purchase.

The afternoon was ours to do what we like, so Kelly, Jim, Allan, and I visited The Prado museum. The museum is huge and although we tried to see most of the famous paintings, we spent a lot of time going up and down stairs and walking across from one museum wing to the other.

We saw many Goyas, Rubens, and a Rembrandt. We also saw Diego Velazquez’s “The Feast of Bacchus” and also his “Las Meninas”. There was also a famous painting by Bosch entitled “The Garden of Earthly Delights.”

There are over 2,000 paintings on display and you could spend months studying them all, but I think we saw some of the highlights in the three hours that we had.

And then…Good news! When we’re arrived back from our touring, our suitcase was awaiting us in our room. YAY!!

At night, we had the Welcome Dinner which was very nice and tomorrow we’ll be taking a tour to El Escorial Monastery.

Well, we almost cancelled the trip. The weekend before the day we were scheduled to leave, I started with a fever, horrific cough, and just felt exhausted. I went to the walk-in clinic where the Dr diagnosed bronchitis. She set me up with an arsenal of meds in the hopes my fever would break 24 hours before we were to due to leave on our journey, which thankfully it did.

Armed with my medicine cache, we embarked on our journey, and waited at Newark for our Lufthansa flight, which was delayed. We had a tight turn around in Munich to catch our connecting flight, so we were a bit worried we wouldn’t make it.

We arrived in Munich and had to sprint to the next gate, which of course, was literally the furthest gate in the airport from where we had landed. (If you haven’t sprinted with bronchitis, you don’t know what you’re missing.)

We made the plane and arrived in Madrid.

Our checked bag did not.

We had to wait on a long line to file a claim to have our luggage delivered to the hotel. But I knew our driver was waiting for us outside, and we couldn’t go out to let him know because they wouldn’t let us back in. I texted our guide who told the driver we would be there soon.

We finally filed the claim, but didn’t have high hopes the lady really understood that it was imperative our luggage arrive at our current hotel, as soon as possible, since we would be leaving it on Sunday and then who knows how they would get it to us.

We met our driver, in the pouring rain, and we walked to his car. It was like a monsoon when we exited from the terminal – strong gusts of wind, local flooding, and over an inch of rain was forecasted, much of it already on the ground. We had to walk thru puddles since the road had streams of water pouring by, so now my ballet shoes are soaked. And I’m coughing non-stop.

The driver gets us in the car in the parking garage and proceeds to go out the gate, but of course, as our luck would have it, the gate won’t open. Fifteen minutes waiting for help.

We finally get underway, I’m coughing up a lung, only to be stuck in traffic because there’s a major accident ahead. The rain is pelting the car and the wind is raging. (Our guide later told us they actually had to close the park since tree limbs were falling and the place was flooding!)

We arrived at the hotel, met our guide who is very nice and funny, and had a meeting with all the group to introduce ourselves and to find out the information we needed to know for the next few days. I had told the guide when I arrived, since it sounded like I had tuberculosis or worse, not to worry about my cough. I told him I have bronchitis and have a note that I was cleared for travel. I had the results from my COVID, RSV, and flu tests plus my negative chest x-ray results with me. He said no worries. During the meeting I had to excuse myself because of the cough and Allan told me our guide was very kind and told everyone I’m not contagious, I have bronchitis, and will no doubt be coughing during the trip. Everyone has been very kind and understanding, and they ask how I’m doing. It’s a nice group of folks.

Our friends Kelly and Jim are with us, so after the meeting we had a quick dinner together and then it was to bed for a much needed sleep!