Toledo

Day 3-Toledo

Today we left Madrid in the morning to take a tour of the ancient capital city of Toledo. We met up with our guide, Carlos, around 9:30. He is a character, but he knows his Toledo very well.

After taking advantage of the city view at a vista point across the river, we rode 6 escalators up into the medieval beauty. Toledo was founded as the capital by the Romans and was chosen as such because of its geographical features; 1. It is near the center of the peninsula, 2. It is on a hill and 3.  It is surrounded on 3 sides by the Río Tajo.

We walked up the hill and entered into the Cathedral. The kids soaked up every morsel of information given. After, we walked to see the most famous painting by El Greco, The Burial of the Count of Orgaz. The whole group definitely soaked in lots of knowledge. Then we visited a church which was built as a synagogue originally, the history of this whole city is awe inspiring.

We ended our time in Toledo with a demonstration of the sword making  and of damasquina jewelry. The group had a ball shopping for swords and jewelry.

We made our way back to Madrid for our you of the Royal Palace, the king and queen do not live here, it is a national monument. It is used to host official state events and as a "hotel" for visiting dignitaries.

After some free time to freshen up at the hotel, we had some dinner and introduced the group to la Plaza Mayor at night. We enjoyed the people watching, souvenir shopping and the delicious ice cream.

We returned to the hotel for another good night of sleep.