Today we planned a day trip to the nearby town of Toledo. Toledo is located on the banks of the Tagus River in central Spain, about 35 minutes by high-speed train from central Madrid.

Toledo is known as the “City of the Three Cultures” for the cultural influences of Christians, Muslims, and Jews throughout its history. It was the capital of the Visigoth kingdom from 542 to 725. Toledo was also the location of historic events such as the Councils of Toledo and was labelled the “Imperial City” due to the fact that it was the main venue of the court of Charles V, who was the Holy Roman Emporer of Spain.

The old city is perched on a hill overlooking the river. When you arrive by train, it’s a 15 minute walk to the ancient bridge that leads into the old city.

Coincidentally the Tagus River also is the same river that flows past Lisbon. Of course it is much smaller here than in Lisbon.

At first glance the views are extremely charming.

Once you get into the old city you are surrounded by 1000 year old buidings that line the streets. Streets are hilly!

Around every corner is a surprise or beautiful view. Above you can see a great view of the Primatial Cathedral of Toledo.

The cathedral inside is every bit as impressive as the Duomo in Milan.

This altarpiece, though, was very impressive. Look closely at the fresco and the sculptures around the fresco. Amazing!

The ornate ceiling was gorgeous!

From there we walked to the Monastery of San Juan de los Reyes. This is a Franciscan Monastery build around 1500.
It was originally planned to be a mausoleum for the Catholic monarchs but then after they chose to be buried in Granada the building was repurposed as a monastery.

Towards the end of the day we took a taxi across the river to a restaurant named Parador. They have a patio that is perched on the hill immediately across from the old city.

Incredible views, really.

A perfect place to sit and have a beer and a snack.

This is the old military garrison, called the Alcázar. The word actually is the Spanishized version of the Arabic “al-qasr”, which means “the castle”. Unfortunately it was closed for renovations while we were there so we were unable to go inside.
At around 5pm we returned to the train station for our train back to Atocha.
1 comment
What a beautiful place! Wow, the views must have been stunning!
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