Spain travel - Toledo

 (Warning - picture heavy)

Toledo is a day trip from Madrid. But you can even choose to stay over in this lovely place. When we were planning our trip to Spain, I was mesmerized by the pics I saw of Toledo and so this city went onto our itinerary. While Toledo can be a day trip, it deserves a stay over as well. So in case you are going, and you plan to stay over, you won't regret it.

Isn't it gorgeous!!?? So we took a train from Madrid to Toledo and booked our return ticket for that day as well (EUR20 per person). Once we reached Toledo, we went to the tourist information centre at the station and booked the tickets for main attractions that we wished to see. We also got out city map - the lifeline! (Anyone familiar with Europe would know that the city map and the metro map are the 2 must have maps in any city :-))

After that, we took a taxi from the station to the city centre (Plaza de Zocodover). From the main plaza, one can go anywhere in Toledo. One of the best things you can do in Toledo is take one of the narrow lanes and just get lost - and once you have had enough, you can ask the way back to the main plaza :-)

We first took the land train which is the perfect way to get a full view of Toledo. The train ride includes an audio tour and the train will also stop at one place at the edge of the city where you will a gorgeous view of the city.

The next thing on the agenda was to grab some lunch, browse some shops and then present ourselves at the Cathedral for our guided tour. The Cathedral is the centrepiece of Toledo. It is truly breathtaking and a masterpiece. One can actually spend hours just going around the Cathedral.

After the Cathedral, our guide took us to one of the city gates (this was part of the tour we had booked) and opened one of the gates so that we could actually go to the ramparts. One can get a lovely 360 degree view from up here. 

By the time the tour ended, it was dark and time to go back to the main plaza so that we could catch a bus to the station. So we walked from the wall to the main plaza and on the way, we shopped for souvenirs and the lovely damascene jewelery and wall hangings. We also had dinner on the way. 

Then it was back to Madrid (will be covered in the next post) where we saw a very interesting sight at the station. A sort of jungle had been cultivated in the middle of the station with a moat all around, and in the moat - there were hundreds of tortoises! It was a fascinating thing to see in the middle of a busy station :-)

So that's it on our trip to Toledo. Do let me know if you have any questions!