To do as they do in Toledo...

I went on a day trip to Toledo last Wednesday. Toledo is an hour bus ride away from Madrid. You would think being so close it would be just another suburb but it is a completly different world really. A small city on the top of this big hill, with lots of history. Full of mosques and synagogues now turned into catholic churches, museums and a beautiful view from the top of the hill.
The city is a very popular tourist spot so I am pretty sure that 95% of the people on the bus were tourists. The bus ride was fine, except for the large group of boys from, umm I am going to guess Holand, sitting all around me. Once arrived, the bus droped us off at the bottom of the hill. Luckily I had read about this in advance otherwise I am sure I would be writing this update differently from having to walk up the hill. I took a quick city bus up the hill and got off at the main square, Plaza Zocodover. I knew I had arrived to where I wanted to be when I saw the big Mcdonalds right in the square (sarcasm here), that doesn't seem very historical to me.

Anyway after figuring out where I should go first I headed towards the Museo de Santa Cruz. I will admit I do like museum, art, history and culture but going from museum to museum can get a little boring and costly. Luckily however this museum was free and had some nice original Greco's to view. I didn't go into any other museums or cathedrals, seeing them from the outside was good enough for me. From here I wandered further up the hill to the Alcazar (fortress), which was destroyed and rebuilt but at this time was under construction so wasn't open. Nice from the outside at least. I managed to get some excellent photos of the view from up here as well.


Following a tiny map I printed off I managed to see what I came for, so the rest of the afternoon I people watched, did some window shopping and walked down the many narrow streets. In the past Toledo was known for their swords and armoury so lots of the shops had knights armour and swords on display. I can't imagine having bought a sword and taking it on the bus and then the metro to get back, I am sure I would have gotten some interesting looks. When it was time for lunch, sadly I was feeling like something comforting and decided to go to Mcdonalds.
I know how wrong this is, especially to take in the full experience of Toledo I really should have gone to a small restaurant and gotten a bochadillo but I just really wanted a burger. (As a side note: the Mcdonald burgers in Alberta are much better, it must be that Alberta beef!! )I decided I had time before my bus left and would walk down the hill to the station. It wasn't that bad but I did stop for some water on the way down.