Deviation Day 12: Madrid and Toledo

After packing everything up this morning, we took our trip from the hostel to the airport via bus and made our flight very smoothly. It was a very fast (45 minutes of airtime) flight costing only about 60 American Dollars but it was worth its weight in gold because it saved us from another 8 hour bus ride.

After landing we took a short bus ride from the airport to the main metro station and then boarded the impressive Madrid Metro to make it right to our hostel’s doorstep. Unfortunately, our directions (on my iPod) cleared without having wifi so we ended up taking much longer than we wanted on the metro (a few mix-ups) but finally got everything in order. We first had to get to the hostel and make our arrangements for staying an extra night because we had purposely left that night open if we wanted to take a side trip. We were very close to traveling to Toledo and looking for a hostel there but we opted to just stay in Madrid and take advantage of the frequent (and cheap) buses from Madrid to Toledo. For a bit over 8 euros round trip we hopped a 45 minute bus to Toledo right after checking in.

Toledo is one of the most beautiful cities in know in terms of its surroundings and overall layout. It is bounded on three sides by the Tagus River and sits atop a big hill just south of Madrid. In the many picturesque landscapes that are available you can see the highest point is its cathedral. Our visit, while partially motivated by sights, was mostly concentrating on the souvenir department.

I wanted to get back to Toledo myself after being there but Brian really wanted to buy a sword so we ended up filling both needs. We stopped at a lot of cool shops but the one that stood out was the swordsmith (espadero in Spanish) with a free tour of a workshop given before purchasing the same hand-made swords. Here are some pictures of the store and the merchandise available.





After our souvenirs were purchased, we set out to see some sights before the 10PM bus back to Madrid. Unfortunately, we were met with the early Spanish closing system and were only able to see the exteriors of buildings. It would have been awesome to go into Toledo’s cathedral, but we did get some shots of it and other buildings around the city (the two other surviving Spanish Synagogues from the same time period [13th century] as the one in Córdoba).






We did stumble upon one museum which was pretty cool and cheaply priced. More of a temporary exhibit than a full museum, this place had information and artifacts about the conquest of Spain (Hispania in Latin) by the Romans and the previous tribes that existed there as well like the Iberians, the Lusitanians, and the Phoenicians. We learned a bit but got a good opportunity to take some cool and fun pictures too.






As the hot Spanish sun was setting lower and lower we began to think about going back, but not before we got a treat we had been waiting for the whole trip. That’s right, Churros con Chocolate in Toledo! We got a great serving of them and then had some local, nun-made sweets as well before hopping a cab to the bus station.




Our bus and subsequent metro rides were uneventful and we got back to our hostel, Las Musas, without a trouble. We sank into our comfortable beds in the air-conditioned room and thought about the awesomeness that would be tomorrow, our long but last day in Madrid!