Toledo: love at first sight!

This past weekend, Krista and I travelled to Toledo, Spain and met up with our Cuenca auxiliar friends Corinna, Helen, Natira and Jaclyn.  Toledo is literally the most beautiful city I think I’ve ever seen—I enjoyed it so much.  You all can laugh at me for saying this, but it was like a feast for my eyes—rolling dark green hills with trees sprouting from them, Castle walls everywhere, Jewish, Arabic and Christian influenced architecture in one city reflecting that at one point in time, all three of the groups lived together peacefully in the city.  I think that is so beautiful. 

So, to begin the trip, Krista and I left Villa early in the morning.  7:07 am to be exact. So early, but so worth it too! We took the train to Madrid, and then took another train to Toledo and arrived around 11.  We hopped on a bus that took us to Plaza Zocodover, the main plaza area with a lot of restaurants, bars, and Mazapan shops that Toledo is famous for.  I had mazapan for the first time in Toledo and really liked it!  For those of you who are Homestar Runner fans, I couldn't stop saying "MARZAPAAAAN!" in the homestar voice...haha.  Sometimes I just amuse myself.  Anyway, mazapan is delicious!  We got to Plaza Zocodover and then walked the rest of the way to our hotel.  It seemed longer than it really was, just because it was a new place and we kept venturing down different alleys with tall walls and cobblestone and brick paths.  Example A:

So cool!! I loved seeing this pretty much everywhere we went. 

We got to the hotel earlier than expected, so we left our bags there and wandered around, mostly down by the Tajo River.  We found some cool fort-like structures and climbed around, enjoying a bag of snacks that I purchased at the train station to tide us over until it was time to eat. 

here is Krista steering the fort :)

Anyway, after checking into our hotel, we wandered around again to get some lunch and cafe.  We had a delicious Cocido menu del dia, complete with Morcilla (blood sausage), that Krista was brave enough to try, but I still haven't been able to stomach the idea of eating!! It's literally fried blood. eeeckkkk

Me enjoying my sopa cocido con fideos :) yummy!

We walked around a lot more after that, and saw a lot of Toledo, actually.  I'll put up a few pictures here, but more of them will be posted later to my facebook and I'll enter a link as well.  We walked across some castley walls and just walked around the city, enjoying every view!

Krista and I with Miguel Cervantes :)

I seriously have no idea how this happened...but this is a PICTURE!! and it looks so much more like and oil painting or something!! how cool! :)  I didn't edit it at all!

Anywa, Helen, Jaclyn, Natira and Corinna joined us later that night, and we had quite the hilarious and memorable night!  Jaclyn lived in Toledo a few years ago for a study abroad term, so she showed us around, and at the end of the night, we went to a dance club that is a museum during the day and used to be a church! I thought that was kind of funny, but it was a really good time! 

The next day we toured around Toledo again.  We saw Cathedrals, the Mosque, and more Mazapan shops with Mazapan castles in the windows :).  

Here are some of my favorite views!

This is all six of us.  I am not looking...haha, but I think it's a nice picture of everyone else!

So, there we are!  I hope you enjoyed the plethora of photos from Toledo.  I loved it there so much and I am looking forward to going back :).

ALSO, Krista and I just booked tickets to Italy for Dec 2nd.  We have a break between the 2nd-12th, so we'll be going to 4 or 5 different cities in Italy!! I am so excited, especially because I get to visit my cousin, Eddie, who lives outside of Florence. WOO HOO!! I love Europe!!

Love,

Mary