Love consumerist stuff - I expect value for my 1p and if I don't get it, then CIAO seems a great pla...
Love consumerist stuff - I expect value for my 1p and if I don't get it, then CIAO seems a great place to tell the world.
Member since:21.03.2001
Reviews:30
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Toledo is ideally located for a day-trip for anyone taking a short city-break in Madrid. After a day or two in the busy-ness of Madrid city centre it is refreshing to go to somewhere so very different, a walled ancient city set in typical Spanish landscape. But take your camera and more film than you’d expect to have to take for as you round every corner there’ll be something that just demand a photograph!
Toledo, is set on a large rocky mound among rather flat, dry countryside. Its medieval buildings tower up over the surrounding landscape and as you get close to the city you can see that it is a walled town, with fortifications surrounding the many towers and spires of its ancient buildings. Visitors arriving on the train, have a short walk from the station and as you round the first bend in the road, you are presented with a spectacular view of the town rising above the Tajo river. You cross the old Bridge of St Martin into the town, and will inevitably pause to gaze down the rocky valley
with the town rising above you to the right.
Before going any further,let me first mention travel arrangements from Madrid. I believe the bus journey to Toledo is easy, but personally I recommend the train which can be taken from any of the Madrid railway stations and then only makes one stop between Madrid and Toledo. The service is hourly and costs only about £5.50 return (incredible to those only used to British railway fares). The station in Toledo is about ten minutes walk from the old city and the route is obvious as many other tourists will be heading in the same direction.
The walk up to the town is a steep maze of alleys and staircases, with opportunities for you to walk out on to the fortified wall and walk around the battlements.
One of the first buildings you pass on entering the town is the monastery of the Iglesia de San Juan. Make a stop here and go through the ornately carved archway into the building to see its secluded cloisters and its exhibitions of paintings and artefacts from the early middle ages to the present day. These include a huge El Greco painting of the Ascension, and also much ornate silverware. Admission to all this is free.
Just a little further into the middle of the town is a large square surrounded by cafes and shops. There is even a McDonalds here, but not quite so obvious as many of this chain’s outlets due to the planning requirements of the town. The only good use for a McDonalds in Spain is of course the free toilets and I was surprised on going in to the restaurant to see the large number of Spaniards queuing up for their burgers and fries. For me one of the joys of going to Spain is to get away from fast food! Toledo is full of cafes and restaurants of course and for those who would prefer a more relaxing lunch, why not sit in one of the many courtyard cafes and have an ice-cold beer and a tortilla with salad?
Up the road from the city square is the Alcazar, a huge military building now partly a museum. I didn’t go in there due to lack of time, but went on to the Great Cathedral, which is commonly acknowledged to be one of the finest Gothic cathedrals in the world. It is almost breath-taking in its size and beauty and an essential part of any visit. In particular, you must look at “El Transparente”, which is like a huge hole opened up in the north end of the roof, beyond which are set brightly coloured sculptures and paintings of various saints and heavenly battles. It seems out of place in such an ancient building but is majestic in its own right and highly unusual.
If you go into the Cathedral you should go to visit the small museum which contains items from the church’s treasury, including many fine gold artefacts and ancient manuscripts.
As you walk round the streets of Toledo you will see many gift shops, but many of these are quite high quality, often specialising in the fine metal-work ornaments typical of the area. These are made of filigree steel, inlaid with gold thread and are very beautiful. Also, there is a Toledan pottery style of ornamented plates which would make excellent gifts for favoured relatives and friends. The Spanish seem to like knives and daggers and many of these are for sale in the town along with suits of armour and ceremonial swords.
Toledo is rich in Islamic and Jewish history too, and much of the town has the feel of an Arabic city with its narrow labyrinthine streets. Many of the buildings are strongly Moorish in their architecture. I would say that even if you didn’t go into any of the many museums and churches in the town, just to walk around is highly interesting in itself.
In this review I have barely touched on the riches of Toledo and it might be worth taking a tour of the town with one of the local guides (the tourist office can provide information on this service). There is also a little train which is pulled around the town every half hour or so and provides a good over-view of the centre. It is however a fairly compact place and I think walking around with a guidebook is probably the best way of seeing it.
Toledo is obviously a honey-trap for tourists but the city is capable of absorbing them. There are more Americans than one would wish (I think there is a strong American connection through some joint project with Ohio state university) but they tend to stay in large groups and can be avoided without too much trouble. As with all Spanish tourist destinations, hang on to your wallet and take sensible precautions regarding cameras etc.
I love this place. It was here I had my first encounter with tripe soup having ordered the "menu de dia"! It is also a great place to go to escape the Madrid heat as the streets are so narrow and the walls so high that there is pleanty of shade. Only problem we had was getting out! We managed to get into the town just as you said, by following the tourists! Getting out was a different matter. We left long after the last tourist bus had gone and our little street map was, in true Spanish style, woefully inadequate. We just cou;dn't find our way out! As the walls were so high and the streets so winding it was very hard to get our bearings and must have taken us about 30 minutes to find a hole in the city walll to escape from!
Collingwood21 21.04.2001 17:38
Sounds a great place to visit - I love cities with plenty of history to them. Enjoyed your opinion very much, thanks. :-) sharon
grahamgibson 19.04.2001 04:16
Toledo does indeed sound like a fabulous place to visit. It's also famous historically for it's swordsmiths being second only to the Japanese for producing some of the finest, and strongest, blades in the world.
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Apr 17th, 2001
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