Day 49: Toledo!
Day 49: TOLEDO!!!
Wow! I didn't know such cool places existed. Toledo, Spain is only a quick bullet train ride south of Madrid. And it is well worth the thirty minute train ride. While there, my camera died as did my mp3 player. The wall adapter from Best Buy seems to have run its course. That morning I tried to plug in my camera but it didn't work. I tried my computer and that didn't work either. So this morning (Wednesday) I went to a store and bought one but I'll speak of that later.
Around 10 in the morning, I went to the train station by way of metro. After yesterday, I knew the trains were fairly cheap and good. But the ticket office didn't sell bullet train tickets. He directed me to costumer service where I bought it for 9,35 euros. Within the hour, I was walking in the medieval town of Toledo.
Since yesterday's excursion of mine without a map went so well, I did the same thing. But once again, my fallibility came through for me and I got lost in winding streets that make Prague's back roads look like highways. But all in all, it was great. Toledo's cathedral was grander than Segovia's. On the outside, I hand it to Segovia. But the interior of Toledo's was superb! The massive space was well designed and the ten foot wide columns held the ceiling high above. I thought St Vitus in Prague was sweet but this one's stained glass windows alone were bigger and better. But is bigger always better? With old churches, most likely the answer was yes. Nowadays, hopefully people realize that the building does not matter.
I also went up a Jesuit church's tower and the town's castle. But Segovia triumphs in terms of castle coolness. Toledo's alcazar was too new to be as cool as Segovia's fairy tale castle on a cliff. It is now that city library so I was able to go up to the top and look down at the town, just like from the Jesuit towers. And as if I hadn't had enough stairs too last a life time, I stumbled upon a watch tower near the city walls. So of course I went up there and scraped my back on the final doorway. The view was incredible and from my last picture, you can see how crowded the old town is within the medieval walls. But it was here my camera died and the sun was setting anyways, so I headed out.
I saw on a map that there were Roman ruins nearby so of course I walked over and was soon sitting on a Roman circus rock.
I watched ten old Spanish men play a round of bocci ball. They were laughing and having fun. When one man got up to... throw? Bowl? whatever you call it-- when one guy was ready for his turn, everyone got out of the way and I saw why. He chucked his ball towards the little red target furiously. One of the men tapped the target ball with his shoe but the chucker still ferociously threw his second ball past it.
I would have watched another round but I realized I had a train to catch. So I continued on but the train didn't leave for another hour. I tried to take a nap in the train station which used to be a mosque. The intrinsically lined tiles were on the floor, the walls, and the ceiling.
The train made it back to Madrid safely.
Wow! I didn't know such cool places existed. Toledo, Spain is only a quick bullet train ride south of Madrid. And it is well worth the thirty minute train ride. While there, my camera died as did my mp3 player. The wall adapter from Best Buy seems to have run its course. That morning I tried to plug in my camera but it didn't work. I tried my computer and that didn't work either. So this morning (Wednesday) I went to a store and bought one but I'll speak of that later.
Around 10 in the morning, I went to the train station by way of metro. After yesterday, I knew the trains were fairly cheap and good. But the ticket office didn't sell bullet train tickets. He directed me to costumer service where I bought it for 9,35 euros. Within the hour, I was walking in the medieval town of Toledo.
Since yesterday's excursion of mine without a map went so well, I did the same thing. But once again, my fallibility came through for me and I got lost in winding streets that make Prague's back roads look like highways. But all in all, it was great. Toledo's cathedral was grander than Segovia's. On the outside, I hand it to Segovia. But the interior of Toledo's was superb! The massive space was well designed and the ten foot wide columns held the ceiling high above. I thought St Vitus in Prague was sweet but this one's stained glass windows alone were bigger and better. But is bigger always better? With old churches, most likely the answer was yes. Nowadays, hopefully people realize that the building does not matter.
I also went up a Jesuit church's tower and the town's castle. But Segovia triumphs in terms of castle coolness. Toledo's alcazar was too new to be as cool as Segovia's fairy tale castle on a cliff. It is now that city library so I was able to go up to the top and look down at the town, just like from the Jesuit towers. And as if I hadn't had enough stairs too last a life time, I stumbled upon a watch tower near the city walls. So of course I went up there and scraped my back on the final doorway. The view was incredible and from my last picture, you can see how crowded the old town is within the medieval walls. But it was here my camera died and the sun was setting anyways, so I headed out.
I saw on a map that there were Roman ruins nearby so of course I walked over and was soon sitting on a Roman circus rock.
I watched ten old Spanish men play a round of bocci ball. They were laughing and having fun. When one man got up to... throw? Bowl? whatever you call it-- when one guy was ready for his turn, everyone got out of the way and I saw why. He chucked his ball towards the little red target furiously. One of the men tapped the target ball with his shoe but the chucker still ferociously threw his second ball past it.
I would have watched another round but I realized I had a train to catch. So I continued on but the train didn't leave for another hour. I tried to take a nap in the train station which used to be a mosque. The intrinsically lined tiles were on the floor, the walls, and the ceiling.
The train made it back to Madrid safely.
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