We arrived in Madrid early morning after a smooth flight, met our tour leader Kristin and driver Juan and headed to Toledo – a fitting start to our Spanish Capitals tour since Toledo was once the main capital city and is important in Spanish history for over 2,500 years. The entire city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is virtually unchanged since medieval times. Guide Juanjo showed us the sites. Our tour began outside the city to take in the sweeping views before crossing the 14th century bridge into the city on foot. We toured the beautiful San Juan de Los Reyes monastery, the Santa Maria Blanca synagogue, and saw El Greco's masterpiece The Burial of the Count of Orgaz in Santo Tome. We learned about the convergence of Moorish, Jewish, and Christian influences still visible in the architectural layers of the city. Since today is Easter, we snacked on some delicious torrijas, a traditional holiday treat similar to French toast. Delicious! At one shop we saw up close how the famous damasquinado or damascene are made, the Moorish art of inlaying gold, copper, or silver threads against a matte black steel. Lunch and free time to shop and browse the swords and other specialty shops of Toledo. What a fantastic introduction to Spain. Back at the hotel we are checked in and freshening up before dinner.
Dinner tonight at our neighborhood Puerto Rico restaurant was a real Spanish treat. Lots of new tastes on the menu.
Katelyn got a banana for dessert – surprise!
After dinner we strolled through our neighborhood in Old Madrid and did some shopping and people watching. What an excellent first day!
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