The Beautiful City of Toledo (Road Trip Part 1)


Hola chicos, long time no speak. I've had a little break from writing blogs recently, and have been focussing on writing scripts for our virtual reality experiences. But today we're back on the blog to tell you about Toledo and the time we spent in this wonderful city.

Katie's brother James and his girlfriend, Emily, came to stay with us for a month at the end of their interrail trip around the continent, so Katie and I planned a family friendly road trip to coincide with James' birthday.

The first stop on our trip away was in Toledo, which is the old capital of Spain. After Toledo lost its position as capital, the city had some financial difficulties that meant none of the old buildings were renovated or replaced. That was bad for development at the time, but makes this a great place for tourists now!

Toledo is a gorgeous medieval city with dozens of grandiose buildings. We started at the Monasterio de San Juan de los Reyes, which is really beautiful. The passageways and courtyards were lovely to wander round and it was a great introduction to what the city has to offer.



 

There's a Jewish quarter and synagogue in Toledo, which was interesting to see. There were also monuments to all the Jews that died in yet another persecution that happened in medieval times. The Jews really were targeted a lot throughout Europe.


The river Tagus runs around the old city of Toledo. It’s wide and peaceful, allowing for fun activities like zip lining. It surrounds two thirds of the city, so there are some cool old bridges, which I am a massive fan of!



Toledo is famous for making swords and inventing marzipan. Neither of us are big fans of either, but this fact certainly helped explain the very specific snacks and souvenirs on display in various windows. And some of the marzipan we saw was insanely expensive! 

 One of the most impressive buildings in the city is the Cathedral Primal, which is very ornate and imposing. It houses the biggest bell in Spain, which weighs 17.5 tonnes, or over four elephants!

We had a wonderful day exploring the city, and celebrating James' birthday with a McDonalds beer in the main square. There were a couple of stressful hours in the evening though, when our AirBnB host decided not to pick up the phone or respond to any of our messages. After contacting AirBnB customer support, and being on the phone for over an hour, we eventually got upgraded to a much nicer (and more central) apartment. It was owned by a delightful lady, and the flat was the perfect place to relax, watch a film and have some drinks at the end of a long day. So it all worked out very well in the end!

Join us next time as we continue our road trip further west. Ciao for now!

 Watch the 360 video on Toledo here:







 























Labels: Spain, In My Mouth, Weird and Wonderful , , , ,