Toledo in a day!!

Wow!! So, Sunday I spent the day in Toledo, the old capital of Spain.  It was AMAZING.  My dear friend Alice invited me and we both had the time of our lives!! I hope that I'm able to talk about everything that happened, cuz spending just one afternoon in Toledo doesn't seem like a lot, but LOTS can happen!!
Ready, set, go!!

Well, the day started at 7:00am, meeting in a plaza about a 10 minute walk from my apartment.  There were probably around 50 of us, and we all piled into a large bus, and began the three hour trip to Toledo from Salamanca.  This was the part that made me the most nervous... I ALWAYS get car sick in buses... However, my mom left me with some ginger candy (which for those of you who don't know, ginger is GREAT for settling or preventing an upset stomach) and it worked like a charm!!

The day started out with a stop about an hour into the trip at a small cafe outside of Avila, a town between here and Toledo (of course).  We all overran the restaurant ordering coffee, snacks and different things.  There were barely any tables, but Alice and I got lucky, cuz right when we were going to sit down, some people had just left their table and we were able to sit there.  Breakfast was yummy, and eventful.  About 5 min after sitting down, a group of boys walks up and sits at the end of the table we're at, and begins talking to us.  They were HILARIOUS, and in all fairness, probably a little intoxicated.  Either way, we had a good chat/ laugh with them (all in Spanish as well!!) before getting back on the bus.  We made sure to stop for pictures before leaving town.  Although we didn't get to spend any time in Avila, I would love to return!! It's BEAUTIFUL!! I wish I could post a pic, but since the sun was in the wrong place, all of them I have are REALLY hard to see... =(

The bus ride continued another 2 hours, until we FINALLY made it into Toledo. The first thing we did was go to see a panoramic of the city.  It was one of the most amazing things I've ever seen!  We all stood around for like 20 minutes, taking pictures and taking it all in.  Of course, we ran into the boys again, still somewhat intoxicated.  They def made things more lively and interesting though, and they were soooo sweet, so we hung out with them a little longer, and had a good laugh.  Next, we all piled back into the bus and went to the entrance of the city.  There, we began a guided walking tour.  Now, in all honesty, I was in the back of the group, wandering alone a little taking pics and such, so I can't really say what all of the pictures I've taken are of, but, here are some of them!!

The bridge we had to cross to get into the city.  Toledo is almost completely surrounded by water, which is what made it such a great capital/ fortress back in the day!

Once we got into the city, we were able to see the crest of the city!!

Then we continued with our guided tour.  We started with a church.  In all honesty I didn't really get to hear a lot of the details about it...
What's interesting though are the chains hanging from it.  There were chains used in the 15th (??) century, holding Christians hostage.  As the Catholic religion was in the process of retaking the country, they hung the chains here on this church from each of the hostages they were able to rescue, as a way of showing that their mission was still underway, and to continue having faith.  Kinda cool.  These chains have been hanging here for hundreds and hundreds of years!! Longer than the USA has been around!! Even before Columbus sailed the ocean blue!! (in 1492... haha)









The tour continued with a few more stops, at some Jewish synagogues converted into churches, and now libraries and museums.  It was really interesting seeing the Jewish influence on the city.

There were little tiles in the streets with different symbols and such.  Really pretty!!









We got to see the cathedral...

And then, we had a few hours just to walk around and take in the sights... Throughout the afternoon, we were able to run into some more people from the trip, including the boys from earlier, and really just had a great time.  We met a group of students from Mexico who were on the trip, and they were SO sweet!! We spent the majority of the afternoon with them!!  We also did some shopping, got to practice speaking Spanish a lot, and got LOTS of exercise!! There were TONS of things related to Don Quixote and I just went crazy!! I bought lots of fun things! =)




One of the best parts of the day for me was when different groups of people, on completely different occasions, told me I sounded like I was Spanish!! Made me smile... =)
I also found a Mc Donalds!! haha Of course!


After walking around for a few hours, we all met back up in the group, and played a really interesting game.  (I didn't participate, cuz I was afraid of falling... haha) They had to tie balloons around their ankles and try to pop the ones on other people's.  The last one with a balloon won!!









Well, long day, but lots happened!! The bus ride home was nice, I tried to sleep, but not with much success... It was nice to just sit and listen to music, relax, and think back on the wonderful day!