Dragging and Rallying

So. We intended to get up at 7:30 local time and head to Toledo in the morning. 

Did not happen. Israel set an alarm his Garmin watch, which had not switched to Spain time. My alarm went off at 7:30 and I shut it off to snooze and woke up two hours later. So much for an early morning. (We’d crashed past midnight.)

Finally got out for breakfast and rushed to Puerta de Atocha Station to try to get the 12:20 train to Toledo. We would have made it after expertly navigating the unfamiliar Metro system except for a slow moving ticket line. Manny Hadad texted us letting us know he was there (he’d driven there with family earlier) and had seen the Palm Sunday procession. 

Oh well. 

So we had a hour and a half to kill before our train.  Atocha Station is near the Parque del Buen Retiro and we walked over and spent about an hour there, visiting la Fuente del Ángel Caído and El Palacio de Cristal. 

They had an exhibit in the Palacio of four sculptures “Cuatro Moldes”. Unremarkable except for the package on this guy:


It seems all of Madrid was out enjoying the beautiful day. Lots of runners and cyclists, and all the rowboats were in use on one of the lakes.  Spectacular. 

A 25-minute train ride later and we were in Toledo.  We made an impulsive decision to buy tickets for one of the double-decker buses that included a tour of the cathedral. Best decision. We were able to get views of the city from across the river and not wait in the really long line for the cathedral tour. 


We had about 45 minutes to do a quick visit to the Alcázar de Toledo before our cathedral tour. Felt a bit like Clark W. Griswold at the Grand Canyon. 


Then there were the many knife and sword shops to guard against infidels. We hear there are many along the Camino. 


The cathedral is impressive, from the ornate gold monstrance to the main altar. The cloister has orange trees full of fruit, and we were able to get olive branches, which are given to the faithful on “Domingo de Ramos” instead of palms. I figure we will carry these to Santiago this week. 

We walked around the Jewish Quarter and visited San Juan de los Reyes, which was the church of Fernando and Isabel after they joined their kingdoms by marriage. The cloister is filled with their iconography, including their motto: “Tanto Monta, Monta Tanto”, noting their equal share of royal power. (Thanks, Sra. Jiménez!)



When heading to catch our bus back to the upper city, we ran into Manny, Morrison, and Manny’s nephews on the Puente de San Martín.



Great dinner (chorizillos, bistek de puerco, codillo de puerco. And wine.)

Then we stumbled across the Palm Sunday procession, where the faithful of Toledo process with palms and carrying an image of Jesus on the donkey through the streets. Beautiful and unexpectedly moving, to see people of such faith. 


Then we got the news that Tiger Woods won the Masters. So there’s that. 

Headed back to the Renfe train to Atocha to views of the Alcázar at sunset. Unbelievable. 


And we saw a “bollería”. 


Met Bob for late-night tapas and wine and closed down the tapas bar. The charming waitress kept threatening to kick us out until we were kicked out at 1:15am.



Laughed our asses off at the WhatsApp drama over Joey’s sweatpants and Ron’s nutsacking of Fernie’s salad.

And it a total pro move by Israel - he spilled what remained on his wine on the embutido and, after picking the jamón and chorizo out of the wine, he poured the wine back in his glass.  A hero to wine drinkers everywhere.



A good day, I’d say.


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