On Christmas Day, we decided to take a day trip to visit Toledo! It was just about an hour of train ride from Madrid.
===== From Wikipedia =====
Toledo is a city and municipality of Spain, capital of the province of Toledo and the de jure seat of the government and parliament of the autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha. Toledo was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986 for its extensive monumental and cultural heritage.
Located on the banks of the Tagus in central Iberia, Toledo is known as the “Imperial City” because it was the main venue of the court of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor in Spain, and as the “City of the Three Cultures” for the cultural influences of Christians, Muslims, and Jews reflected in its history. It was the capital from 542 to 725 AD of the Visigothic kingdom, which followed the fall of the Roman Empire, and the location of historic events such as the Councils of Toledo. The city, seat of a powerful archdiocese for much of its history, has a Gothic Cathedral, and a long history in the production of bladed weapons, which are now common souvenirs of the city.
We started our day with slice of pizza from train station. It was not bad!
After arriving, we slowly walked up the hill to the town. It was quiet and peaceful. The buildings and streets around obviously looked different from the city. On the way, we passed by an impressive-looking locked up building. It was the Hospital Tevera.
===== From Wikipedia =====
The Hospital de Tavera, also known as the Hospital de San Juan Bautista, Hospital de afuera, or simply as Hospital Tavera, is an important Building of Renaissance style that is in the Spanish city of Toledo. It was built between 1541 and 1603 by order of the Cardinal Tavera. This hospital is dedicated to John the Baptist and also served as pantheon for its patron, Cardinal Tavera.
We passed through several gates. The whole environment looked like the Middle Ages. Except the Christmas lights and the balconies reminded us that we are in Modern Time! When we walked higher and higher, we can look down into the town. The whole town looked beautiful. The whole town looked like in the Middle Ages! At last, we reached a square. This must be the town center. There is a Christmas tree, and some shops and restaurants surrounding it. There was even a Burger King there!
(Actually, it was very difficult for us to find public Toilet in Spain. We often relied on the Toilet in MacDonald, Burger King or restaurants. Even so, they often had Digital Locks on the Toilet door. We had to ask the workers for the PIN number…)
We had seen similar decoration also in Madrid. Chocolate Shop built big model of famous building with chocolate! It was so impressive!
We continued to walk around the town. There were many narrow streets with gift shops, ham shops etc. Then, we passed by a tall huge and beautifully-graved door. It was indeed the Toledo Cathedral. Unfortunately, I did not have time to visit inside, but I studied the outside for long time. It was too majestic and gorgeous! (Now I regret that I did not visit inside of Toledo Cathedral. It is a MUST-SEE!)
===== From Wikipedia =====
The cathedral of Toledo is one of the three 13th-century High Gothic cathedrals in Spain and is considered, in the opinion of some authorities, to be the magnum opus of the Gothic style in Spain. It was begun in 1226 under the rule of Ferdinand III and the last Gothic contributions were made in the 15th century when, in 1493, the vaults of the central nave were finished during the time of the Catholic Monarchs.
We took a bus, in order to have a better look of the complete town. It was difficult to take pictures from the moving bus, but here we could have a better view of the river, which goes around the complete town, and we could see the Cathedral from far away at the top!
When we came back from the bus, it was already getting dark. With the light-up and the Christmas tree, the whole town looked even prettier! I love those ribbon decoration lights! I want them for my own home! On our way walking back to the train station, we saw the Toledo Cathedral light-up too! It looked so magnificent!