Toledo

On Saturday I went to Toledo with two friends, Maggie and Vickie, which is only an hour-ish south of Madrid.

We planned to take a bus there, so we went to Madrid's south bus station that morning, only to find out none of those buses went to Toledo.  A woman at information told us that to go to Toledo, you had to use a different bus station, that I hadn't heard of.  So we metro-ed a few more stops to this other bus station, and bought tickets 5 minutes before the bus left.

After walking from the bus station 10-15 minutes to the central plaza, we headed into the Museo de Santa Cruz.  This museum is a 16th century building that used to be a hospital, orphanage, and probably something else which I'm forgetting.  It had displays of paintings, tapestries, and artifacts, as well as a patio.

Patio in the Museo de Santa Cruz

Bowl: Museo de Santa Cruz

On our way out of the Museo de Santa Cruz, we ended up in the middle of a protest parading through the town. It started in the main plaza, with a bunch of people chanting... something. The words weren't very clear - being shouted - hence I'm not exactly sure what they were protesting. Then dancers started making their way out of the plaza, dancing through the streets, the way we were headed. And the rest of the people walked behind the dancers, holding a sign in front and continuing their chants.

Dancers in the street

Protestors behind the dancers

We were walking alongside the parade until our next destination: the Catedral de Toledo. Unfortunately, you couldn't take any pictures inside, so I have none for you folks. Just this:

Catedral de Toledo

We ate lunch, then met up with my friend Lindsey from high school, who is studying in Toledo this semester.

Lindsey, me, Vickie, Maggie

After-lunch visits included: El Greco's "El Entierro del Señor de Orgaz" in la Iglesia de Santo Tomé, el Museo Sefardi, and the Sinagogue El Tránsito.

Then, we all tried mazapán, the sweet Toledo is known for, which is usually filled with egg yolk and sugar.

All in all, a nice lil' day-trip.