As I haven't been a good travel blogger for the last few years, I thought I might redeem myself on this trip since I had to bring my computer to be able to get some work done too.
On Thursday evening, I met my dad, my aunt JoAnn (my dad's sis), and my aunt Joanie (not my blood aunt may as well be!) in Madrid, Spain. They flew in that morning while I was at work and toured themselves around the city for the day.
On Friday morning, we went back to the Madrid Airport, rented a car, and then started out for Toledo. After a bit of GPS drama (is there ever not GPS drama when driving in a foreign country), we arrived in Toledo a short time later and drove on some bumpy country roads up to our Cigarral. A Cigarral is a country house across the river from the city of Toledo. They were old estates and we are staying in a caretaker's apartment attached to a bigger house. Our view looks directly at the medieval city of Toledo. It is A-MAZING!
On Thursday evening, I met my dad, my aunt JoAnn (my dad's sis), and my aunt Joanie (not my blood aunt may as well be!) in Madrid, Spain. They flew in that morning while I was at work and toured themselves around the city for the day.
On Friday morning, we went back to the Madrid Airport, rented a car, and then started out for Toledo. After a bit of GPS drama (is there ever not GPS drama when driving in a foreign country), we arrived in Toledo a short time later and drove on some bumpy country roads up to our Cigarral. A Cigarral is a country house across the river from the city of Toledo. They were old estates and we are staying in a caretaker's apartment attached to a bigger house. Our view looks directly at the medieval city of Toledo. It is A-MAZING!
This is our house! The arched widow on the top right is our patio that looks out at the view of the old city. We really lucked out on this one.
Our first day we just walked into town and then had lunch and found groceries. This can be a tricky thing in Spain since they have siesta every afternoon and businesses are closed from about 2-5 every afternoon. This is a hard thing to get used to for us and we continuously tried to shop during those hours which just isn't possible.
As our place in on a hillside with one lane, gravel roads, we decided to just stick to the apartment after dark. We sat and watched the sunset and had manchego cheese, jamón, red wine, olives, and, of course, sardines for my dad.
Our first day we just walked into town and then had lunch and found groceries. This can be a tricky thing in Spain since they have siesta every afternoon and businesses are closed from about 2-5 every afternoon. This is a hard thing to get used to for us and we continuously tried to shop during those hours which just isn't possible.
As our place in on a hillside with one lane, gravel roads, we decided to just stick to the apartment after dark. We sat and watched the sunset and had manchego cheese, jamón, red wine, olives, and, of course, sardines for my dad.
On Saturday we headed into the walled, Medieval city of Toledo. It is known for metal working and marzipan candies. We found a little tuba made of gold but it was like €130!
We also read about these nuns who make marzipan candies. To get them, you go up to this little window, ring a bell, and a little nun in a full habit comes to the door to where you order from her.
It was quite cute and though we had read about it, we actually just stumbled upon it accidentally because Toledo's winding, tiny streets were impossible to navigate with the map. Some of them were so narrow that you could touch both sides with your arms if you stood in the middle.
We also read about these nuns who make marzipan candies. To get them, you go up to this little window, ring a bell, and a little nun in a full habit comes to the door to where you order from her.
It was quite cute and though we had read about it, we actually just stumbled upon it accidentally because Toledo's winding, tiny streets were impossible to navigate with the map. Some of them were so narrow that you could touch both sides with your arms if you stood in the middle.
So now we are off to Granada for a few days for some Alhambra viewing, olive oil touring, and possibly some flamenco dance watching!