Toledo

We went to Toledo today, which is about an hour and a half south of Madrid. And it was BEAUTIFUL. Okay, I know that I've only been to Madrid and now Toledo, but I think Toledo will end up being one of my favorite cities because it is just so lovely. Prepare for a picture overload!

the back view of the city: can you see the spire of la catedral in the middle
and el alcazar (a fortress) off to the right?

rachel, yo y brie

la catedral in all its glory

inside la catedral: very excited to touch the rock that the virgin mary's feet also touched
(the cathedral was built because of this "miracle")

can you see how the artist incorporated toledo into the fresco?

beautiful painting of christ by el greco

swords! there were so many that I honestly just
took one picture to be done asap and enjoy the rest of the city

toledanas artesenales (little pastry/cookies made only in toledo)

mazapan-this is made especially in toledo and served as a precursor to marzipan!
it's just almond flour/sugar/water and sometimes a little fruit filling.

one last look.

Súper lindo, ¿no? Tomorrow is another excursion to El Escorial, Manzanares el Real y Valle de los Caídos-about the same distance away as Toledo but to the north. And in other news, I was fully introduced to life in a Spanish city as I waited for my bus and was wolf-whistled at. I felt like a true ciudadana de Alcalá as I totally ignored whoever it was and got on the bus and paid in euros. Plus I learned some slang (qué chafa is like "that's a bummer/that sucks") and the word for stroller because of our poor director's giant double stroller blocking roads everywhere we went (it's carro if you wanted to know!).