Early start to the day, as we had to catch the 9.20am train to Toledo, a 35-minute journey from Madrid. An orange and a fresh bread roll (courtesy of Ursi, who went out to get it). Sandwiches made for lunch (again courtesy of Ursi); backpack loaded, off we went to the station on a public holiday in Madrid. My experience is that train stations are always a busy place; full of people anywhere in the world and Madrid was no different. Security was pretty tight and policemen carrying machine guns. Sign of the times we live in. Toledo train station is quite something; it echo’s the historic architecture of the town. I have taken a couple of photos but they are worth looking up in Google image.
Toledo has 2 parts to it as do a lot of towns in Spain; the old town, mostly high up on a hill sprinkled with magnificent monuments and architecture and a not so old town; in this case the not so old architecture is in keeping with the old, i.e. no high skyscrapers like us in Sydney. The one thing that really detracts from the charm of the old town and the tourist is the locals driving their cars through the narrow cobbled stone lanes; what a shame. What is fascinating is how well these towns like Toledo have survived over the centuries for us to enjoy today.
We walked and walked more to cover everything, we think, anyway and thoroughly enjoyed it despite having to dodge a car or a van or 2. One sound that I really like is the sound of a group of kids laughing and playing and it was no different in Toledo. There was a local group, probably year 1 or 2 or 3 on a school excursion, who broke for lunch in a park, (where we had stopped to have our home made sandwiches) running, laughing and making a racket like kids should anywhere in the world. What a beautiful sound; happy days; sometimes wonder how that changes as they get older. Coming back to Toledo, interestingly, they have a Jewish quarter and a Synagogue in addition to a stunning cathedral. We slowly made our way out of the old town through to the not so old town to make our way to the station to see if we could get an earlier train. No luck, so we settled to go to a café for some refreshments which gave me an opportunity to call my mate, Ellwood to get a progress update on stage 1 of his Italian cycling tour; all good, he managed to get to Lecce in good health. Finally farewelled Toledo; on our return to Madrid, decided to get an early dinner at the Food Street. The streets were chockers with people enjoying the holiday. I was beginning to get pre-game nerves; my beloved Liverpool were playing in the evening, a semi final; any result better than a 2-0 loss and we would be through to the final in Kiev. Anyway, we made it back to our apartment, having walked a total of 19km during the day; closer to the start of the game time, the quieter I become. More on the outcome of the result tomorrow.
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