A hidden gem.

January 9th, 2011

A 7:15 am wake up call and the bus leaving at 8:30 am to Toledo from Madrid. The directors had a full day planned out for us, which I was sure would further exhaust my already exhausted body. I was not looking forward to this day trip because my sleeping pattern had been so out of whack and I had only slept for 2 hours the night before. Normally I would count on catching up to my sleep during the bus ride but Toledo was only an hour away from Madrid. As soon as I dimmed my eyelashes, we had already arrived in Toledo. What I was about to see was a city that could not be described in words. And if I had to try it would be picturesque. There were so many winding roads and hills and bridges and cathedrals. Toledo looked like it was straight out of a movie. And as the tour guides got on our bus I was ready to wake up and bask in Toledo. My tour guide for the day was a guy named Javier who works as a tour guide in Toledo on weekends and studies in Madrid during the weekdays. He was very helpful with his descriptions of the city and knowledge of certain regions in Europe. I made sure to take in every detail both mentally and with  photographs as Javier described the beautiful city of Toledo to me. I soon realized that there is so much history in this little town. 

As we did a panaromic bus tour up hill from the newer part of the city to the older part, our tour guide explained several interesting things about Toledo to us such as summer being the worst season in Toledo with temperatures of 40 degrees celsius. And how there is a bell in one of the churches where the guys have to ring the bell if they want a girlfriend. And the girls must choose a pin for hair color of specified male and then they choose the guys. And how there is this house called Istigarales in the older part of the city which sold for 700 million euros.

On our walking tour of Toledo we visited the Monastery of San Juan de los Reyes and got a detailed explanation of the history behind the architecture of this fascinating cathedral and of the king and Queen Isabella. We then made our way down to go see a synagogue by the name of Tránsito de Nuestra Señora in which the synagogue was now a museum/cathedral. And Javier further explained the history of the Jewish people in Toledo and told us many touching stories of the history of the Jewish people being exiled from Toledo. We then made our way to go see the main cathedral in Toledo named Catedral de Toledo before making it to the main plaza. This gigantic building towered over us as we awed at its architecture and the many years it would've taken to complete the structure. Javier informed us that there are many enormous bells inside the cathedral and the biggest one that weighed 700 tons broke the first time it was rang. And that the archbishop who lives next door has his own bridge to get to the Cathedral without being disturbed. We then walked over to the main plaza named Plaza de Zocodover were we disbursed for lunch and met up again to head to the hotel for the night. I was lucky enough once again to get my own room thanks to my director Jaime and the view from my hotel room of part of the city was more than spectacular especially as the sun set. Besides our last orientation meeting before getting to Barcelona I ordered room service while watching a show in español about the issues between the jews and the muslims in Palestine. And soon I dozed off ready for the 8+ hours drive back to Barcelona.

1/10/2011

Rise and sunshine Americans. We have a bus to catch. Breakfast was free once again and afterwards as if the directors were trying to freshen us up, we had to drag our luggages up hill to the buses. I was sure I didn't need extra exercise because my favorite dreaded stairs were waiting for me at night once I arrived in Barcelona, but nonetheless I didn't complain. Since I just had my duffle bag. But I did feel bad for the other students who were dragging 2+ bags up hill without any assistance. Once loaded we started on our journey to our host city and that is how the day was spent. Sleeping, gazing out the window, and making new friends on the autobús + planning future trips with them. As soon as I got dropped off I took the metro home and crashed for we had our welcome orientation at the campus mañana.