Goodness me, time does fly. We were on our honeymoon over a year ago! One whole year! Who would have thought?
We’ve also been truly busy catching up with our daily personal jobs and our lives outside of the blog. Blink and it’s 2014 O_<
We last abandoned you half way into our honeymoon recap as we traversed the southern region of España, so we shall pick up where we left off 🙂
We left Cuenca and journeyed on to Toledo (just outside of Madrid; 70km) to visit the Imperial City, so named for it was once the capital of Spain where Charles I, held court.
Also known as the “City of Three Cultures”, so named for its co-existence of its Muslim, Christian and Jewish inhabitants.
The city reminded us very much of a medieval Melbourne with its cobblestones and tiny lane-ways.
Geographically speaking, the old city of Toledo, located on a mountain-top was in a strategic location as it had high views and was surrounded on three sides by a bend in the Targus River, forming a natural moat to waylay any enemies approaching.
Part of Toledo’s rich history derives from its reputation for sword makers and its metal-work, still in action today, but more for tourists than actual armour for war.
We tried to steal one to bring back for you, but it was too heavy and airport customs would have something to say about that! The conversation would go something like this:
Customs Man: Do you have anything to declare?
Me: Beware of the Heir to the Iron Throne!
CM: What?
Me: Declare or Beware!
I would then promptly be banished to the Wall never to be heard of or seen again.
The architecture of the buildings are a curious mix of Arabic and Christian influence, as is throughout most of the towns we had previously encountered.
According to our guide, Bella, it is said that a vision of the Virgin Mary appeared at the Visigoth, thus the Cathedral was built in that location. It is named the Primate Cathedral of Saint Mary of Toledo and remnants of a previous mosque and church intertwined together with current (13th century) gothic architecture draws gasps of wonder and awe.
For lunch, we had the usual horrible bread >< served with boring salad (with the special addition of tuna) and roast pork.
If you were cleverer and time was in your pocket, you would pay attention and eat as much Manchego Cheese as you could get your hands on as this is where it comes from!
_______________________________________________________________________
Above is the map to show you the distance we travelled across Spain ending in Portugal, with each stop marked.
We hope you enjoyed the fourth part of our tour (pushpin “E”) to Toledo.
With the pushpin markers above, you can be assured many more to come!
Previously:
Part I: Barcelona
Part II: Valencia
Part III: Cuenca
I always wondered who bought all those swords in Toledo. Wouldn’t have much luck getting one on a plane back to Australia so it can’t be the international tourists!
Scary people buy swords 😛
Such intimidating architecture. Looks like a very interesting place with lots of nooks and crannies to explore.
Love old architecture!
Wow I can’t believe it’s been over a year since you’ve gone and been married for a year too 🙂 The architecture of the buildings are amazing!
It’s pretty scary 😛
I would love to visit Spain, all your pictures are so gorgeous! Happy anniversary 🙂
Thanks!
beautiful photos and I would love to be a fly on the wall when you take that sword through customs – hell no, let’s share it with everyone and hope one of those reality tv shows get you on film – would be hilarious – and am sure it would go viral on youtube – ha ha ha
I regret to say I was in Toledo years ago and at the time had never heard of manchego so yes, I didn’t make the most of my visit but it was an amazing place
More reason to plan for a revisit!
Such a pretty town. Hopefully it won’t take six months for the next location? Haha.
It probably will knowing us 😛