Day 1 of Spanish Vacation: Toledo on February 2nd, 2017
The first of our three-day stay at Madrid, and we picked the historic city of Toledo for our visit.
Historically, the city of Toledo has been the capital of the Spanish empire for nearly five centuries, and had housed the seat of the Spanish Church until the last century.
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So in the morning we took the city metro to Plaza Elíptica Subway Station, where we boarded a bus to the city of Toledo. In the bus station part of Plaza Elíptica, there were tourist-friendly direction signs of "Toledo" everywhere.
By the way, it seemed that the more people on the same ticket, the lower the average cost of the bus ticket. While this wasn't something new, I didn't expect this rule to apply to the scenario of only two people.
The tiny Toledo Bus Station was situated just outside the city of Toledo, and we followed fellow passengers on the bus into the city.
I shall confess that the day's visit to the city of Toledo wasn't very well-planned, there were better routes to follow and more attractions to see.It's like 10 minutes later and we saw some escalators in front of us, as I began to marvel at how tourist-friendly this city was.
Alcázar de Toledo
Our first stop of the day was Alcázar de Toledo. Unfortunately, we didn't find its visitor entrance at first. It took us 15 minutes to walk around its perimeter, and find Alcázar's a museum entrance just where we started.
With female statue in the foreground as monument to the siege.
With decorations of Santa Maria erected in 1904.
About Spanish history, history of the Toledo city, etc.
The first floor of the Alcázar museum featureed extensive exhibitions of Spanish history, of armors and weapons used in the wars near Toledo. However, the majority of the descriptions were in Spanish, so we just skimmed through them.
Upon which the modern facilities of exhibition rested.
The other floors of the Alcázar museum featured more exhibtions, which we weren't so interested at.
But to be honest, since the Alcázar was heavily damaged during the World Wars (Spanish Civil War to be exact), converting its interior to an educational museum wasn't such a bad idea compared with building a new but useless castle.
Luckily, there were still parts of this Alcázar that wasn't museum, one of which was this royal chapel, if I remembered correctly.
And there were the court and plaza. The Alcázar pretty much overlooked its surrounding buildings, and that was a windy winter morning. So we didn't stay long outside.
I guess dedicated to the souls lost in the siege of this alcazar in the Spanish Civil War.
After that, my friend found on TripAdvisor that the best view from Alcázar de Toledo was actually from its (free) library situated on the opposite side of the Alcázar as the museum. So we went there again.
Alcázar de Toledo Library
No, we didn't want to annoy the library-goers, so we took these photos from the cafe, one story above the library.
Our next stop of the day was Santa Iglesia Catedral Primada de Toledo, the capital of the Spanish Church until the last century.
Santa Iglesia Catedral Primada de Toledo
It is so named because of the lions that surmount the columns of the gate that encloses the small entranceway.
Once in Santa Iglesia Catedral Primada de Toledo, we pretty much followed its audio guide.
Where the shape and size of the columns manifested power and force.
The oldest stained glass of the cathedral.
Chapterhouse and Antesala
With the archbishopric chair in the center.
In two rows and lining the walls are the portraits of all the archbishops from Saint Eugene to the last.
Coffered wooden ceiling with lacery of interlaced laths in exotic shapes to reflect the Islamic population in the Toledo by that time.
El Transparente
Clothing of Saint Ildephonsus with the Chasuble
The monstrance is famous for being used in the annual feast of Corpus Christi of Toledo.
The monstrance is famous for being used in the annual feast of Corpus Christi of Toledo.
The monstrance is famous for being used in the annual feast of Corpus Christi of Toledo.
That day the cloister of Santa Iglesia Catedral Primada de Toledo seemed to be closed, and we didn't climb its tower since it's not time for its guided tour.
After that, we headed for the next stop of the day, which was Iglesia de San Idelfonso. But before that, lunch (at 14:30, long overdue).
Iglesia de San Idelfonso
Iglesia de San Idelfonso wasn't the most exciting and breath-taking church in this historic city, but it offered great views from its towers.
Upon seeing this, I was reminded that I studied at Institute for Interdisciplinary Information Sciences, Tsinghua University, IIIS for short.
Displaying Crucifixion scenes.
Patron of the city and Father of the Church. Tower of Santa Iglesia Catedral Primada de Toledo in the background.
After that, our next stop was Monasterio de San Juan de los Reyes.
Monasterio de San Juan de los Reyes
We had a bit of trouble finding the entrance of Monasterio de San Juan de los Reyes, as it was undergoing renovation. At one point, we were mistaking it for the entrance of Escuela de Arte Toledo, which was a nearby art school closed to visitors. Gratefully, a kind local lady led us to the correct entrance.
Its alter was undergoing renovation.
It wasn't towards the end of our visit that we found Monasterio de San Juan de los Reyes offered free WiFi to its visitors, and one can find (only) its audio guide through that WiFi.
Those chains could either symbolize mankind’s breaking free from its sins, or just simple decoration, as its audio guide explained.
San Martin's Bridge
Our last stop of the day was San Martin's Bridge, a bridge in West Toledo across River Tagus. To be honest, I really enjoyed leaning on that bridge in the wind watching scenic views of its surrounding countryside.
After that, we headed back for the bus station, passing some other famous gates of the city.
I was very surprised that such an ancient city could harbor a modern university.
I was more surprised seeing such a magnificent façade with giant columns as a university building in such an ancient city.
Of Charles V.
Oh, we encountered some problem using the ten-ride ticket in Plaza Elíptica that we brought in the morning, as the machine never recognized our ticket. We solved the problem audadiously by following tightly behind somebody else and dodging ticket. Anyway, we had the poor ticket quality to blame. What could possibly go wrong?
Once in Madrid and under online recommendation, we decided to finish dinner at a restaurant called "Museo del Jamón" near Sol Plaza. It was a "museum" by name and a "restaurant" by online review, but only when we reached there did we find that it was a "pub" by nature, a popular one thronged with local people (that we even had some trouble finding places to finish our meal). Its whole storefront was decorated with hanging ham, which we didn't like. But never mind, behind the counter of every great Spanish restaurant there was a English menu.
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