Holy Toledo!

My second day in Madrid wasn't even spent in Madrid. Myself and eight other guys had decided the previous night to take trip to Toledo, the former Spanish capital.

Our group was an mix of culture: four Americans (one of which was from Mexico), three Germans, a guy from Portugal and Frenchie. Myself, Kinero, Forrest and George made up the American portion. I've already mentioned Kinero, Forrest was a traveler from Texas who had spent a year in Brazil and George was a half Mexican flight attendant who had taken a spur of the moment trip to Madrid because it only cost him $36. The three Germans were just as fun. Very smart guys who were just traveling for the party. The Portuguese man didn't speak much and then, there was Frenchie. I cannot begin to aptly describe this guy in my blog, my keyboard would wear out before I finished.

After our previous night, we managed to grab a bus at noon and arrived in Toledo at one. What a city! Honestly, there isn't much in Toledo. Actually, beyond the age and the famous cathedral, there's nothing. Fortunately, these two things and my new found friends made the day the great. We had no map of the city, so most of the day was spent wandering aimlessly trying to find the attractions we were searching for. The first thing we found was the library tower.

We asked a local tour guide for directions, we discovered that the public library tower, which provides a beautiful view of the city, was not open to tourists. So we split ourselves into three groups and paraded into the library as “students” looking for “books.” And it worked. We took the elevator to the cafe at the top of the tower to find a gorgeous view of the old city and the surrounding Spanish hillside.

The international circus paraded down the tower and over to the Catholic cathedral, the main attraction of Toledo. Entry was seven euros, so Forrest and I were the only two who decided to go in. I'm so glad I did. This church was by far the most beautiful I had ever seen. The art and detail surpassed that of Notre Dame and Sacre Cour combined and there was still more. Huge stone sculptures. Entire murals carved from wood. Gold gilded decor. Paintings eight stories tall. It was worth every cent.

We ended our trip to Toledo with trip up another church tower and a cheap dinner and headed home.

When we got back to the hostel at seven, I needed to do laundry. I sent the rest of the group out without me. I told them I'd catch up when my laundry was done. However, I couldn't locate them in the bar they had went to, so I went back to the hostel. Thankfully, they came back to get me! We drank around the hostel bar for a while and decided to go out with the Cat's pub crawl at one. Two bars and one club kept us up until 5 that morning, but as long as Madrid was going this good, I didn't need sleep!