The Purple Penguin

So up and off to Puerto Atocha to get the train to Toledo. We bought the tickets and figured out where to go, got through security, and had a coffee while waiting for the train. Very quick journey to Toledo, just the direct train which takes about 30 minutes – we were early both going and coming back! And the trains are nice – their Tourista class is just as nice as our first class.

So off the train, get a map, get our bearings and off we head. And up. Toledo is definitely up a hill. A very steep hill. So a short walk along the river and across the Alcantara Bridge and then we took the stairs. Up and up. We were headed for the Museo de El Greco which was across town, so we went the nifty route, just taking the small roads that looked interesting. Beautiful little city (though it doesn’t feel so little when you’re walking all over it!) Tiny little streets, twists and turns, stairs up and down, and all cobbled. Lovely. We didn’t see as much of it as I’d have liked, just the Museo de El Greco and Sinagoga del Transito. And walked all over the city so saw loads of little streets and beautiful buildings. But Joe had had enough of art by the end of the El Greco museum (actually probably before that) so I couldn’t convince him to go into any of the churches. So we missed all the Roman ruins and Arabic ruins, but did see a lot of the older buildings from the outside. Well recommended.

While walking through the city we were coming across streets with flowers and decorations and a canvas cover – it’s all the decoration and preparation for Corpus Christi which is this week. the procession starts sometime tonight I think with the main stuff happening tomorrow. We were lucky to miss it (because the town is packed during), but to see the preparations. We actually followed the route for a while, looking at the decorations and saw some of the processional statues and banners here and there.

Joe’s top tip: do not buy a drink, especially a beer, in the train station cafe. It is far too expensive. And use CityMaps 2Go, by Ulmon. It lets you down load city maps, with information, and use them offline. They come in very handy – we have Barcelona, Madrid and Toledo and we have used them daily.

Having walked all day, we headed back to the train station (where we bought drinks – thus Joe’s top tip). Train was on time and early into Madrid. We left the train station and headed straight for the Mexican restaurant we’d seen last night. Had a really lovely meal – my pollo en mole was very good. Now back at the hotel watching football though I’ll probably fall asleep soon!

Tomorrow – more art! Yay!