Dia 4: Holy Toledo!

Que pasa amigos!

Today we got up bright and early and headed straight to Toledo which was just about an hour away from Madrid. And not to sound like a broken record but the weather was capital A-mazing again. I don’t know who prayed to the weather gods, but I really appreciate it.

We start with a short bus tour and then continue onto a walking tour. Allow me to remind you that ALL of these tours are in Spanish, and it is wonderful. The tour guides are always funny little old men that love to flirt with all the girls and are incredibly knowledgeable about the history of their city.

(overlooking the city of Toledo)

Many of you may have heard or said that phrase “Holy Toledo!!” and “holy” is correct. Toledo is known as the city of three religions: Catholicism, Judaism and Islam. There are more religious buildings per square mile in Toledo than any other city in Spain. In total, we visited a Synagogue, a Cathedral and the church where they keep the most famous El Greco painting called “El Entierro del Senor de Orgaz” (the burial of Senor de Orgaz). This painting is massive and depicts the moment in history when Orgaz died and two saints (St. Augustine and St. Esteban) came down from heaven to bury him with their own hands. It also depicts two different styles of painting: Italian and Spanish. This makes sense since El Greco is actually a Greek painter who learned to paint in Italy (hence the Italian name El Greco) and then came to paint in Spain as well.

(the altar of the Cathedral)

(insane detail on the walls of the cathedral depicting the crest of spain)

A fun fact I learned on this tour was that Granada (a city in Spain) means pomegranate. Also, I learned that Hispania was the original name instead of España and Hispania means “land of the rabbits”.  That’s a slightly strange named since I haven’t seen a single rabbit yet, but whatevs apparently this place was llena de bunnies at one point.

(an AWESOME candid I captured of our group listening to our very animated tour guide Mario)

(living in a dream)

(super serio con Esteban)

(outside the 2nd largest Cathedral in Spain and 4th largest in Europe)

After we visited these beautiful religious buildings we had some free time for lunch and we went to a little restaurant just outside the main plaza called “El Trebol”. It was great! We ate outside (as always) on their terrace and I ordered venison stew, which is a very famous dish to eat in Toledo. Era super rico! After our relaxing lunch we wandered around the city popping into Zara and other fashionable clothing stores and then we had our first gelato experience in Spain!! Yummmmm. I got a cookie flavored gelato and my friend Cassie (who is my roommate in Sevilla) ordered cotton candy flavored which is called “nube” (cloud). It took us a minute to figure out what flavor “cloud” was but eventually it clicked. As we wandered the streets we had a little photo shoot because all of their roads are so quaint and well decorated we can’t resist… and yes, here comes the hand on the hip again. If you have other pose suggestions for me, holla at ya gurl.

(#handonhip)

(mis chicas!)

(venison stew #noms)

Our whole group met back up in the plaza and headed to our FANCY PANTS hotel called “Beatriz”. This hotel was MONDO and was located outside the city so it had a view of all of Toledo which was B-E-autiful. Now we had free time from 4pm until 7pm when we had a big meeting. Considering we were exhausted from our minimal sleep the previous night and also from walking up lots of steep hills in Toledo, we used this extra time to just relax in the hotel and spend time chatting and getting to know each other. 

A couple days ago I had asked our ISA program leaders if they had any icebreakers planned so that way everyone could stand up and say their name once and for all to the group and get to know each other. They said they didn’t have anything planned but that I could do something and obvi I stepped up to the plate! When we got to our big meeting at 7pm tonight I stood in front of the group and told everyone that we’d go around one by one and say our name and then tell 1 of 3 things: our favorite scent (it sounds weird but it was actually pretty cool to hear some of them like fresh baked cookies, pancakes in the morning, sunscreen, pine, laundry etc.), your best scar story (obvi I told my chicken pox one) or your most embarrassing moment. IT WAS A HIT! Everyone was all smiley and enjoyed hearing everyone’s stories. Later, our two program leaders thanked me for organizing that.

Which reminds me, I haven’t told you anything about them! We have two leaders: MJ (maria jesus) and Quique (Enrique). They are the greatest program leaders we could have ever asked for! They are both young and fun and like to joke around with us. MJ is from Sevilla and Quique is originally from Salamanca but now lives in Sevilla. MJ is not married and she’s super trendy so we all love her and want to be her besties. Quique is more like an older brother because he sometimes stops in at shops when we are on tours and buys us all waters or a big bar of chocolate for us to share, just small acts of kindness that makes us all love him too! He is married and today I asked him about his wife and he said she is American and that they met in Salamanca when she was studying abroad. AHHHHHH. There is hope.

Also, side note, I received an email TO my gmail account that was sent FROM my own gmail account that read “Dear Rachel, Hello this is Rachel from the future. I wanted to let you know you will meet your husband in Sevilla. His name is Angelino and he isn’t so handsome but give him a shot. You won’t be disappointed. Regards, Rachel”. How weird is this??? I texted my family asking them if anyone had done this as a prank to me because I could have left my gmail account open on one of their computers, but they all said no. HOWEVER, I am permanently the little sister in my family and with almost every friend I have. Basically, everyone loves to lie to me because I am quite gullible. My better judgment knows this email is a prank from some “hilarious” friend/relative but some part of me (the same part that loves magic) thinks that maybe this email is real. I suppose we shall see. Personally, I don’t understand why my husband doesn’t get to be handsome OR why I am the most boring writer of all time in the future. My future self used the closing phrase of “regards” (vomit), does my lighthearted soul die in the future?!?!?

I digress.

In our big meeting at 7pm they tell us all about safety, dressing in Sevilla, culture of Sevilla, how to behave with our host families and yada yada yada. The coolest part was when we got a map of the whole city with a stamp on where our host family lives. Cassie and I are living in the center of the city (the most historical part). MJ said this part of town is really expensive to live in so maybe our host family is super wealthy and tryna pop bottles and live like a P-I-M-P… probs not, but I am excited regardless.

After the meeting we took cabs back into the heart of Toledo and went to a smaller restaurant that had yummy tapas (Cassie told me that they are called tapas because they used to put lids on top of their glasses of wine or beer to keep bugs out of them and on top of those lids they would serve little snacks). I ordered a polmo en baguette con aceite y tomate (pork on a baguette with olive oil and tomatoes). SUPER RICO! I also got a glass of gazpacho that was NOMS. I literally had to drink it because they served it in a water glass like a drink since it’s a cold soup. It’s also pretty common to serve free olives with dinner and Spanish olives have a very different flavor than black olives or kalamatas. I love them! While we were sitting at dinner, the fútbol game between Real Madrid and Barcelona (not FC Barcelona but a different team) was playing so we got to watch the first half. It added another layer of authenticity to our dining experience.

After dinner we all strolled through the main plaza and commented about how we wished America had plazas like this because it’s where all the young people congregate and hang out at night. Currently, any sort of plaza I’ve seen in the US is completely inhabited by the homeless (two thumbs down). Everyone got a little dessert, mostly helado (ice cream) but I got a little marzipan treat because it’s the authentic dessert in Toledo.

We headed home in taxis and called it a night.

Tomorrow we have a long day spent in the bus. Departure by 9am and arrival in Sevilla by 5pm with minimal stops! BUT at the end of all that I finally get to say “HEYYYYY MACARENA!!!”

Hasta luego,

Raquel