Toledo - Day 40

A very nice breakfast, but I missed the Cava so took a glass onto the terrace with me afterwards 

From the terrace we noticed a couple of folk on a nearby knoll so we thought we’d don our walking shoes and explore the area. So after really quite a short if tricky walk we got to the top (steps cut into the rock and an iron handrail was very necessary) we had a great view of the Parador and the city

We decided we’d leave exploring Toledo until the afternoon, as we thought we would stay on and have dinner in town. Thus we got a taxi about 3 (10euros - with a mask).

We were dropped right by the Alcazar but we decided not to visit that (not sure that it’s worth a visit) and wandered through the narrow lanes and streets doing a bit of window shopping. Lots of shops with Toledo steel - swords, knives, armour - and then lots of pastry shops, like this one with marzipan sweets like I had last night.

We found some fabulous views over the river….

..and we ended up at the Museo El Greco. At the ticket desk we were advised to wait 5 minutes then the entrance would be free! This house was bought at the beginning of the 20th century by someone thinking it was El Grecos house - it wasn’t! However he continued to enrich it as though it was and has an impressive collection of El Greco paintings, plus some good video explanations as to why he fell out of favour for a time. Afterwards we headed to the cathedral where we bought tickets and an audio guide. Once again a huge and impressive gothic (with some Baroque thrown in) Cathedral - built to completely cover the mosque it is built on! Once again the photos don’t do it justice. 

Giants just as we saw in Barcelona! 

We had to be out by 6.15 so wandered through the town to the east side where we could get a photo of our parador from the city, and had a couple of drinks overlooking the gorge. The whole setting is so dramatic. In fact we both agree the best bit of To,eso is looking at it from across the river - it is such a dramatic setting. 

The parador is in the middle of this photo on top of the hill

We decided we should head back to the Parador for a bite to eat as nothing seemed as nice in town. A taxi was found really easily and we booked dinner for 9 when we got in. A light plate of migas for me - absolutely fabulous. - and another wonderful plate of cheese for Howard.

Our free delicious amuse bouche, and a glass of free cava again