Alyssa en Murcia: GPS fails, fake bricks, and amazing sunsets--Toledo

One of our "Madrid days" was spent visiting the lovely town of Toledo, about a fifty minute drive. We left late, so we had less than a full day to explore, but it was very well spent! I wasted the ride to Toledo stewing about how angry I was that Ricky blew me off on Skype the night before. I had waited up til almost 2AM, a fact that my parents were not excited about.

Later that night I found out that he had a seizure and, obviously, was not at fault for "blowing me off." It just goes to show you that you shouldn't freak out about something before you get all the facts first...I remember my parents trying to convince me not to make judgments until I had heard from him...

Later, skyping my principito :)

Ricky spent a few hours in the hospital and has an appointment in Charlotte on Friday. The Raleigh docs said it may have been stress or dehydration-related, but hopefully the doctors in Charlotte can give him a better picture. Glad that he is okay now though!

The car ride there was also full of loud tummy-growlings and pretzel-snackings. The second Dad parked the car, we flew into a restaurant. I had previously researched Restaurante Fabula on TripAdvisor, and it got a great rating. We arrived pretty late, somewhere around 4pm; also, coincidentally, pretty much right when lunchtime ends for Spaniards.

Luckily, the waiter was incredibly friendly and understanding and told us they could fix us lunch if we ordered quickly! We ordered way too much food, as usual, but it was all yummy!

Just above Restaurante Fabula--lovin the flores!

I love the horizon in this one!

Afterwards, we headed in whichever direction we decided looked more intriguing. I really wanted to see a synagogue or mosque, rather than a cathedral (since I had already seen so many), even though the cathedral was really the main attraction.

We wondered what all the hanging chains were for

We went inside the second synagogue we came across; I had just seen it in some postcards across the street. It was free for me to get in! We were surprised to see a pretty substantial museum portion accompanied the synagogue.

Mom really wanted to try and catch the El Greco painting (in a separate museum) and the Cathedral, but we made it to each of them at about the exact time that they closed. Woops!

Dad was also very disheartened

We browsed some interesting shops--the quintessential Toledo knife, sword and armor stops, some "Marzapan" bakeries, and a few unique ones in between.

Copy of the castle...made entirely of Marzipan!

Little nun babies cooking up some Marzipan...only semi-creepy

On our way down the mountain back to the car, we had a semi-stunning realization. Many of the walls were painted!

I know that doesn't sound that interesting or unique, but what I mean is, the bricks and molding, etc, were all painted on! They were fake! I don't know how we didn't realize this before; I started freaking out a little bit!

here's a giveaway that the bricks are fake...they peel off?

Reality...hits...hard.

After we had pretty much gotten our fill of the beautiful little pueblo of Toledo, we marched back down to the car to head home. As we began to drive toward Madrid, our GPS decided to take us through Toledo. Toledo is not like a typical Spanish city, but rather like a small European town, in that all of its streets are tiny, random, and sometimes end in stairs.

A few times we had to fold the mirrors in, in order to avoid scraping the walls. My Dad said that it was one of the tightest driving experiences he had ever had and he is a pro at driving in Europe. We recalled that the tiny streets were originally constructed solely for horse, carriage, and foot traffic, made long before the time of automobiles. So, at least that part makes sense.

Eventually, some nice Spaniards helped direct us back down the steep and narrow hill-street. One man came out and opened up a garage for us so that we could pull in and turn around!

Upon leaving, a gentle rain began to fall, filling the skies with enormous, dark clouds and some brilliant sunlight streaming through them. Dad had to pull over several times so Mom and I could capture the magnificent sunset.