Postcard from Toledo
Toledo is an ancient city built on a rock above the Rio Tajo, and has been on our ‘must visit’ list for many years. The Star attraction is the Cathedral with its religious treasures and paintings, with ‘El Greco’ being the most famous name associated with Toledo.
Armed with a tourist map, we set off for the city by 72 bus which took us right to the centre in ten minutes from our campsite. We started with a cup of coffee in the café on the 9th floor of the city library, which has a stunning view of the old town. We’d read all about what to see in our ‘Rough Guide’, but despite spending 5 hours in the town, we didn’t see as much as we should’ve done. It’s one of those places where the international tourists vastly outnumber any locals.
We, and hundreds of others, queued for our visit to the Cathedral (8€ each, including audio guide). Some of the numbered markers had been removed or misplaced and so we found ourselves listening to the wrong commentary at times. However, we saw the ‘Transparente’, the Tesoro, and in the Sacrista, El Greco’s ‘El Expolio’ and other paintings by Goya et al.
This being Toledo, there were lots of shops selling swords. Toledo steel was famous until Isabella and Ferdinand booted out the Moors who were the ones with the ‘knowhow’. There again, no one expects the Spanish Inquisition!
After all this site seeing we had a late lunch (MacD 5.90€),and a look out over the city wall, before more wandering down the hill to the Puerta de Bisagra and the bus back to camp. We know we missed out Santa Tome and other attractions, but us oldies had had enough culture by 4pm. Perhaps we’ll come back another day!
We’ve stopped for two nights at Camping El Greco not far from the city. It’s a lovely, well-maintained site at a stonking 30€ a night. There’s free Wi-Fi near reception but the swimming pool has just closed for the season. The reception staff are famed (rightly?) for their indifference, according to reviews on Google and elsewhere.
Tomorrow we’re driving 30 miles east to Aranjuez. We tried to go there 6 years ago but it was being dug up by JCBs! When we find out how to pronounce it, we’ll let you know.
Comments
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Commonsense prevailed and we've stopped another day. We're just back from Toledo having been to the 2014 El Greco exhibition (5€ for OAPs), the Santa Tome church with El Greco frieze, the El Greco museum, the Sephardic museum, and MacDonalds.
Top tip: lots of free 'entradas' on a Sunday, but then they all close at 3pm.
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Just round the back of the main square, Plaza Zocadova, where you get off the bus there are several superb tapas restaurants. We spent an enjoyable hour or so in one after wandering round the town most of the morning. At 30 odd euros a night people don't
stop long at El Greco.0 -
That's a good tip about the tapas bars for others visiting Toledo, Landyrover. We spent 5 hours each day in the city (bus to bus) so a burger was all we wanted. Agree with you though that 'El Greco' camping is a bit pricey at 30€ and it's a bit isolated.
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Car park near the train station allow you camp over night and safe .It is not in the the station it's self but about 100metres passed ☺️
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