Day 4

After an early breakfast in the hotel, we took the wonderful Madrid metro and a tour bus to the historic town of Toledo. Laboriously walking up the steep inclines of the fortified city we saw the incredible view of the many buildings. We visited a metal/gold work shop where we found an incredible collection of jewelry (which we also saw made) and more importantly swords and daggers that customs at the Madrid airport would have loved to deal with. Don't worry, none of us purchased a sword, but quite a few pondered it seriously... We then found the Main Street, grabbed lunch, and met up with a fantastic tour guide who showed us some of the most interesting religious sites of the town. First we saw the Cathedral of Santa Maria, a building that took 300 years to build starting in the 13th century. What is interesting about Toledo is the mix of religions and influences that have affected the formal capital of Spain. Thus, after seeing the Catholic Cathedral, we went to see the synagogue and Sefardi Museum. Finally we took a tour "train"(it was really just on wheels), which included an audio commentary, around the city to see some of the most splendid sites from the outside. Everything was great until an onslaught of rain bombarded us unprepared chicos. We hurried out of the rain to our tour bus and returned to Madrid for a delicious dinner of salad, chicken, and ice cream. Overall it was another great day in Spain!