Had THE WORST sleep OF MY LIFE! Waking up every half-hour, sweating, tossing, turning until I just had to get the hell up! Bleurgh!! :p So I dragged myself up, left Los Amigos (all right for a night!), and then I headed to my new hostel: Metropol, on nearby Calle de la Montera...passing the BIGGEST number of prostitutes I've EVER seen!! :O I didn't even know they came out that early; I thought they were like vampires (only sucking things at night!! :p)!! Don't have anything against them (world's oldest profession after all!), but it's just not the nicest of things to see...!!!
So, anyway, sat in my dingy room (kind of like being in jail!)--which slept 5, but no one else was there--until I left and headed to Atocha to get the train to Toledo! Had to put my bag through security before I even got into the RENFE waiting area (and I made sure I held on to my f**king stuff this time! :p), had a Cola Cao, and then it was on to the cool, flashy, modern, QUICK train I got! Only 25 minutes to get to Toledo--which makes a change from wasting HOURS on a bus!! So I hopped on a bus to the Historic Centre, and then I set about wandering!
Bit about Toledo: located 70km south of Madrid, historic Toledo was known to the Romans as Toletum, and served as the Visigothic Capital until it was captured by the Moors in 712, under whose rule Tulaytulah (Arabic rendering of Toledo) enjoyed a golden age (La Convivencia) until captured by King Alfonso VI of Castilla in 1085. It served as Christian Capital until Felipe II moved it to Madrid (in 1561), when it went into a slow decline. It is, however, famous for its production of iron (especially swords, and for its Historic Centre, as well as its depictions in the paintings of El Greco (1541-1614), who spent the latter part of his life there.
The City is undoubtedly an impressive place (kind of reminded me of Carcassonne, France), but I could not MOVE for tourists!! So I came across the Alcázar (which didn't impress me that much and was shut anyway!), and then I wandered along the PACKED, narrow little streets until I came to the Cathedral!
Toledo
Looking out over Toledo
The Alcázar. Site of a fortress for centuries, but it's been bombed and blasted so many times that almost nothing remains of the original building constructed by Charles V. Most recently held out for two months during a siege by Republicans of the Nationalist-held building.
Castillo San Salvando (now a parador)
Cathedral was as busy as hell (blaspheme! :p)!! Paid 7€ to get into the place, but I wasn't even that interested! The Baroque Transparente was BEAUTIFUL, but there was a (big!) queue to get into the museum, and I was NOT doing queues today! So I sat on a set of steps inside the Cathedral, head bursting, eyes popping out, and feeling SHIT!!
Toledo Cathedral. Built between 1227 and 1493 in the Gothic style, Toledo Cathedral has a rich quantity of internal decoration from the Gothic, Renaissance, and Baroque periods.
The spire of Toledo Cathedral
Inside Cathedral
Detail of Transparente
Headed out again, everywhere I went getting banged about by tourists, and when my nose started bleeding again, I just thought 'F**k this! I' leaving!' Made my way back through the City...
Around Toledo
Isabel 'la Católica,' Queen of Castile (1451-1504)
View over the Río Tajo
Emperor Charles V
View of Toledo and the Alcázar from the bus!
Went back to the station (even though my train wasn't for like another hour and a half!), where I sat reading, having 2 Cola Caos, and an orange juice (vitamin C hit!! :p) until I got on the 5:0o train! My mood was not helped by texts from my mum AND aunt in Scotland, saying that they'd seen ETA had starting BOMBING Madrid again!! :o I never actually heard if they did, but I thought, 'Good God! I'm never gonna get out of this place alive!!' Was glad to get off at Atocha, but NOT when I was on the Metro and the train just STOPS in the middle of a tunnel for like 5 MINUTES!!! Thought, 'We're dead!!', but it did eventually start moving again...then stopped again...and THEN got moving again!! NEVER have I been SO GLAD to get off of a f**king train!!!
Toledo train station, in Mudejar style
Not bad for a toilet building!
Get to my hostel, asked for room key at reception, and I was told someone had already taken it to the room. So up I went, knocking on the door...thumping it...and then KICKING it, but no one would open it!! :O So down I went to reception and got a second key (should just have given us a key each anyway!), tried it in the door, and it wouldn't fit 'cos SOMEONE had left the key in the other side!! Arrggghhhh!!!! So I kicked and thumped and SCREAMED until some vacant looking dumb-f**k of a girl opens the door: 'Oh perdón...'!!!! Silly cow!!! So I got myself sorted in the hostel, and then I went out a bit later on and treated myself and treated myself to some Ben 'n' Jerry's (Caramel Chew Chew!!! :p) from the nearby shop!! Most WELCOME sight YET in Madrid!!! Spoke to some nice Portuguese guy in my room, and then bed...BLEURGH!!! :p
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