Toledo

One of our days in Madrid, we road the high-speed train out to Toledo (just a 30 minute trip & super cheap!)  Toledo was amazing - an ancient Spanish city that makes you feel as if you've stepped back in time (if you can ignore all the little souvenir shops & ice cream carts).   

First stop for me, of course, was lunch!  I found this great little shop that sold jamón pastries by the kilo.  A wedge cost me 5 euros and fed both me & Torah.  The crust was buttery & flakey, and the filling was so delicious!

After spending so much time in Madrid & on the modern Med. coast, it was fun to explore the narrow maze-like streets of this old town.  And they were so much cooler!  One of the reasons that they built their cities with such narrow streets was so that the buildings would block out the sun & keep the streets shady.  It worked!

Another breathtaking cathedral!  Again, right in the center of town.

The High Alter of the cathedral.  It is HUGE and covered in gold!  To get an idea of how high this is, click on the picture and look for the crucified Christ at the very top.  He is 9 feet tall. 

I was so blown away by the magnitude of this cathedral that I apparently failed to take many pictures.  But I did buy a cool book about it, so I have those pictures to look at.

I did take a picture of this painting because I loved it!   It's called St. Joseph and the Christ Child by El Greco.  It's not often that you find a painting of this time in Christ's life, when he was a child with his earthly father.  I love the obvious affection that they have for each other.