If you go to one city in Spain, go to Toledo.....
It's absolutely incredible! (I'm not putting pictures up because my computer and SD card are having a disagreement) I was going to go on Thursday but got a later start than I wanted to. I finally realized I was only going to have about 2 hours when I got there before I'd have to come back so I scrapped that plan. I went to Sevilla with Conrado and Elena and had a great time, as usual. When I came back Thursday evening I looked online and found a hotel in the old part of Toledo for less than $70 for Friday night! Say what you will, that seemed like a deal to me. Yes, that is a dollar sign, not a euro sign. So I made a spur-of-the-moment decision to spend Friday night and most of Saturday in Toledo.
I left Arahal yesterday around 1 because I decided I'd rather wait for a ride than take the bus. Manolo and Rossy dropped me off at Sevilla Santa Justa station (my favorite station of the whole Eurail system, seriously). Normally it's not a problem to just go get a ticket for the next train but on Friday it was packed at the station. When I finally got to the front of the line and asked for the next train for Madrid, the guy behind the desk said that the earliest train they had was at 4PM and only 1st class tickets were still available. I quickly reasoned thusly: 39 euro seems like a lot, but if I don't get on this train I don't know if I can catch the last train from Madrid to Toledo; better go for it. So I put down the money and waited for almost 3 hours in the station where I have logged so many already. I boarded the train and observed that, contrary to my prior belief, people who travel in first class look just like the people in second, for the most part. It was a pretty awesome experience! The waiter offered complimentary glasses of water, orange juice or cava, Spain's version of champagne. We also got a mid-trip snack which was fortuitous for me, since I had previously decided I would have to fast for the rest of the trip to recoup my perceived losses on the first class ticket.
I had less trouble getting to Toledo than I thought; I had a wait of less than an hour for my train to Toledo and, having read travel tips about reaching Toledo by train, made my way straight to the bus stop. Also fortunate was that the bus went straight from the station to the Plaza Zocodover, very close to the Alcázar, which my hotel was right next to. I spent the evening (what was left of it) wandering around Toledo looking for somewhere to eat. I had (some name I can't remember), a traditional Toledan dish of beef, pork, sausage, and peas in tomato sauce - delicious, as with all Spanish food. Apparently mazapán (marzipan) is big here, some believe it originated here (had to double-check wikipedia to make sure I wasn't hallucinating). On the merit of that alone, I tried some for dessert. My previous experiences with marzipan have not impressed me; I wasn't a fan by any means previously. This stuff was amazing. I lack the sufficient culinary vocabulary to paint for you a picture of the flavor but suffice it to say that if you go to Toledo and don't try marzipan, your life will have been in vain.
I woke up this morning and explored Toledo. Toledo of old was known for its superb swords and the tradition of sword-making continues. I can only imagine how I would have reacted if I had visited this city when I was 12. There are sword shops everywhere. It was like paradise; the quintessential medieval city. Picturesque doesn't even begin to describe it. Here, just do a google image search for Toledo, Spain real quick, I'll wait.
See? Amazing! Anyway, another thing Toledo is famous for is Damascene, the art of gold and silver inlay. Examples of this can be found everywhere in the city and all are breathtakingly gorgeous. I wanted to go to the museum in the Alcázar to see the Colada, the sword of Rodrigo Diáz, El Cid; if you were nerdy enough to play Age of Empires: the Age of Kings, then you know just how awesome that would have been. Unfortunately, there was a huge line and I had limited time. I went back to my hotel to pick up my bag and head to the train station (I had left it with the desk attendant because I had to check out of my room by noon). I was distressed to find my bag had disappeared and the desk attendants had no idea where it had gotten to. As I have had a bit of experience travelling, I know better than to leave valuables (e.g. wallet, passport, Eurail pass) in the hotel, so I had the really important stuff with me. What I didn't have was my Zune, my Kindle, my Spanish journal and dictionary (contrary to popular belief I am actually here to study Spanish), and my personal journal. That was probably what was most distressing to me; that's like the last 7 months of my life completely gone. I talked to the hotel people, left a number and headed back to the train station. There wasn't anything else I could do. God has really showed me a lot about trusting him on this trip, even in the comparatively small things such as this. Because of these lessons, I didn't freak out like my personality would suggest I would. I just took it in stride and said, "God, you know I want my stuff back and you know where it is. I want it back but after all, it's just stuff. I can live without it." I'm not saying this to brag or in any way elevate myself; I'm writing this to show how much God has done in me to bring me to a point where I was able to say that!
It was a long ride back to Sevilla from Madrid. I still wasn't frustrated or anxious. I just had this peace that it would all be alright. I hadn't been back in the house for more than 20 minutes when the hotel called and said they had found my bag! One of the porters had thought it belonged to someone else and had taken it with the other person's luggage up to their room. They'll be sending it to me on Tuesday, just in time for me to have it before my flight home. God is good. Thanks for reading such a massive posting!
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