Early Wednesday morning I caught a bus to Madrid to meet up with Ross, a good friend of mine since we were very little. We spent the afternoon walking around the city and exploring without a map. That night we did a little tapa-sampling (not free in Madrid, that’s a special Granada thing) and tried out a few bars and discotecas.
Thursday we decided to head out to Toledo, a town about an hour southwest of Madrid. (It also used to be the capital before some king, I forget who, moved it to Madrid to attempt to separate religion and politics.) This town has been declared a national monument, as it is one of the best-preserved parts of the country. It is charmingly gorgeous, situated on a hill with the most confusing tiny, winding, cobblestone streets and basically no new architecture.
Home of the famous artist “El Greco”, art and religion (Judaism, Christianity and Islam were all equally represented by the population for centuries) are really predominant everywhere you look. We were able to visit a tiny chapel that hold’s El Greco’s most famous work- The Burial of the Count of Orgaz. (pictured) which was incredible. We also visited the famous synagogue there- gorgeous, with a lot of Arabic influences in the carvings, walls and ceiling. Then we headed a few blocks over to the cathedral, one of the largest and most beautiful in Europe. 
In this particular cathedral there is a tradition that the cardinals can hang their hats from the massive ceiling over a spot of their choosing to be buried, and the hats remain there until they rot. This gave the cathedral what I felt was a little bit of a Harry Potter quality, and we were able to find about 8 or 9 of the hats, in various stages of decay (one is pictured, right). This cathedral is also well known for it’s incredible art— my favorite painting in particular was in one of the chapels, depicting a representation of all of the sins (gluttony, lust, greed, etc). Lust was a hot redhead on fire, almost a dead ringer for a certain friend of mine. Thursday night was another night on the town with dinner and dancing. We were joined by Ross’s friends and a few other girls we met during the evening.
In this particular cathedral there is a tradition that the cardinals can hang their hats from the massive ceiling over a spot of their choosing to be buried, and the hats remain there until they rot. This gave the cathedral what I felt was a little bit of a Harry Potter quality, and we were able to find about 8 or 9 of the hats, in various stages of decay (one is pictured, right). This cathedral is also well known for it’s incredible art— my favorite painting in particular was in one of the chapels, depicting a representation of all of the sins (gluttony, lust, greed, etc). Lust was a hot redhead on fire, almost a dead ringer for a certain friend of mine. Thursday night was another night on the town with dinner and dancing. We were joined by Ross’s friends and a few other girls we met during the evening.Friday was a dia del museos—We started at the Prado (classical and renaissance European art) and worked our way over to the Reina Sofia (modern). I was most excited to see Picasso’s Guernica (a response to Hitler and Franco agreeing to give a nuclearesque bomb a little trial run in this northern Spanish pueblo- the first time a bomb of this magnitude was ever used).
In the wee hours of Saturday Ross headed off to Canada and I caught another bus to Badajoz, a Spanish town on the Portugal border. From there, Angel, Gusana, his friends Pablo, Gema, Juan Pablo and I drove over to have a tasty lunch in a tiny little Portuguese village. We then returned to Pablo’s rented cottage, an unbelievably adorably situated, white washed, two story house surrounded by grapevines and various other fruit trees and bushes in the middle of some rolling green hills. After a siesta, we watched the sun set and ate dinner there- grilled beef, shrimp, and vegetables. Sunday was Gema’s birthday, so after a lazy breakfast we ventured over to a town called Castello de la Vela where we strolled through the narrow streets up to the castle (open to the public) and climbed the towers and walls. 
We then sat down to avoid the heat at a little café where we were served Portuguese beers and…..snails. For eating. They were apparently very good as everyone else jumped right on in and started slurping the little suckers out of their shells, but I just couldn’t bring myself to join them. (pictured: top left, clockwise: me in a tower window of the Castle, Angel in the village, Juan Pablo on top of the castle wall, the view from our cottage window, Pablo and Gema, the snails, the cottage, and in the middle: Gusana)
After a little more hanging out at the cottage we ended this fairy-tale weekend with a 5 hour drive back to Granada.
SABES QUE…
The American expression "Holy Toledo" likely originated from the Sephardic Jews who eventually immigrated to America. To them, Toledo was the most holy Jewish city in Europe...Holy Toledo!
We then sat down to avoid the heat at a little café where we were served Portuguese beers and…..snails. For eating. They were apparently very good as everyone else jumped right on in and started slurping the little suckers out of their shells, but I just couldn’t bring myself to join them. (pictured: top left, clockwise: me in a tower window of the Castle, Angel in the village, Juan Pablo on top of the castle wall, the view from our cottage window, Pablo and Gema, the snails, the cottage, and in the middle: Gusana) After a little more hanging out at the cottage we ended this fairy-tale weekend with a 5 hour drive back to Granada.
SABES QUE…
The American expression "Holy Toledo" likely originated from the Sephardic Jews who eventually immigrated to America. To them, Toledo was the most holy Jewish city in Europe...Holy Toledo!
-My Rick Steve's Guide to Spain book
Holy Mackerel!
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