I’d mentioned yesterday my 4 reasons for visiting Toledo, and in the picture above, behind me is a statue of the man responsible for one of them.
Cervantes fans know that there is a Route of DQ (no, not Dairy Queen but Don Quixote) cutting through Toledo that marks the various points mentioned in the book:
I don’t have enough time here to follow the path, but I can’t wait to go back and re-read the book with the images of Toledo still fresh in my mind. The spirit of our beloved hero DQ is captured throughout the city:
But I’m actually looking for the Cathedral of Toledo (Catedral Primada Santa MarÃa de Toledo)…
because across from it is the Ayuntamiento, or town hall,
where I can get a city map from its tourist office (an ice skating rink has been set up here for the past holiday season). But before all of this can happen, let’s go grab some breakfast at a bar:
I pass on the churro and opt for a Spanish croissant (it’s not flaky like its French counterpart and feels much heavier) but I have the yummy zumo again:
Most of the streets here are tiny, and they curve around and around so that it feels like you are walking in a circle when you are not.
It’s not a big place so you really shouldn’t get lost, especially if you mark your bearings by the huge gothic cathedral:
This Catholic church broke ground in 1226 and, like many great cathedrals in Europe, saw continuous construction over centuries. It is well worth a visit, regardless of your faith, because no amount of photography (which isn’t allowed inside anyway) can capture the enormity of the work that went into building this place. The Toledo Cathedral is the second largest church in Spain but it is revered as the most important because Toledo has historically been the center of Spain’s catholic faith.
Tomorrow I’ll try to cover the other 3 reasons for loving Toledo.
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