Another day in Spain, another day without our bags. Fortunately, we did choose places that have washing machines, so we are not stinky messes (at least beyond the regular amount from walking in the 38 degree weather). That means that it is full steam ahead with our regularly scheduled programming, which is a day trip to Toledo just south of Madrid.
We hopped a short metro ride to the Atocha station in Madrid. This is really four train stations in a trenchcoat. The ticket machine wouldn’t give us tickets so we had to go to the crazy ticket counter. Once we figured out the correct slip to take, we made it with time to spare, but it was definitely dicey for a hot minute.
Somehow, the more difficult part was actually finding the right gate to get into our train. After trying the long distance (wrong!), the medium distance (wrong!) and knowing that the we weren’t on a commuter train, we finally found the right place. All the faffing about at the ticket place and with the wrong gates meant we actually cut it pretty close, but we did make it through security (a weird feature of Spanish trains) before they had announced the platform, so no harm ultimately.
The train ride itself was smooth and peasant and we slid into Toledo station at 11am. The station itself is pretty removed from the Old Town, and most tourist blogs say that it is an easy 20 minute walk. We opted to pay €1.40 each (and free for Jordan and Kieran) to take the city bus right to the Alcazar. This may be the best €2.80 I have spent in my entire marriage, as the walk was fully uphill in the blazing sun would have been brutal for the prospects of the rest of the day.
Having been dropped off right in the heart of town, we… Went to the library! It turns out the part of the Alcazar (the fortress where Spanish rule eminated from for centuries) into a public library. The views here looked over the whole city, which was breathtaking. We identified our next location, which was naturally the Cathedral and made our way there (with a pitstop to look at the view of the beautiful valley).
The signage of where to buy tickets was very unclear and we ended up plaza surfing and ending up right back where we saw the first sign. Oh well, at least there was a violinist doing a Pirates of the Caribbean medley which was great. The cathedral itself was as excellent as expected. The altar especially was crazy beautiful, made out of gold and stretching most of the way to the very high ceiling. Definitely worth the price of admission. Kieran liked looking around.
We were pretty hungry, so started our quest for food, but stumbled first upon the Cuevas de Hercules. It was a free mini-museum of the old Roman well system dating from about 1AD. Jordan reveled in the ancientness of it. Kieran also enjoyed it from the carrier, which was necessary for the extremely narrow spiral staircase.
After finishing that quickly, our quest for sustinence was sidetracked again, this time by some Italian children in the alleys of Toledo. They were lost and pointed to a number on their necklace for us to call. Unfortunately, the teacher on the other end who picked up only spike Italian and Spanish. Emily managed to communicate our location and the kids were collected successfully.
The final step of our quest was to find a place that wouldn’t be a massive tourist trap. We ended up back at the main square, which was not conducive to that objective, so we headed down a random alley and found a tapas place that looked good. And it was! We got some venison croquettes (which were fine, but Kieran went bananas for them!), fried eggplant in a peach and honey sauce (an amazing combination) and some great calamari. Even Emily partook in the calamari, which is usually a food outside of her repertoire. Jordan finished one of her two pork skewers and we washed it all down with a delicious lemon slush. And the price was only €35 total! Amazing value, considering €12 of that was the slush drinks.
After lunch, it was time to hit the souvenir shops and another free museum. That one was a weird mix of ancient ruins from the Roman and Moorish periods and then modern art. Like a pile of five skulls with clown nose level modern art. And two big ducks next to a life size gummy bear. I think the number one statement of people leaving that museum was “at least it was free!”
When we took the bus up to the old town, we had resolved to walk back down. It was quite the trek and our decision to take the bus up was vindicated both by the exhaustion from Jordan and the distraught looks of the climbers making their way up the hill. The view from the old stone bridge over the river made the walk down worth it, though! We also managed to scam our way on to the earlier train back to Madrid with seconds to spare which was very good as Jordan was melting down both figuratively and literally.
Being back in our Airbnb meant it was time for the next round of the world’s worst game – “What will Iberia say this time when we call?” Shockingly, they were once again inconclusive of when we would have our bags and that they should be in Madrid now, but that the airport has to security screen it before passing it off to Iberia for delivery. This prompted another trip out for Emily to try to find a new bra, which was ultimately (and shockingly!) successful. Seeing the price tag, hopefully Iberia compensation and TD lost baggage insurance comes through!
That happy occasion called for some dinner. We opted for a “Tortilla” place, which served what were effectively egg pies in potato pastry. It does sound better in theory than in practice. Maybe of the eggs were cooked more than “fully runny,” then it would have tasted a bit better. Kieran loved the egg and onion filling, though and couldn’t get enough of it. I was definitely let down by the roasted red pepper, goats cheese and spicy chorizo version that sounded like it should be amazing.
We made our way back for the final time and played yet another roubd of the world’s worst game. Somehow, 12 hours after the bags landed in Madrid, Iberia still haven’t been given control of them. Emily went what could only be described as “full Laura Wilkinson” on them, attempting to impart the knowledge that we are leaving Madrid tomorrow and they need to sort their shit out. In happier news, our train to Bilbao is on the list of trains NOT being cancelled due to the strike. So we shall drown out sorrows in the shockingly tasty €2 bottle of wine.
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