HIGHTLIGHT OF THE DAY: Toledo
BUMMER OF THE DAY: Spending 80EUR on vodka and cokes at a bar – it’s been a while
BUYS OF THE DAY: Glass of Sangria for 2.20EUR
WORD OF THE DAY: - Heysus – Bless you in Spanish
9am departure this morning, ahhhhh heaven. We have another night in Madrid, so no bags to the bus; it was literally just breakfast getting to the bus on time. Which some people were late; well it is day 1 for the coach, so we can ease off a little right. I don’t think they understand just how important it is and they WILL be left behind if they are late! Oh well maybe they will have to learn the hard way. It would be funny if we did have to do it, as long as it’s not me right! There is a guy on the bus that did a Contiki Europe a few weeks ago and he got left in Paris and had to find his own way to Switzerland, and trust me after travelling that day – it is a BIG day on the coach let alone trying to do it yourself.
We got a driving city tour on the way to our first stop at the Palace in Madrid. The Royal Family no longer live in the palace, they live on the outskirts of Madrid now, but the Palace is still used for major functions when heads of state and important people come to town. You are not allowed to take any photos inside at all. I don’t know why these countries are so precious about this, when the Hermitage in St Petersburg lets you take photos of EVERYTHING, including all its famous art works by Da Vinci, Monet and Renoir. It makes no sense. Anyway it was a beautiful Palace, and all the rooms are still furnished and decorated, so it was nice to see it in its original state.
From here we drove an hour for our next stop in Toledo (pronounced Tolado) so the saying Holy Tolado just doesn’t ring right, so I kept calling it Toledo, so Holy Toledo was still funny. Who made that saying famous? I’m going to have to Goggle it, it’s driving me nuts. Toledo is known for its sword making and jewelry making from steel. We saw a very quick demonstration of a master sword maker and it is actually quite an involved process with the iron having to be red hot for it to be worked on and can sit up to 8 hours in the fire before it can be worked on. As usual they have a shop at the end of the ‘free’ demonstrations. Can’t say I was in the market for a sword, and I am happy to report I didn’t buy one. But I did buy some really pretty earrings, a necklace watch and pendant with typical Spanish designs. I am getting quite a collection of jewelry; I think I may have to send some home soon. Speaking of jewelry my Russian guide (and now friend) is back in Beijing and has collected my 2 rings and pair of earrings I left there on the 1st April and is now sending them home to Australia. Now that was sooo lucky and I have to pass on a HUGE thank-you to Julia for doing that for me. The only other thing I seemed to have lost are padlocks and keys and they were left in Mongolia, so I think that is a pretty good track record so far ( touchwood ).
We got a good few hours in Toledo, so we lunched with some tapa style sandwich and 2 sangria’s for 10 EUR and did a small walking tour with Rach around the old town. It has a great feel to the place and we were lucky to spend so much time there. We also got a great photo opportunity overlooking the city, with river and ancient walls, with the sun high in the sky, it made for some awesome photos. I’m slowly getting word around about my Bernstar jumps, so I’m not so shy in asking people to take them for me. I do love the photo swap though. You take one of me and I’ll take one of you lessens the guilt of asking people all the time to take them.
Back to the hotel for a freshen up, before meeting at 8pm. I had 2 hours, so I decided to pre-pack my bag, I believe this is called learning from experience, because if we have a BIG night, the last thing I want to do is drunk pack in the morning. Not good. So I packed everything I could, so less stress in the morning. I am also leaving 2 bags in the hotels storage for the 2 weeks. I don’t think I am going to need my thermals, beanies, long pants, camping stuff etc with temperatures in the 30’s I think I can safely say I will not be needing any of that stuff. It just makes my packing a lot easier each day we move and my bag isn’t as heavy either. No charge at the Tryp, so this is good news. Greece will be the only other place I will be able to do this for the next few months as my next lot of tours start in one city and finish in another - boo
We caught the Metro as a group into the city ( only 2 stops and 1.30EUR ) where we were given free time for dinner and to meet back up at 10pm for some drinks and dancing. We went and had quick ale with Rach before she had to head off and get some paper work done. She took us to this small little bar off the Plaza Mayor and it is themed around Bullfighting. There are bull heads on the wall, pictures on the wall of bull fighting where the bull fighter comes off second best, and they are quite graphic pictures, so not for the faint hearted. They even had pictures of the bull fighter in surgery – on the operating table, hmmm maybe a little too much information. I did take some pictures of the pictures though, so check them out on Facebook.
We had dinner at a little restaurant across the other side of the square that Rach recommended that is famous for its calamari rolls. Sounds delicious hey! It was really tasty, and the calamari was cooked to perfection. It was just missing a sauce / lemon, but tasty all the same and 4EUR well spent for dinner. So we re-met the group at 10pm and headed from Sol into the San Ana district for a few beverages. Rach hooked us up with a club that was happy to discount our drinks and give us a shot on arrival. The bar was called Mona Lisa and it was just an average kind of bar, where the drinks were 6EUR each, and yes this was the discounted price, BUT when they make your vodka and cokes for example, they free pour the alcohol into your glass, and then they give you your mix on the side. So you then mix it together yourself. So none of this pussy uses a measure / shot glass theory, so with the amount of alcohol going into a glass was the equivalent of 2-3 shots, so even though the drinks were 6EUR, you are practically getting 2 drinks for the cost. It was one of those nights where everyone was just out to have some fun and we all had a boogie and a drink and a boogie and a drink and I think you get the drift. The music was all 00’s and latest release – so it all just came together for a great night. We caught a taxi at 2am, as the others changed bars and kicked on till 3am…… Not too many stories to report from the first night except some-one locked themselves in the bathroom and had to wait for help before being able to get out (Miguel).
What a great first day of tour – WELCOME TO SPAIN
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