Seeing Toledo is like stepping into a time capsule back into medieval times. As our bus ride came closer, we could see the fortress on the hill. Once the capital of Spain with 2500 years of history from Roman times, Toledo is a great option for a day trip from Madrid. Emperor Charles V made Toledo an imperial city and the famous painter El Greco (translates to the Greek) resided here. As we walk its ancient streets, one can see why Toledo is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A very atmospheric old medieval town, with important historical monuments and marvelous old stone buildings. For centuries, Christians, Jews, and Muslims lived peacefully in this “city of three cultures”, although that peace ended later. Today, Toledo once again welcomes people of all faiths to visit and experience its historic charm.
Monday had been the day we had the Royal palace tickets, which got cancelled, so we thought about going to Toledo. Toledo is a quick 30-minute AVE train ride from Madrid Atocha train station. Toledo’s train station is itself a national monument I read. While I had booked all our inter-city transfers months earlier, Toledo, was the one train sector ticket I did not book ahead of time and when we finally tried to at Madrid, the Renfe website kept crashing, whether it was because tickets were sold out or due to other issues, we do not know. The Renfe website is not very user friendly, each time, a user has to enter all the passport details of each passenger and then at the final stage the site would crash so it was really frustrating. Then we checked Alsa bus tickets and even those were sold out. Realized that for Spain, train, bus and major attraction tickets should simply be booked ahead 4 to 5 months earlier. Although in our case it worked out as we changed plans last minute due to the palace cancellation.
We debated if we should book a taxi to go to Toledo after a stop at Mirador de Valle but that would be expensive. If you take the train, take a taxi to Mirador de Valle, a viewpoint across the valley which offers a panoramic view of Toledo. You can ask your driver to wait 10 minutes for pictures and then continue to the center of Toledo. Usually from the train station to center is around 20 minutes and price may be around 15Euro.
Google searches led us to a VPT tours and their office was walking distance from our hotel in Madrid. So, on Monday, we took a chance and walked to their office reaching slightly before 8 am on Monday and luckily for us they had 5 seats available on a bus tour going to Toledo. We were delighted that this last minute try worked out. The bus ride to Toledo was an hour and pleasant.
The tour included a guided introduction to the old town starting from Plaza de Zocodover and a stop at a metal workshop. Toledo is known for its swords and traditional art, the damascene metalwork. You will see antique-inspired swords, and beautiful jewelry. I purchased some inexpensive jewelry at the metal workshop we stopped at. Once the bus dropped us, the guide led us up a series of modern escalators all the way up the hill to the old town. Pay attention as you walk, the pavements in old town are uneven and I nearly tripped a few times.
Toledo has a magnificent cathedral, and the Santa Cruz Museum, with its own world-class collection of El Greco paintings.
Toledo attractions
- Toledo Cathedral/ Catedral Primada: One of Europe’s best, Gothic, with a marvelously vast interior, great art and a sacristy swathed in El Greco’s work. The cathedral’s spectacular altar, gold inlaid on wood, by Flemish, French, and local artists is one of the country’s best pieces of Gothic art. The elaborate altar shows the story of Jesus’ life, conveying the Christian message of salvation. Download the toledo cathedral app for more information, wifi is slow inside church. The ticket booth is right across from the side entrance of the church.
Visit the art exhibits in the back, which feature many El Greco paintings. The cathedral’s sacristy is almost like a mini-Prado, with masterpieces by the likes of Francisco de Goya, Titian, Peter Paul Rubens, Diego Velázquez, Caravaggio, and Giovanni Bellini, not to mention 18 El Grecos. Born in Greece and trained in Venice, Domenikos Theotocopoulos (no wonder friends just called him “The Greek”…El Greco, so much easier) came to Spain to get work as a painter and became its most famous resident.
Buy tickets Catedral de Toledo | Clorian (catedralprimada.es) 12Euro per person
- Santo Tomé (Iglesia de Santa Tome) Simple chapel with El Greco’s masterpiece painting, The Burial of the Count of Orgaz. Very simple place but this masterpiece work by El Greco is worth seeing, all of the town’s major figures at the time are represented.
- Santa Cruz Museum Renaissance building housing wonderful artwork, including eight masterpiece El Greco’s, one of which is the impressive altarpiece Assumption of Mary, finished one year before El Greco’s death.
- Confiteria Santa Tome: In the main plaza, we bought mazapán at the plaza de zocodovar store.
- Convento de San Clemente: oldest convent in use where they make marzipan, outside of city with random closings so call to check or skip if on a day trip like us.
No exaggeration, the mazapán was so delicious, we purchased a box to take home and wished we had bought more after we finished it at home. Mazapán is an almond sweet traditionally made by nuns, a tasty legacy from Toledo’s Moorish days. Rick Steves recommends picking up a few pastries, finding a bench on the Plaza del Ayuntamiento, with the fountain to the right, and Spain’s best-looking City Hall to the back, and in front of Spain’s top cathedral. We did not have time for the bench view, but we did taste refreshing slushy sangria later in the afternoon, and gobbled up some empanadas before our Cathedral entrance time.
Food options at Toledo:
Stop by any place that looks interesting as you walk around. We did not have time for proper lunch but if we did would have wanted to try these below
- Teteria Dar Al chai, arab tea house with crepes, cakes
- El Trebol, tapas, has a patio with outdoor seating