………Happy St. Patrick’s Day from Toledo and this picture was taken because they sell Guinness and he’s wearing a green hat! We spent two nights in Toledo, a wonderful little city that has a population of approx. 83,000 and is situated on a hill above the River Tagus, part of which we hiked today. Once again it has oodles of history dating back to before the 6th century when the Visigoths made Toledo their capital and left behind several churches. During the Middle Ages, however, Toledo was a melting pot of Christian, Muslim and Jewish cultures and it was during this period that the city’s most outstanding monument was built…….the Cathedral! It was built on the site of a 7th century church and work began in 1226 and spanned three centuries with the last vault being completed in 1493. Our air bnb apartment is literally around the corner, and down the cobblestone street,  and  our host told us it was free on Sundays.  Since we arrived in the middle of the afternoon we thought “let’s save eight euros each and get it done today!” When we arrived,  there was a long lineup but it didn’t take too long to get through because, since no one was paying, it moved quickly. They stopped us, however, and informed us it was free only for Spanish Citizens and it was blatantly obvious we weren’t. So out comes the wallet and off we go to tour this magnificent Cathedral along with half of Spain!!!! My God, it was busy, but absolutely stunning, so much so that I didn’t take any pictures because they wouldn’t have done it any justice anyway. On Sunday evening we were at a cafe chatting it up and just as we were ready to leave a young man at the next table said I know one of you must be from Ottawa as I heard you talking and there’s definitely a Newfoundlander there too as  I recognize the accent!  Turns out he’s from Nova Scotia but currently living in Ottawa working for the NDP party so we had another glass of wine as we chatted with him……small world it is as he’s about Andrea’s age and knows a friend of hers from high school.
Monday was a beautiful day and since many of the tourist sites, including El Greco Museum, were closed we decided to hike the path around the old walled city as well as the camino along the River Tagus.  As we passed the cathedral, which was open,  there was hardly a soul except a few tour groups and we thought this would have been a much better day to visit as the Spanish were no where to be seen.   The walk along the river was really quite beautiful,  very peaceful, and was called the archaeological walk because of the many ruins.   Next we strolled through the old walled city, got a little lost, sat and had a cold beer as we toasted St. Patrick and made plans for supper……life is good!