{"id":3162,"date":"2022-03-28T18:03:14","date_gmt":"2022-03-28T18:03:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=3162"},"modified":"2022-03-28T18:03:14","modified_gmt":"2022-03-28T18:03:14","slug":"spain-13-toledo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=3162","title":{"rendered":"SPAIN 13. TOLEDO."},"content":{"rendered":"

The trip from Guijarrosa to Aranjuez was long and tedious.\u00a0 The country is largely empty.\u00a0 Empty of trees.\u00a0 Empty of hedges.\u00a0 Empty of animals.\u00a0 Empty of campsites.\u00a0 And there aren’t many towns either.\u00a0 Those we do pass look uninterestingly industrial.\u00a0 There are large buildings beside the roads which are either in the process of falling into disrepair, or already collapsed.\u00a0 Not pretty in the main.\u00a0 However, the road is good and there are a number of options for dubious looking coffee stops.\u00a0 We even had a truckers lunch at one place.\u00a0 Not the best!\u00a0 Three courses chosen more or less at random.\u00a0 We aren’t doing this again Barry!<\/p>\n

Arriving in Aranjuez was very sudden.\u00a0 One minute we were crossing a totally deserted scrubby landscape.\u00a0 Over a hill and we were faced by Lidl and Dia supermarkets and then, almost instantly, straight into the narrow streets of town!\u00a0 No significant suburbs (at least not in this direction).\u00a0 The town’s streets are arranged in a grid with traffic running alternately in one direction then the other on successive roads.\u00a0 There are complex give way signs for each junction which include four pedestrian crossings each.\u00a0 Rights of way seem to vary randomly, so we just hauled the caravan slowly through these narrow, often cobbled streets.\u00a0 The skill is in predicting which of the cars in front is going to double park randomly, blocking half of the road!<\/p>\n

The instructions for finding the campsite were inadequate to be generous!\u00a0 The feeder road we need comes off one of the world’s largest one way “roundabouts”!\u00a0 This involves five junctions (four left turns, one right turn) and a subsidiary roundabout with eight exits.\u00a0 We managed to fail even to get on to the system first time.\u00a0 So another lap of town was required.<\/p>\n

Having got pitched, we met Nigel and Lyn who had been on the last site next to us for a very welcome glass of wine!<\/p>\n

Friday was spent in Aranjuez.\u00a0 Glenda had spotted a coffee and cake place as we towed into town.\u00a0 It was called La Dulce Bailarina.\u00a0 And it was VERY much not a typical cafe of the region.\u00a0 Very tastefully decorated, it would be completely at home in the smarter parts of Paris, or London.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The coffee and brownie were sooo good we went back to make sure the next day (on our way to Toledo) and then booked for Sunday brunch after that!<\/p>\n

Aranjuez, which we had never heard of before (!!) was originally established to provide accommodation for all the workers at the local Palace – The Palacio Real de Aranjuez.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Monarchs, like Isobel I, hung out here to avoid the crowds of their subjects in Madrid.\u00a0 The Palace visit was surprisingly REALLY good!\u00a0 4\u20ac each – very well spent!\u00a0 Much better than any National Trust property back home – certainly for the money!<\/p>\n

The first 5 or 6 rooms were given over to lots of detailed plans of the building and it’s various extensions and enlargements.\u00a0 Not an auspicious start.\u00a0 But them we got to the start of the tour proper – out into the central courtyard…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As we entered under the middle archway we had our bags and phones scanned and our umbrella confiscated and locked in an individual clamp.\u00a0 Then upstairs…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Twenty one rooms of state, many of them decorated in magnificent style.\u00a0 Sadly no photography was allowed.\u00a0 So here are a couple of pictures found on the Web to give an idea of the splendour of the place!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

On Saturday, we set off for Toledo – the reason we are camping here.\u00a0 About 40 kms of almost dead straight roads through more of the nothingness seen on our way north with occasional, isolated, large industrial activities like cement works and biscuit factories.\u00a0 Plus the usual array of decrepit buildings with caved in roofs.\u00a0 Not the prettiest of trips.<\/p>\n

The road leading into the city was lined with rather austere blocks of apartments.\u00a0 Street parking in sight of the old town was easy.\u00a0 But then again there were a number of huge free parking areas around the base of the city.\u00a0 Walking in confirmed our first impression that it was built on top of another steep hill.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Alc\u00e1ntara bridge spanning the River Tagus which “surrounds” the city on three sides with the city behind.\u00a0 The prominent four-towered building is the Alc\u00e1zar of Toledo, a stone fortification located in the highest part of the city.\u00a0 It is a large quadrangular building measuring 60m on a side, framed by four large towers 60m high, each crowned by the typical Madrid spire.\u00a0 It now houses the army museum.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Entering by the Alc\u00e1ntara Gate.\u00a0 This archway has Arabic origins, dating from around the 10th century.\u00a0 It had great relevance in the defence of the city during the Middle Ages, and was the place through which people and goods entered the city.<\/p>\n

We climbed the 5456 steps and emerged into a bustling plaza.\u00a0 It was very crowded with dozens of conducted tours following upside-down umbrellas and teddy bears on sticks.\u00a0 The place immediately felt oppressive.\u00a0 What with the narrow streets walled in by multi-story buildings often in a monotonous dismal red colour, the total lack of sunshine, the crowds (possibly our fault for visiting on a Saturday) and the tourist tat on sale in every other shop.\u00a0 It seemed like a very good place to leave!<\/p>\n

Approaching the cathedral…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

… and in the side streets…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Iglesia de San Roman…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

… and every other shop is selling swords – or wooden replicas of swords…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

These are real, heavy duty things… but why?\u00a0 Who wants such memorabilia?<\/p>\n

After walking almost to the Jewish quarter, we decided to have a beer and retreat.\u00a0 On the way down we found the escalator, well, strictly speaking a series of four escalators which delivered us back almost to the Alc\u00e1ntara Bridge!!!\u00a0 They would have been very useful a couple of hours earlier!<\/p>\n

Driving round the outside of the citadel, we found the views looking inward were at least as good as the views inside.\u00a0 We ended up at the Parador on the next hill for a coffee.\u00a0 The view from here was exceptional.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Note to selves for future visits – Forget the town parking and the 5456 steps.\u00a0 Even forget the escalators.\u00a0 Just drive straight to the Parador, drink coffee or beer or anything really!\u00a0 Enjoy the panoramic view and drive home!.\u00a0 Just saying!<\/p>\n

Now another joke from Peter…<\/p>\n

A lady goes to the doctor with hearing difficulty.\u00a0 After a few minutes examining her ear the doctor announces that he knows the problem.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

“You have a suppository in your ear!”<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

“Oh good!\u00a0 Now I know where my hearing aid is!”<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The trip from Guijarrosa to Aranjuez was long and tedious.\u00a0 The country is largely empty.\u00a0 Empty of trees.\u00a0 Empty of hedges.\u00a0 Empty of animals.\u00a0 Empty of campsites.\u00a0 And there aren’t many towns either.\u00a0 Those we do pass look uninterestingly industrial.\u00a0… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spain-22","category-travels-in-2022"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3162"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3162\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3200,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3162\/revisions\/3200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}