Got good rest, everyone got up around 9 am. Needed to get ready quickly as our drive for the days tour would be at our hotel at 10 am. He called sharp at 9:45 am for pickup. We had a day trip to Toledo which is 1 hr from Madrid. We didn’t get a chance to get breakfast and he told us we could do that 1st thing when we got to Toledo. Kiddos were ok, managed till then. 

Drive was nice and we didn’t hit much traffic. At Toledo we met our guide who would walk us around for the next 3 hrs, but first chocolate and churros! We tried porras instead with chocolate, which are thicker/bigger churros. We met a few desis from Kerala in the kitchen who didn’t know much English or Hindi 😄 our guide told us that 50% on the nuns in Toledo are from India, fun fact!

After our coffee, chocolate and churros (taste was very ok) we started with a drive around the city to get the context. Toledo was the capital city before Madrid, everything here is old in the order of thousands of years 😳 when our guide mentioned a new bridge, he meant something that was 700 years old. 

The drive was beautiful, he obviously knew the right spot for great pics, mentioned many airbnbs now available for great views of this historic city. We then got back to the main entrance to the city and started our waking tour from a central square that used to be a market. The nice thing about everything we saw in Spain was that even though it was 100 years old, everything is operational I.e. people live and work there, it is by no means abandoned and purely for tourists.

Our guide said what he does is generational, he lives in Toledo and his grandpa & dad were guides too. We walked his hotel that is managed by his family. The tour was nice, very typical stone cobbled streets, large cathedral, square with bishops home conveniently attached to cathedral, city hall etc. guide Javi was really good in talking about power dynamics between church and monarchy. Toledo even today houses the boss of all bosses bishop 🤷‍♀️ don’t know enough about this hierarchy to comment more. 

Javi walked us to an old well, that was discovered when the city tried to do some work for garbage disposal underground. It is now preserved and shows us what level the city used to be at. Fun time for R as we cooked up a story about dragon underground. 

We then walked into the church which was mesmerizing. While the churches are extravagant, the history is rich. He pointed so many influences over its construction and how typically a church is built over hundreds of years and passes from generation to generation who have different influences of the time. It had Roman, gothic, Arab influences in its construction. 

It was truly special, he pointed out interesting points around how one of them built something around light coming in through a window, its significance, the stained glass windows and the colorful light coming in.

We wanted to get lunch before heading back to Madrid, so that did shorten our walking tour. We are at a place that is supplied by nuns. The nun bake bread, traditional sweets and someone transports it here. This enabled them to earn money, the nuns do not leave the monastery. 

The food was very yum, we had some ham & cheese and chicken pies and the dessert was super yummy. We bought some marzipan which was not as sweet as the ones you get in the US. We got marzipan cake which was delicious. We wrapped up our tour though it felt quite short. I could have walked for longer. This tour guide was definitely about keeping time. 

When we started our drive back ~2 pm we definitely hit more traffic. Anyway we had good recommendations from Javi on what to do in Madrid. Once we reached the hotel, kiddos and sanjeev rested in the hotel while I shopped in Zara. Kiddos were happy to just watch some TV. 

Zara was amazing, how typical of me to demonstrate American consumerism on black Friday in Spain. I didn’t even know Zara was from Spain, the collector here is sooooo much better. After I finished and came back, of course dad also wanted to shop at Zara, and before you know it we again spend time at Zara shopping for kids as well. The prices are so much better than US! 

Finally started walking to a churro and chocolate shop that is been doing this from 1800’s, same family, same business!! This place had a long line, but totally worth it. The richness of the chocolate, soft and crispy churros were next level. I got an Irish coffee and they are not stingy with the alcohol, I couldn’t finish it even though it was so good. After this spot, we then walked to a nice market that was recommended for many food stalls. It was great holiday spirit and enclosed in glass on all 4 sides. Did a walk to check out all the stalls but decided to come back after walking a bit outside to build an appetite.

The walk was nice, surrounded by more souvenir shops and tiny art museums. We bought more souvenirs, jewellery and hung out at a tiny art museum. R did remarkably well through all this. As long as she’s dressed warm she’s happy. 

We then walked back to the food court place, was super crowded. I had some good wine, multiple tiny bites. Sanjeev and kiddos didn’t have much of an appetite but I made the most of it 😄

We walked back to the hotel, holiday lights everywhere, felt very lucky to experience it all. I don’t think we realized we would get to experience it when we planned the trip! 

Got back to hotel and packed for early checkout the next day. End of Spain trip, so amazing!!!