Day 2 -In Which We Leave Madrid For El Campo

Monday morning, Deb and I packed up our backpacks and hit the road. Only with a few minor bumps along the way. {I'm not sure how many of you out there are planning on going to Spain any time soon, but please be aware the just because you spend $500 on a Eurrail pass for Spain doesn't mean that they actually let you USE it in Spain. I mean...it isn't like Europe is expensive or anything right now anyway, right?}

But alas, we made it to Toledo at about 9 in the morning and hopped on the bus that would take us up to the center of town. Deb thought it was pretty funny when I couldn't sit up in the chair on the bus due to my "snail bag."

Toledo has been famous for their sword making skills since the middle ages. Supposedly, they are also famous for their marzapan. Who knew? So of course, here we are in a little bakery sampling some.

Toledo is a very old town with a rich history. All of the streets are still cobblestone and very narrow. Seriously, what I would think of as a sidewalk was usually a street - including the steps behind me. I nearly got run over by Jason Bourne in his BMW a few different times.

The main attraction in Toledo is the Cathedral. We arrived fairly early so while we were able to watch a small mass ceremony, they were charging 7 euros to walk around the cathedral. Whoa! Dude. If you want to see what it looks like, click here. Save your money. Not to say that it isn't worth it, but 7 euros was WAY more than any other cathedral in Spain charges.

After walking around Toledo for several hours with our snail bags on, we needed a break. Churros anyone??

On second thought....greasy hands, anyone??? Holy Toledo my hands were greasy!

Before heading out of town, we trudged our way up to the top of the hill to overlook the surrounding area. While Deb was checking out the view, I was checking out the park bench.

And after another hour or so on the train, we arrived in Còrdoba. Compared to Toledo it is a very modern city and has a very strong Moorish influence. La Mezquita was one of the sights on this trip that I was looking forward to the most. Here we are sitting outside of it on Monday evening.

This now-Cathedral has gone back and forth between being a mosque to a synagogue and a cathedral several times, so you can imagine that the architecture is heavily influenced from many sides.

And no matter how many times I tell you that La Mezquita is beautiful, you can't believe it unless you see it yourself. It is just that amazing. We went at night and I am so glad that we did. We were some of the only people there, so we basically had it to ourselves. Those arches aren't painted either - they are made of brick and limestone; and there are thousands of them.

That night we ate some tapas at a restaurant that my mom recommended and walked around town a little. Our hotel made me feel a little bit like we were in the movie "Psycho" since we had to leave our key with the guy at the front desk who maybe looked a little bit like this guy. Don't worry Mom - I'm home safe now.

And tomorrow, we go down south to Tarifa with some other adventures along the way.