Toledo

This is Mazapan. Toledo is famous for it. It looks like bread...but tastes nothing like it. It is basically pure sugar. One bite did me in! It is made in all shapes and sizes such as different fruits and even 2 foot tall castles. It was incredible to look at...not so yummy to eat. Toledo is also famous for its swords. All of the Lord of the Rings swords came from here! It is also famous for damascene: the art of decorating steel with gold, silver and copper thread. It is beautiful (there is a lot of Roman, Moorish and Jewish influence in Toledo) but save your nickels for it!

We wandered around for 2 days shopping and site seeing. This city is full of winding streets that are literally a maze. They are so narrow, yet to our surprise cars still drove through them (not slowly either!) MANY times we found ourselves scrambling for a doorway or plastering ourselves against a wall to avoid being killed. It was so fun just getting lost.

I could spend ages describing this place. Toledo. The entire city sits on top of a Castilian hilltop. It is surrounded by a river on three sides. It is the religious center of Spain. There was an incredible cathedral here (well several really) The burial place of Greco is here. There were monasteries and synagogues all over. I absolutely loved it! On our way there we made a little side detour to Aranjuez to visit a palace. This palace had a porcelain room which was like nothing I've ever seen before. (unfortunately we couldn't take pictures!) Apparently there is a small building around back that the Queen loved to go to and pretend to be a peasant like Marie Antoinette.